How much should my six month old be eating?

Question

My six month old son, is eating every 3 hours about 2oz to 4oz.At night sometimes he will go 4 to 6 hours, but it seems he is waking up more now throughout the night and will only eat to go back to sleep. He acts like he is starving at night.

I have tried cereal i feed it to him for breakfast and dinner, but he still wants the same amount of formula every 3 hours. Any suggestions? and how much should a 6 month old be eating?

Answer 1

What nipple are you using, try fast flow, if you are using a slow flow.

Answer 2

Anything from 24-45 ounces of formula would be entirely normal for a baby this age.

Some babies like a few large meals -- others do better with smaller meals more  frequently.  Your baby's total formula intake (around 24 ounces) is fairly low, but in the normal range. Will he not take more than 2-4 ounces at a feeding?  If he's taking what he wants, you can't make him eat more at one time, and given that his meals are so small, I would NOT try to make him go longer between his meals.

Solids at this age are supplements, so you don't WANT him taking less formula.  (Esp. since his total intake is quite low to begin with.)

Feed him his formula when he wants it, and let him take what he needs.  If you want, you can offer solids (cereal or jarred food or home-made baby food) once or twice a day, and he can have as much of it as he enjoys eating.

EDIT: Do not give him water.  Again, his milk intake is already quite low, so you don't want to be filling him up on water, which has no calories or nutrition.