Worried about over feeding?

Question

It may be silly, but I'm so worried about over feeding my daughter. I have a friend who's 6 month old has been put on a diet, because she weighs as much as an 18month old and is considered obese. I was breastfeeding for the first several weeks, but due to a serious medical issue I had to quit. (and yes, it was a real medical issue, I worked with doctors and my lactation consultant to try to continue) Anyways. She's now 5 weeks old and I usually feed her 3oz, if she fusses after an hour or so I will usually try a few different things to see what she wants, but if nothing works I'll usually give her 1 more oz of formula to see it it satisfies her. This is OK, right? Is anyone else paranoid about over feeding? Breast milk was just so perfectly made for our babies, that I feel lost having to formula feed. I would of course love my daughter if she was over weight, but I want to start her on the healthiest path possible & I would hate to be responsible for health issues caused by being obese! I know she's going to go through a growth-spurt soon, so she'll want to eat more probably, but I guess I'm just so paranoid!!

Answer 1

It is VERY hard to overfeed a baby, and normal healthy babies gain weight at a variety of weights. (My neice, at 4 months, weighed more than my daughter did at 2 years -- but both were healthy and normal. My daughter is petite, my neice is a bigger girl.)

If she seems to be fussy after an hour, I'd try offering 4 ounces in her usual bottle -- but if she's still fussy, and clearly hungry after an hour, feed her.  She knows how much food she needs.

(Overfeeding of bottlefed babies usually involves a mother pushing baby to finish the bottle when baby is clearly 'done', or mother giving solids too early -- NOT a mother offering as much formula as baby clearly wants/needs.)

Answer 2

hi hun, i have a 10 week old son and i was breastfeeding untill i was forced to stop at 4 weeks, i put him onto a 4oz bottle and sumtimes he drank it all other times he left an ounce, regarding this i think u shud make just tht lil bit extra (so make ya bottles 4) so then they take what they want, where as if they drink it all they cud still be hungry, it tuk me a while to get into the swing of feeding him on a bottle, as above hes 10 weeks old and hes now on a 9oz bottle, but am worried he mite get obese so ive just tried him with 1/2 a rusk today mixed with warm milk from his bottle, (i know your not supposed 2 put them on solids yet) but every baby is different and if you think she needs more or less milk then go with your instinct, at the end of the day you know your baby the best, not these health visitors, you do hun what ever you feel happy with doing, but i dont think u can over feed a baby, only if you are ramming the bottle down her neck when she doesnt really need it is over feeding, but if you look on the side of the milk box it tells you about feeding guidelines, usually a baby thts 2 weeks old gets a 4 oz bottle, and then at 2 months you introduce her to 6 ounce, but as i said before every baby is different and you have 2 go with what ever you feel is best but i wud deffo make 1 extra ounce of milk for her, she will be more settled for you and sleep better aswell... i hope ive helped and not preached 2 much,(i dont mean to)

gud luck hun.x

Answer 3

i've never heard of a baby going on a diet that young. in my experience, if they baby is hungry then feed him/her. if he gets too much he will probably spit it up anyway.

Answer 4

I went through the same thing with my son. Breastfed for first 5 weeks and had a serious medical condition myself, so was forced to stop. My son has always eaten like a horse and is still only in the 50th% for weight. You're doing great though... don't worry about the extra formula. Only time it becomes a problem is if they're getting more than 32oz in a 24hr period. (We got to that point at about 3 months so they started him on cereal a bit early) My nephew is already having 5oz a bottle at 6 weeks, but he's still very much in the healthy range, a chunkster, but healthy. If you're ever concerned about your little one starting to get too much formula just call your pediatrician and they can reassure you. Keep it up... she's growing rapidly at that stage and needs the nutrients :-)  

Answer 5

Babies have a unique mechanism that allows them to regulate their calorie intake by the volume of milk they consume.  You can not overfeed a baby, unless you're adding cereal or other things to their bottles, which throws that mechanism off kilter.

My cousin's son was 22lbs at 4 months, he too was a formula fed baby.  No doctor put him on a diet, he was above the norm, but he was happy and healthy.   As soon as he started crawling and walking all that baby fat melted away.  He's eight years old now and as thin as a rail and of course he's as handsome as can be.

My oldest daughter was breastfed and while she didn't quite tip the scales she was in the 95th percentile.  She was a very large baby, right from the get go, but just like her cousin as soon as she started getting a little more mobile all the baby fat went away.  She is now a very pretty normal sized three year old and beautiful (i'm biased of course)

A larger than average child is nothing to be concerned about, as long as their healthy and meeting their milestones a parent should not be worried at all.

My youngest has had the exact opposite experience and let me tell you with an under weight baby there are a lot more worries and concerns involved.  She is 20 months old and still only 20lbs, we've seen so many specialists it's not even funny, but no one can figure out what the heck is going on.

The best advice I can give you is feed baby when she is hungry, even if it's 1/2 hour later.  If she doesn't seem to go two three hours between feeds, then it's time to increase the amount of formula you give her at that particular time.  It's completely normal for her to have a period where she'll down 3-4 oz in one go and another time she'll only take 2.  She'll establish a pattern and you can roll with it or you can establish a pattern and see if she goes along.

Good luck and keep up the good work!