Overfed

@vespin When my 2-week old was downing 4-5 oz, I had expressed concern to my doctor about over feeding and I got a similar response as other comments had: I was told it’s pretty damn hard to over feed and to feed until my baby was satisfied. She mellowed out and she definitely loves to eat (8 months old), but no major problems. We did switch to the gentlease formula when we experienced a lot of fussiness / gassy symptoms, and baby still ate plenty.
 
@vespin Yeah, this is what the first doctor's said about my baby in his early days as well.

Turns out he was allergic to his milk, and also had a tongue tie. Their lazy initial 'diagnosis' made him suffer about 6 weeks longer than he needed to. In the end it was our health visitor that correctly diagnosed him and got him the treatment he needed.

I don't know why some doctors just seem to default to overfeeding when a baby is colicky, possiting, and reflux-y. It's such a cop out IMO and is barely ever actually the case for most parents.
 
@vespin I recommend mylicon or gripe drops for gas! Being told she’s over fed though is extremely weird by your doctor. If your baby is hungry, definitely feed her
 
@vespin Definitely poor advice. Feed baby when she’s hungry! She will tell you when she’s full. I don’t think you mentioned age (important factor) but my baby has always been a voracious eater. She’s 3.5 months and eats almost 1L a day! (Although I think she’s going through a growth spurt). Gas is pretty common with babies (you could try mylicon to see if it helps). Gagging I’m not sure though. Or excessive bloating. Those might be more related to other factors I would think. Could be nipples flow? Bottles?
 
@vespin I switched to level 2 pretty quick around 2 months. He kept falling asleep and never finishing but then waking up too soon. It takes a bit of adjusting but I really recommend it.

What happens is if the flow is too slow they work harder for their food and suck more air in hence all the gas. My baby has eaten better ever since the adjustment. You should only be concerned if your baby spit up more than 2 tablespoons worth. Definitely feed your baby when hungry though.
 
@vespin How old is your baby? 3oz per feed is what my baby ate at 2-3 weeks old. Your baby is acting hungry bc she is hungry. If your baby is crying from hunger, it makes zero sense to restrict her to an arbitrary number of oz. Do you think breastfeeding moms are weighing out how much breast milk they give? No. They let their babies eat until they are full.

If your ped is this backwards about feeding your baby, I am very concerned what other outdated advice they are handing out. It is normal for babies to struggle with gas for a while until they learn how to fart, and even after they still struggle with gas sometimes (as do adults). Bloating is just you being able to see a baby's full stomach because they have tiny little bodies with nowhere else for their stomach to go other than out and gagging is also normal as babies figure out how to pace themselves when eating. Your baby will also do a bit of gagging every time you go up a nipple size.
 
@redvelvetcake Yeah, I definitely did not stick to not feeding her. It broke my heart even trying with 3 bottles. I’m just thinking it was the nipple size was too big for her. We switched down to premie nipples and it’s been so different already.
 
@vespin Geez…that’s a tough one. We struggled with this (and still struggle with this problem). Is my baby being overfed (and possibly refluxy) or is my baby really hungry? Does my baby grow so much because I overfed or is my baby truly hungry because of wanting to grow quick due to genetics?

My baby ate about 4 oz at that age every 3 hours - combo fed, but also being breastfed sometimes (usually he wanted to nurse to sleep). He’s a big guy - born average and jumped through percentiles so now he’s 94% for weight and 99% per height. Pediatricians tell me I overfed him. He does look chuncky, but also tall. I read height growth is mostly due to genetics. Pediatricians tell me it’s because he ate a lot.

I now struggle to understand my reality. My baby was indeed crying a lot when time came to eat, but would settle once he had quite a large quantity of milk and be his happy self once he ate. But he would spit-up unlike your baby. It was so tough for me to decide how much to give my baby cause he was crying so much when I tried to give him according to guidelines and was fussy after. Was it reflux or was he really hungry because of genetic potential?

Some things we tried to apply ourselves was paced feeding. Also to give him the general guildelines amount and then take a break even if he was crying (like going for a walk or change diaper) and then give him more if he was still crying after 5 minutes. Sometimes he will settle and would not want more, sometimes he will cry more so we gave him more. Nevertheless, he was always crying after we fed him according to the guidelines. When we gave him more, he was happier even if he spit-up. He wasn’t even eating as much as some other babies his age and he still grew in 90+ percentile.

Ah! I say…go with your instinct and maybe ask for a second opinion too.
 
@vespin What is your child’s age?
Edit: I just read further below you respond def your baby is 6 weeks old. My next question is how are you preparing the formula? By hand? Or using any machine like bBabyBrezza? I ask because BabyBrezza is notorious for miscalculating the amount of formula so babies can be underfed while still getting enough (or even more) volume (for example, too much water and not enough powder formula). I had that issue.
Hope the link I included in my original response helps.

Tbh, I have been shamed for feeding a little more than others have in their experience with their children. However I follow the guidelines from 3-4 resources I found online (1 of which was recommended by a pediatrician; see link).
healthy children

I’ve also ventured in the Pampers (yes the diaper company) website which has a good amount of information on a few subjects, including a feeding chart/table. Also babycenter.com. And even a pamphlet from a formula company (I forget which). All of these sources say that approximately 5 ounces is about average for a 3 month old (my baby’s age).
That being said I’ve heard of a newborn being bottled fed 8 ounces by a first time father, unknowingly of course that 8 ounces was way too much (but baby ate!!!)
 
@vespin Are you pacefeeding? I saw in other comments that your baby is 6 weeks old and eating 5oz every 2 hours - that is kind of a lot. People always say you can’t overfeed, but you definitely can, especially with formula. You can’t overfeed a breastfed baby.

Also when they’re that young, they mix hunger with gas pains so they eat more to help with the gas but it causes more gas. I would try a probiotic and bicycles to help relieve gas.

Edit: wow I’m not saying to starve her kid if she’s actually hungry, I’m just saying make sure to pacefeed if she seems uncomfortable after eating.
 
@yamyak I do pacefeed! I think the nipple size was too big for her. When they told me to switch to the Premie nipples, I got home and immediately noticed a difference in the way she ate. It was a lot better & no gulping or becoming wheezy.
 
@vespin I think if you’re pacefeeding and she still wants 5oz then maybe she just needs that! Again, I’m not saying to not listen to her hunger cues. I’m just saying it’s possible to over feed to where they get sick. My LO would throw up when we overfed her or she’d cry because of the gas.
 
@vespin My baby ate a lot from the start and was gassy and spit up a lot until we went with soy. He doesn’t have an allergy but a slight intolerance I’d say and does soooo much better on soy! Could be a type and not an amount issue
 
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