How much does your LO eat at a time?

Meg920 · April 2016

just curious... How much does your baby eat at a time? I am back at work so my LO is taking pumped bottles during the day. She is only 14 weeks and is already taking 7 oz a sitting. Is that normal?! It seems like a lot.

TRA0816 · April 2016

My boy is 12 1/2 weeks and takes 5oz every 4 hours...not sure what normal is. I'm a ftm so I don't know but would assume that if she isn't spitting up a lot it would be ok.

klbh · April 2016

That does seem like a lot to me! My kiddo is only 10 weeks but only takes about 3-4 oz typically. How often does she eat? I've heard they need roughly an ounce an hour, for 24-30 over the course of a day.

Ju111310 · April 2016

That is a lot and likely too much. Go check out kellymom.com for great info. There's even a calculator on there to help you figure out how much baby needs per bottle. Most babies need 1-1.5 oz per hour so it depends on how often they're eating. I haven't went back to work yet, but at that age with DS1 he was taking 4 oz bottles every 3ish hours. As he got older I increased the volume slightly but he never took more than 5 oz in a sitting. Check out paced feedings and try educating your childcare provider on that. Also, be sure to use a slow flow nipple. BF babies are used to working harder for the milk so they tend to guzzle from a bottle.

mamadcb · April 2016

I have done a few weighted feeds at the BF group locally and mine consistently takes 5-6 oz. He's 12 weeks. That seemed like a lot to me which is why I did it a few times. So 7 seems possible! Have you done any weighted feeds?

jshannon83 · April 2016

My 12 week old takes 6-8 oz per feeding and has four feedings a day. We are attempting the Baby Sleep Solution so from 7pm-7am she sleeps and her feedings are spaced out every four hours during the day. The consistency of the schedule has been life changing for us.

grkgdss00 · April 2016

That seems like a lot to me. My LO takes 4-5oz about every 3 hours. I just went back to work this week so we've been recording everything. She's 14w and 14.5lb

SuperherosMom · April 2016

12 wks yesterday. I just went back to work today. LO started daycare on last Friday I'm sending 3.5oz and she eats every 3 hours at daycare. I nurse before bed and usually twice in the middle of thr night and in the morning.

cali1710 · April 2016

I think it depends on your child. How much does she weigh? Some babies who weigh more will eat more then one who weighs a few lbs less. How often does she eat? My LO is EFF and eats 4-6 oz every 3-4 hours. But shes 12 weeks and 13.5lbs. I know for formula they say 2.5oz per lbs of baby. So she supposedly can eat 32 oz a day but she eats about 26-28

Becky012016 · April 2016

Almost 12 weeks (almost 12 pounds I think) and takes 6oz 4x between 7:30am and 7:30pm. We're kind of following the Baby Sleep Solution like a PP said. I was going to increase 1 feeding to 7 oz next week probably and see how that goes.

ctmamaoftwo · April 2016

My baby also eats between 6-7oz per feeding. He is sleeping 10-11 hours at night so he is only getting 4 bottles a day. His pediatrician said that is right on track for where he should be. 24-28oz a day for a 12.5 lb baby.

Brianna0915 · April 2016

My little lady is eating 6oz a sitting now about every 3 hours, she's 14 weeks today. And boy did it show at her Drs appointment!!! She gained a pound and a half in less than two weeks!!!

kimber308 · April 2016

She used to eat a lot and then was really fussy/gassy. We put her down to 5 oz and bought super slow flow bottles. She has to work harder and I think the slow flow gives her more time to realize when she's full.

katiedid0907 · April 2016

DS is 11 weeks and over 15lbs. He eats 2 oz every 2 hrs at daycare but is still not great with taking a bottle so maybe he will drink more soon?

BarrettJ89 · April 2016

Brynlee is 3 months and we can barely get her to take 4 oz at a time (with rice cereal). Her AR is still a major issue, though. She's gaining plenty of weight and the doctor sees no problems.

kmo8986 · April 2016

I nurse most of the time but when little one takes a bottle it is 4 oz every 3 hours. My son was formula fed and never took more than 6 oz at a time every 4 hours

teachmegs817 · April 2016

Griffin is 17w, and he takes 5oz at each feeding. He eats 5-6 times a day. His 1 bottle that he has around 12-1am is a 4oz.

deedeecmc79 · April 2016

LOL is 12wks and will do 6oz in the middle of the night after 5 hours and does 4oz every 3hrs.

babym418 · April 2016

LO is 15 weeks and will take 3-4 oz but with 20 minutes of finishing a bottle she will want more and take 2-3 oz. She's about 12 lbs and eats 15-19 oz while I'm at work and nurses twice one I'm home. She's been sleeping for 7 hour stretches at night

ambercakes92 · April 2016

My daughter eats about every 2 hours (sometimes more often), and I will offer her 4oz of formula if she is taking a bottle. She doesn't always drink it all. She probably drinks closer to 3oz if she has a bottle. When she breast feeds, I have no idea how much she gets. I typically get 2-4 oz on each side when pumping. She's a little chunk who loves to eat!

jem8407 · April 2016

I have a super tall and skinny girl. I nurse 98% of the time and so don't know exactly how much she gets. When we do a bottle, pedi suggested 3oz minimum with a 5oz maximum per feeding. She is almost three hours in between. At night, I have had a few 7-9 hour stretches recently. No more swaddle and in the pack-n-play without the napper. I try to fill her up right before bed. Today I woke her up at 4:30 to eat bc I was full.

cali1710 · April 2016

So after weeks of LO eating 4 oz every 2.5 hours, she only had gained 7ounces in a month at her 12 weeks appt. my dr suggested giving her more each feeding. So For a few days I gave her 5 oz but she still seemed hungry. So this morning I decided to fill the 8oz bottle and see where she would stop. And she ate it all. Now my problem is, is she ignores all her own hunger cues and starts inconsolably crying when shes starving and I'm afraid shes ignoring her "full" cues too. I fear that I'm going to over feed her. Anyone in the same boat or can offer some advice?

jtwheeler08 · May 2016

My little girl is 17 weeks (4 months tomorrow) and she eats 6 oz every 3-4 hours.

Chelsey092 · May 2016

My LO is almost 4 months and is eating 6 oz every 3-4 hours and sleep through the night.

klbh · May 2016

I just wanted to note that around this age, feeding volumes start to become very different for breast milk and formula! According to kellymom and other reliable sources, the amount of formula a baby needs depends on her weight, but amount of breast milk needed stays stable from about two to six months at 24-32 ounces a day, total, or about 1-1.5 oz per hour on average. Once solids are introduced, the volume decreases. So a baby spending 10 hours daily at day care would typically need 10-15 ounces during that time, maybe more if she's not feeding at night.

It's important that all care providers realize this difference between breast milk and formula volumes. It's unfortunately very common for well-meaning care providers to overfeed breastfed babies by feeding too fast, using bottles to comfort babies who really need sleep or attention, or simply encouraging them to eat past fullness or according to a schedule rather than hunger cues. Then moms start to worry that their supply is low and they're not pumping enough, when really everything is perfectly normal!

maureenmce · May 2016

Hmm, this is making me think I should be offering LO more at each feeding. She's 12 weeks old and formula fed at this point. She takes between 3-4 ounces every 3-4 hours during the day. She is definitely not sleeping through the night - on good nights she'll sleep 6 hours then basically cat nap until 6 am. I do feel like she would happily eat more food if I offered it, I just didn't want to overfeed, but maybe if I offered 5-6 ounces she would eat less frequently and sleep more?

2winterbabies · May 2016

DD just turned 4 months and drinks 6 oz every 2 hours. I think she is going through a growth spurt ...

Ebiejay · May 2016

DS eats 3oz about every 3 hours. After reading this though I'm wondering if I should be offering more. He almost always finishes his bottle now, I was resisting giving him more because he always spits up a lot afterwards but this might be related to the speed at which he eats. He's only in the 3rd percentile for weight-for-length so I've been slightly concerned.

nackie · May 2016

@Ebiejay are you using breast milk or formula? Either way, that does sound like you might want to try upping how much he gets and see how it goes

MamaHolland · May 2016

I breastfeed & supplement with formula. For a full feeding she drinks 4 ounces. It's difficult to gauge how much she is going to drink from the bottle since I breastfeed too sometimes it's 1 ounce but for a full feeding it's alost always 4 ounces but every once in a awhile she may want an additional 2 ounces soon after but that doesn't happen often.

BelleZBoo · May 2016

@2winterbabies Same boat! He's such a piggy but literally overnight his onesies are too short!

ctmamaoftwo · May 2016

maureenmce said:

Hmm, this is making me think I should be offering LO more at each feeding. She's 12 weeks old and formula fed at this point. She takes between 3-4 ounces every 3-4 hours during the day. She is definitely not sleeping through the night - on good nights she'll sleep 6 hours then basically cat nap until 6 am. I do feel like she would happily eat more food if I offered it, I just didn't want to overfeed, but maybe if I offered 5-6 ounces she would eat less frequently and sleep more?

I would def start to slowly increase her day time feedings if she will take more. She would have to start to get close to her daily calories (oz) during the day to start sleeping through the night.

Mamabeagle · May 2016

Just shy of 16 weeks and he will eat 4 ounces a feeding but one morning bottle he needs 5.5 and before bed he has 8 ounces.Super inconsistent.

linds852010 · May 2016

Ebiejay said:

DS eats 3oz about every 3 hours. After reading this though I'm wondering if I should be offering more. He almost always finishes his bottle now, I was resisting giving him more because he always spits up a lot afterwards but this might be related to the speed at which he eats. He's only in the 3rd percentile for weight-for-length so I've been slightly concerned.

My little guy is a preemie. He's just now on the growth chart. He takes 4-5 ounces every 2.5-3 hours during the day. He was spitting up really bad with the high calorie formula. The doctor let us change it and just going to regular formula has helped tremendously.

stephanienjer · May 2016

maureenmce said:

Hmm, this is making me think I should be offering LO more at each feeding. She's 12 weeks old and formula fed at this point. She takes between 3-4 ounces every 3-4 hours during the day. She is definitely not sleeping through the night - on good nights she'll sleep 6 hours then basically cat nap until 6 am. I do feel like she would happily eat more food if I offered it, I just didn't want to overfeed, but maybe if I offered 5-6 ounces she would eat less frequently and sleep more?

You're not far off where we are, and we're at 16 weeks old. Every baby is different. Our LO will eat a 6 oz bottle first thing in the morning, 4 four ounce bottles through the day, and another 6 ounce bottle before bed. If she still is hungry after 4 ounces, we will give her more one ounce at a time. We just increased to the 6 ounce bottles this last weekend. If your baby's weight is still increasing, you very well could be giving them just enough. Since we pace feed, LO gets full on less (which is why BF babies are also less likely to overeat.) When you give a baby a bottle the regular way, it's like shotgunning a beer. Their tummy can't get the signal that they're full until they're over full. This way, our LO just eventually pushes the bottle away.
As far as sleeping through the night--do you use a pacifier? We were having trouble with LO waking up in the middle of the night, but then not wanting to eat. We figured out that she would wake up, but was having trouble soothing herself. Pop that paci in, and we're back in dreamland. She takes her last bottle between 7:45 and 8:30, and usually falls to sleep without much trouble, and will sleep until 5:30 or 6 in the morning. I probably get up three times in the night to replace the pacifier, as she can't find it once she spits it out. 20 seconds doing that is way better than 30-40 minutes, though.
The best thing you can do is talk to your doctor about whether she's on target with weight. If she is, don't worry what others are giving their babies. You're doing fine!

How much does your LO eat at a time?

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