Bottle quantity question : weight vs. hunger

[Bengal]

Our beautiful babies are gaining weight and thriving

Though Our MCN said I am over feeding the babies

Baby A easily drinks 150 ml's @ 4.07 kg

Baby B easily drinks 125 ml's @ 3.81 kg

They have been vomiting and are sprewy babies in general so she says that's why

They are sleeping in 4 hour blocks, wake for a bottle at night, burp, nappy back to sleep

I have been told to feed them between 80 to absolutely no more than 120

Has this happened to anyone else ?

[milka]

Both of my children were bottle fed from day 1 and once they were 2 weeks old I followed what the formula tin recommended. So while I can't remember the amount maybe see if you are on track with the tin amounts? I was using nan pro gold

[nickle730]

I always fed my babies however much they wanted! I figured if they drank the bottle dry, I needed to make the next one a scoop bigger! I always liked to see a bit of formula left in the bottle so I knew that they were satisfied. I never paid much attention to the tin, I just paid attention to what my baby was telling me!

I would be inclined to feed your bub's as much as they are telling you they need and ignore the tin... and the MCN! My DD1 was a happy chucker and I found stopping halfway through the feed for a burp helped her to keep the feed down. None of my babies ever had a weight issue and I reckon I would have been pretty unhappy if someone suggested restricting their feeds!

[Trillian]

Pfft! to your MCHN. If they are hungry, feed them! Babies don't read the cans, so they don't know what they are *supposed* to have. For their age, 80-120mls would not be enough and you'd have starving unhappy babies on your hands for sure. If what you have been doing is working for you, then keep doing it. It sounds like your babies are gorgeous happy little things who are doing just fine the way they are. They are probably just spewy babies and maybe they have a little reflux, but even though they were born early it doesn't mean that they should be fed less, or that they are spewy they should be fed less. Geeze, my last baby was having 120mls at 5 days old! If you think the spewing is a problem, try keeping them upright after a feed and see if that makes a difference.

[HotI]

My DS is a chucky baby, but doesn't mean i am going to stop feeding him if he is hungry. i just sit/stand him up after and hope it stays in. if he tells me he needs more after a chuck he gets it.

Sounds like you have 2 happy healthy babies!

[TaRhLi.]

Keep feeding them what they want. They will decide if how much they want to have and as they have so much growing to do the amount they drink will vary all the time. Sometimes you will find they will drain the bottle dry and other times leave some...

Liam was a chucker as well and that is just the way he was . The MCN's go to a plan, but listen to B & B's needs, if I followed the formula tin or my MCN my boys would have been wanting bottles all day every day but because I took their clues by the time they were 8mths old they were only have 3 bottles a day (MCN & Tin says at least 4-5) and now at 12mths Rhys will have a morning and night bottle and Liam will have a morning bottle and maybe 40mls at night because they know if they are hungry or not.

If they are thriving and happy and contented then you are doing great

[leesha]

I agree with all of the above and if you were breastfeeding then who are they to tell you quantity's. You simply would feed them till full. Just go with your mummy instinct and listen to your babies!
They are growing and obviously need it :-)

[Bengal]

Thanks girls for your support . I felt awful that I was giving them an overload. And over expanding their stomachs

I keep them upright, burp half way, and keep them still so the milk settles

I think they are just spewy babies,

Thanks again :-)

[Trillian]

Bengal, do you think that it could be worth putting some thickener in their bottles or using an AR/thickened formula? It helped my last bub immensely to have the AR formula and stopped the constant spewing.