4 month old only eats 2-2.5 oz at a time

[comicbookcollege]

The biggest struggle with my four month old has been the feeding. She has been taking 2 ounces, sometimes 2.5 ounces at a time every 2-3 hours. My pediatrician says that she should be eating more at a time but I really just can’t get her to eat more. I was wondering if anyone else had anything similar happened to them. She’s a small girl, so I think that’s just going to be her. She’s 10 lbs 10 oz at 4 months old. It’s just really a struggle with the feeding and I don’t know if this is just her or if this is something I should worry about.

 

[alexis5]

@comicbookcollege Have you checked the flow of the nipple? Maybe it’s too slow and she’s done trying?

 

[comicbookcollege]

@alexis5 Yes I’ve tried size 2 and size 3 I think size 2 works the best for her (dr browns) but I have played with nipple size a bit

 

[grantkearney]

@comicbookcollege I would also try a different bottle brand she might just not like that bottle. Herobility is a good one and has a flatter shaped nipple I notice my sun takes to them a lot better than the browns.

 

[comicbookcollege]

@grantkearney Did you notice an increase in ounces when switching from dr browns to the herobility?

 

[grantkearney]

@comicbookcollege Yes! He would do 2-3 oz on dr brown bottles. He could do 4 but it took over an hour to get him to finish it. On the herobility ones he can finish the entire 4–5 oz even after stopping to burp in the middle. They have a wide top and a flatter nipple so I think it’s just more comfortable for him. He eats great now that I use them

 

[sleeplesswhite]

@comicbookcollege "Should be" is an average, and babies will fall on either end of that average. My baby is the 5th percentile and at 3 months old has just recently started reaching the 24oz a day she "should be" eating. She's always stayed on her growth curve, eaten as much and as often as she's wanted to, and is a happy and healthy baby.

 

[comicbookcollege]

@sleeplesswhite Yes we are struggling to get 24 oz in 24 hours and the doctors are constantly telling me to keep trying but it’s impossible to get a baby force feed lol

 

[sleeplesswhite]

@comicbookcollege Has she stayed on her growth curve?

 

[comicbookcollege]

@sleeplesswhite Yes she was born 6 lbs 5 oz and has consistently gained .5 oz a day and has been 2 percentile the whole time which still worries me but the pediatrician says not to worry too much bc she’s on her own growth curve and so on

 

[sleeplesswhite]

@comicbookcollege Mine was the exact same weight! Dropped to 5lb15oz before we left the hospital on day 5 (needed antibiotics). She comes from a family of 8-9lb babies so we were all surprised how tiny she is. Her older sister was born 8lb12oz. Some people just start tiny and stay tiny.

 

[comicbookcollege]

@sleeplesswhite Any issues at all is her pediatrician fine with her growth etc?

 

[sleeplesswhite]

@comicbookcollege It did take her 3 weeks to surpass birth weight but she has stayed on the 5th percentile curve (4 week weight check, 2 month appt, and 3 month weight check). She is a very happy and smiley bub and is meeting or surpassing milestones. Her doc still thinks she should be eating more but you can't force feed an infant and she's absolutely perfect eating as much as she is.

 

[comicbookcollege]

@sleeplesswhite And she was eating 2/3 oz at a time ? Did it ever increase really?

 

[sleeplesswhite]

@comicbookcollege Yes, 2.5-3oz every 3ish hours. She's only just recently (11-12 weeks old) started eating 3-4oz consistently. It's usually closer to 3oz during the day and 4oz at night, she wakes up 2-3 times to eat. She's not afraid to tell the whole neighborhood when she's hungry lol.

 

[yamyak]

@comicbookcollege Mine was like this. We finally started reflux meds at 6mo and she started eating much better. She barely had any signs of silent reflux too.

 

[comicbookcollege]

@yamyak Really? No symptoms of reflux at all? Maybe I’ll mention it at her 4 month appointment

 

[yamyak]

@comicbookcollege When she was a newborn, she had some obvious reflux (would throw up, spit up a lot), but around 2mo, she stopped. But she started eating funky - stopped taking the bottle back after burps. Randomly choking here and there, as if something was coming back up her throat. Wasn’t fussy though and was gaining weight. Took forever for the pediatrician to finally let us trial some meds. Went from doing 2.5-3oz every 3hrs to 4-5oz every 3hrs in a month.

 

[yamyak]

@comicbookcollege Also I saw another comment about you trying to reach 24oz - don’t. Don’t ever force her to eat more than she wants, otherwise it can cause a bottle aversion. It’s just an average number - some babies eat more and some less. I drove myself crazy trying to get to that number.

 

[lovelyhipopp]

@comicbookcollege My LO has some reflux issues as well and tends to take smaller bottles at a time. We noticed that he struggles with sleeping on his back flat, has wet burps. He doesn’t spit up alot but gets a little bit of chubkie spit up in his mouth anytime he burps.