3 1/2 Week Old Feeding

Every child is different - feed her when she's hungry and how much she wants. They grow a lot, so to just say a certain amount is enough for EVERY baby is rediculous.

I would say let her drink as much as she wants. She'll know when she's full and not want more! If by the time she's 6 mo she's "overweight" then you can deal with that issue then. Not all babies fit the doctors "formula" (no pun intended!) Sometimes it is best to trust your instincts. I was on the opposite side of this spectrum. My son wanted to breastfeed all the time, like on the hour. I had issues and was feeding from one side only but was producing alot of milk. However, I listened to people who said that it was best to get him on a schedule, and so I'd put off feeding him when I knew he was hungry. As a result, I had a cranky baby who cried all the time and between about 2 - 4 months, gained weight slowly. Around that time we started figuring things out, and he plumped right up. Looking back I wish I had taken his cues more and the doctors less. Good luck!

K.:

CONGRATULATIONS on your little girl!!!

I take it you are bottle or formula feeding since you know exactly how much she is taking? While I think it might be too much - it's NOT for her - EVERY child is different. I would stick with what works for YOUR DAUGHTER...she's obviously tolerating 3 ounces well so don't hold back...she's growing!! she will grow more in her first year than she will any other time in her life - so give her what she needs!!!

CONGRATS!!

just feed her as much as she wants...i've had the my son's pedi & wic tell me that when he was 6 months old that he was overweight and i needed to stop feeding him so much (it's not like it was even that much... 28 oz formula on a good day (he had reflux).
i told them to stuff it...if they would like to come to my home and listen to my hungry son cry at them, be my guest. so, until then, i'm letting him call the shots lol. and he's definantly not overweight... he's 14 months, like 34in & 26lbs (he looks 18+ months from his size lol)

That is a great schedule and amount. My son was doing 4oz at 4 weeks and still eats like a champ almost 5 years later. He is tall for his age and is height/weight proportionate.

I went through the same thing. Don't worry about what the doctor says as far as that goes.. I'm not a person who typically disregards what doctors say, but on this topic, I found it necessary to. Every baby is different.
Best wishes :)

Every child is different and I don't think you should worry about feeding "too much" when your child is hungry. I wouldn't be surprised if she was going through a growth spurt. Looking back at my notes, my son drank 3.5-4 oz of breastmilk every 3 hours when he was that age. I knew this because he couldn't latch and I exclusively pumped. He'd drink a total of 25 oz a day, and he was (and still is) in the 50th-70th percentile range for weight. By week 12, he was drinking 35 oz of breastmilk a day - which seems like a lot to some, but he just loved his milk. My daughter was a champion nurser so I don't know how much she drank at the time, but I knew when she was full because she'd spit up what she couldn't stomach. She was chunky to begin with (95th+ percentile) but she started to thin out when she learned to walk at 14 months, as the dr predicted. She's still a great eater and is in the 85th percentile for weight. I'd continue to feed on demand and not worry about it.

If you are nursing... WOW - how do you know how much she consumed? My newborn was a voracious eater once he left the NICU and would nurse every 45 minutes while awake and has finally been at 2-4 hours stretches overnight before waking to feed.

If baby is showing signs of hunger... as in nothing else is wrong and she greedily latches to eat... then feed her.

It sounds normal to me, but I'm not a pediatrician. I've never given my kids bottles (my husband does when I'm at work, but it's breastmilk and he doesn't always remember how much they had). My doctor's office usually just asks if they're still nursing, check weight and height, and go with their growth curve and other indicators. If she's hungry, she's hungry. She hasn't learned to "eat everything" yet. My third is always hungry and at 6 months old he was 23 pounds, but he was exclusively breastfeeding and nursing all the time and going through nearly 30 ounces of milk while I was at work. He is super-healthy, just an eater and a big, proportionate boy.

I would go with your mom inclination on feeding her. If her weight jumps and stays "too high," or proportionately too high for her length for the long term, you might talk to your doctor about alternatives. If you're nursing, don't worry about it, and if you're feeding her breast milk in bottles, the composition will change and she should still just eat what she needs, whatever that amount is. If you're doing formula and would rather breastfeed, you can probably still develop a supply since she's so young. She's so young that unless she is NOT gaining weight, there should be nothing to worry about.

are you formula feeding? Then that would be a bit much but really I would let her eat what she wants too. Does you Ped think she is getting to heavy? if they are ok with her weight then let her at it. She will taper off. Things tend to even out

Here's a great resource: http://www.kellymom.com/bf/pumping/milkcalc.html. It's generally for 1 month and up, so your daughter is close enough.

I'm assuming you're bottle-feeding, so you could try Paced-Bottle Feeding with her. You can google it; there's no official website, but kellymom.com has a great description at http://kellymom.com/bf/pumping/bottle-feeding.html. Instead of laying the baby down in the traditional bottle hold, you sit baby upright like she's sitting at the dining room table with you. You then allow just enough milk in the nipple that the hole is covered. This forces her to create the flow, allowing her body to signal when she's full.

In the traditional bottle-hold position, she's forced to accept the flow because it doesn't matter how small the hole in the nipple is, once the bottle is turned upside down, the breastmilk/formula is going to drip out. This forces your baby to swallow whether she's hungry or not. It also creates an excess intake of air as she's gulping to keep up.

3oz every 3 hours does seem a little excessive, but she's also at prime growth spurt age. Are you watching for her early feeding cues? She could be telling you earlier than every 3 hours that she's ready to eat. Cycling of the arms and legs, hand/fist to mouth, increased tongue movement... these are all good indications of hunger at her age. The earliest signs are when she's still sleeping: REM sleep, increased restlessness are two good ones. Crying is the very last sign they give us that they're hungry. She may eat less at each feeding if notice these signs earlier. Of course, then it may seem that she's eating more often :)

Don't worry about what the pediatrician thinks!!! You absolutely cannot limit how much a 3.5 week old is eating. If she's hungry, she's hungry! She's not an adult that can monitor what she eats and tell herself, "Oh, I just ate an hour ago, so I need to hold off a little longer." However, if you watch for her early feeding cues and practice the Paced-Bottle Feeding, you may notice that she's not eating as much. Plus, if it's a growth spurt, her intake will drop off slightly when she gets through it. Check out the milk calculator; it really is cool!!! :)

Happy parenting!