Well, my concerns about LO not eating frequently enough are unfounded. She jumped from the 29 percentile to 49th in 4 weeks! She gained 8 oz a week which is a little over the 5-7 oz recommended. I have been giving her 2 oz of formula 6-7 a day after nursing. She has been spitting up some lately... I wonder if I should cut back? The pediatrician always says "just feed her when she's hungry as much as she wants" but this girl will suck down milk until the cows come home!
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I would def try cutting back on formula and see how weight gain/diapers are. I hope this is the beginning if a muh easier nursing relationship for you guys!
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Honestly, if she's hungry and wants to eat, I'd feed her.
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My LO jumped percentiles pretty drastically and my pedi was never concerned. He was less than the 10th percentile when he was born and now (at almost 7 months) is in the 90th percentiles for both height and weight.
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That's great news! I'd try cutting the formula too and see how it goes. Sounds like your supply caught up!
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I would cut back on the formula for sure. My LO also would drink milk as long as it was offered. She has never left a drop in a bottle. So just because your LO is drinking it doesn't mean she needs it. Cut back and see how she does. Your breast milk supply may have finally caught up to her needs, which would be wonderful news!!!
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@rahlyrah: How do you feed your LO? I guess my thought is the point of supplementation is to make sure she gains weight, and I don't want to be needlessly over-supplementing.
@loveisstrange: She will usually suck down a bottle if it's offered! So I don't know that she's always truly hungry.
@hilsy85: @Foodnerd81: @MamaMoose: I'm hopeful that my supply is increasing even though it's more or less the same when I pump, although I have noticed way more fat in my milk which is cool. I am seeing a LC again in two days so she can help me figure out how to decrease supplement, too. The thing I stress about a little is that I can't use weight to regularly make sure she's eating enough because she doesn't go back to the doctor for 2 months, and there is nowhere to do free weight checks. I went to a breastfeeding support group and it was like pulling teeth to get the LC there to bring out the scale!
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@daniellemybelle: I bet if you called the nurse at your ped's office and explained your situation they'd let you stop by once a week for a quick weight check.
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@MamaMoose: Nope
Weight checks count as sick visits & we have to see the doctor & pay a co-pay!
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Good job, mama! While gaining weight might not be fun for us, it's so important for our babes. I would say if she's still hungry, let her eat. Watch for her cues. If she starts to drift off, play with the nipple, stop sucking, then stop the bottle. Otherwise, let her eat. We exclusively formula fed, and I always fed on demand. If Sadie wanted to eat, I fed her. And, she's always been around 45th percentile. Babies are "programmed" to stop when they're full -- I wouldn't worry about your LO eating too much.
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@photojane: See, that rarely happens! She frequently does a high pitched scream when the bottle is done no matter how much I give her. I learned that by the time I made a new bottle she was fine & wouldn't take it. Unfortunately I think it's a habit held over from when she was underfed
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@daniellemybelle: I think she's probably too young to have developed an overeating habit. If she's drinking 12-14oz of formula/day she's getting a pretty good portion of her nutrition from the formula (Sadie was eating 24oz/day at that age), so I'd be careful with cutting back to much too soon. Maybe you could try removing one bottle, and see how she does?
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@photojane: KellyMom says to do one ounce at a time, so I was thinking I'd make 1.75 oz bottles instead of 2 oz. I am going to see a LC in two days though so I will see her thoughts! A big piece of the puzzle is finding out how much she is transferring when she nurses these days.
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@daniellemybelle: I would go ahead and feed her because once she's active and mobile her feeding habits will change. My LO use to take the bottle as soon as she saw it, she did this cute forward head jerk motion aiming at the bottle, like a fishing jumping for the bait. It was the cutest thing so we nicknamed her our little goldfish. Now at 8 months, she just wants to scoot, crawl, and play. She knocks the bottle out of my hands sometimes. It's been going on for a few months now but she is getting stronger and refusing the bottle more often. She's become so active and it worries me that she might not be gaining weight.
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@daniellemybelle: can you purchase a baby scale? I bought one when we were concerned about LO's weight gain--I think it was like $40 on amazon? Of course, if you are any kind of obsessive person, that might just feed into your anxiety (the same way it can with an adult constantly weighing themselves), so only if you think it woudln't make you more anxious!
As for the worry about overfeeding babies/idea that babies won't overeat--that's usually true for breastfed babies, and sometimes true of bottle fed babies--but not necessarily! The mechanism with drinking from a bottle is just a bit different from nursing, and because it's usually easier/different to get milk from a bottle, that same "stop sucking I'm full" feeling doesn't always get the same response of not actually drinking more milk.
I think you are definitely ok to try to drop the supplementation and see how it goes! Worst case, she seems to be hungrier than usual and you add it back in.
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I don't think it's always true that babies won't eat if they aren't hungry/don't need it. My nephew was in a similar boat-- not gaining enough, so they were BFing and formula feeding, and he got so used to it that he always wanted both. Eventually they went to formula feeding only and they ped had them monitoring how much he ate because he would eat to much otherwise. I don't know the whole story, just saying that some babies will eat more than they need.
@daniellemybelle: Not saying your LO is eating more than she needs, though! Just saying the possibility is out there. I still think reducing the amount of formula is a good idea, and buying a baby scale seems like a good way to reduce your anxiety and make sure she is still gaining.
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@daniellemybelle: no no never! If she is hungry and wants to eat listen to the doc and feed that beauty
gaining is good!
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I would just try to read her cues a bit more when bottle feeding. If she's crying or wants to be fed, feed her (IMO.) But you really have to watch for cues that she is done when bottle feeding!
ETA And if that's already happening you might just have a spitter or need a bottle change.
Weight checks count as sick visits & we have to see the doctor & pay a co-pay!
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