Can you over feed a bottle fed baby ?

[Mrs Doddy]

Is this possible ? Ds seems to love his milk and we feed him totally on his demand, the amount varies every feed, during the day he feeds every 2ish hours anything from 2-4oz at night he is up twice about 3-4oz, he downs the bottle like it's the best thing ever in about 5/10mins !!! I've not had him weighed yet will do this Tuesday - he's in 0-3months clothes , had the total opposite with dd she hated her milk / would take barely anything and take hours !!!

 

[eew1471]

I fed on demand and my son ate like that too! He did and still Is a big boy but I can't deny a hungry baby. Some people and Drs agree and some disagree. I ended up changing Drs to someone that agreed with feeding on demand.

 

[clever_blond]

No i dont think you can't over feed them when they are so small. They will drink however much they need and if they take too much they will bring up the excess. IMO you should always feed a hungry baby and they can regulate how much they need.

I have fed both my girls on demand and they are growing normally. Xx

 

[Rachel_C]

You can overfeed a bottle fed baby but it's something you can easily avoid. As long as you don't care if LO finishes the bottle (no 'just a little bit more, come on'), stick to the slowest teats LO is okay with (too fast and baby's brain won't get the signals that the tummy is full quick enough to stop eating!) and just generally watch out for baby's signals, you should feed on demand. Baby really does know best, as long as you let them get on with it

They will sick up anything that's not needed so it doesn't matter if somebody well-meaning tries to get them to take more once or twice, but if it happened regularly I imagine the stomach would eventually stretch... same as for anybody really.

 

[Noodlebear]

Agree with Rachel

 

[rosepetals36]

I see your baby was early too, dont prem babies tend to catch up quicker, mine was born at 36 weeks and feed 4oz every 3 hours like clockwork! Sometimes he will only go 2-3 hours! If hes hungry and eatin it Hun its a good thing

 

[Mrs Doddy]

I never force him to finish - I let him tell me - will be interested to see his weight on Tuesday ! Was 6lbs 9oz at birth

 

[loopylj]

My lo is 5 weeks and during the day he feeds every 3ish hours and takes anywhere between 4-6oz he was also feeding every 3 hours over night so I was a bit concerned that he was taking far too much but over the last few nights he has started to sleep 6/7 hours over night therefore dropping a feed. The HV said this was fine and if he took too much he would just be sick. Xx