how much does your 9th centile LO eat?

[Ang1873]

yes yes, i'm worrying about LO's eating again!

she eats about 25oz a day, but we 'encourage' her to do so.

the tin says (i know every baby is different!) at 4 months she should be having 35oz.

she bobs above and below the 9th centile and is averaging a weight gain of just under 1lb per month.

she lost lots at the start so was playing catch up from the beginning.

i just wondered what others of the same size generally eat?

now - rationally i know she is fine, happy, alert, content and sleeps all night.

she's in 3-6month clothes lengthwise but is petite width wise! dreading her hitting the feet of these sleepsuits as the next size up will be so baggy if she doesn't fill out soon!!!!!!!!

just looking for some reasurrance!

 

[jeanettekaren]

I can't help with quantities as we exclusively breastfeed but I know what you mean about the sleep suits. Finn is on the 9th centile and long and thin. He's only 9 weeks but he is in 3-6 months which are fine in length but massive on the top half.

I wouldn't worry about quantities if your lo is happy and alert, I don't think they will ever eat the average amount as our lo's are smaller than average (although perfectly healthy) so it stands to reason in my mind that they would eat less than another baby of the same age who is on the 75th centile iykwim.

 

[OmarsMum]

Hi hun, weight & size are not indications on how much they can/should eat. Omar was a big baby & is a big toddler. His max was 24 oz & only for few weeks at 4 months, then he started to drop ozs at 5 months.

 

[mummyclo]

My Lo has about that a day sometimes a couple more and sometimes a couple less. Never more than about 28oz a day x

 

[vickie83]

When Evie was 4 months (she's remained around 9th centile from birth) she was having around 18 ozs a day. She is a very dainty girl though, still in 3-6 clothes at 8 months.

 

[Gemma x]

Hi Oscar is nearly 5months old and he is having between 20 and 25 oz a day but i have started to wean him to but am worried he went up a centile and has dropped back down again, not much help really. i just offer more milk throughout the day but he dosent often take extra milk.

Gem x

 

[sandrass]

Alessa has never taken more than a 4 oz bottle at a time, still doesn't drink much more than 24 oz in a day. Doctor always worried says she doesn't eat enough but never has any suggestions as she refuses to, and is thriving and growing! So what if she is a little behind weight wise (she is tall) its who she is every person and every baby is different...relax. I used to stress out about it too!

 

[bobloblaw]

She sounds very similar to my LO. She's 3.5 months. On average I think she has about 30oz per day. But most days she'll miss a feed/not finish one so it's probably closer to 26oz. She's still in 0-3 clothes, though we're going to move up soon.

It can be worrying when you read all the threads about how much other babies eat! We obviously just have little girls x

 

[stardust599]

Macy is on the 2nd centile and at 3 and a half months and 10lb3 she still only takes between 15-20ounces a day! Try not to worry too much xx

 

[binxyboo]

my LO has been 2nd centile until I had him weighed today - he is now just below the 9th (hooray).
However, at just over 7 months, he averages about 25oz per day. (the same amount that your 4 month old is eating). He would go up to 30oz when he was having a growth spurt, but would drop back to about 25oz when his growth spurt was done!
As long as they are putting on weight and not dropping centiles, I shouldn't worry.

 

[Nats21]

Callums on the 9th centile, at 4 months he was drinking about 25 - 27oz of milk a day. Hes still on the 9th centile at 7 months but is happy and healthy. He now eats 3 meals a day and has 2 puddings, plus finger foods, and even though everytime we go and get him weighed hes still on the 9th centile, I know hes happy and healthy, every babies different and aren't always going to drink the amount that is recommended for that age xx

 

[Ang1873]

thanks guys, this is all very reassuring (just have to tell my irrational side to chill!)

i'm the only one that worries, even the HV says everythings fab!

 

[Ang1873]

sorry - double post!!

 

[x-li-x]

Hi Hun, I wouldn't worry as long as she is putting on weight that sounds fine, my little girl has never drank more than 24 oz in 24 hr and is small too, now at 10 months she is still is 3-6 mnth clothes and is just under the 0.4th centile for weight and is on the 9th it think it is for height so she is just naturally small as may be your daughter

 

[Lara310809]

Hon, please don't worry. My LO was having 10oz per day when she was your age, and she should have been having 35oz. I have to be honest; it took her dropping to the second centile for someone to take me seriously, and we started by weaning her at 5m, in a bid to increase her calorie intake. She just wasn't interested in her milk anymore.

The past couple of months she's been on a high calorie milk called Infatrini, because whle she was gaining, she wasn't gaining fast enough to have her gain centiles.

That worked brilliantly, but I'm going away with LO for 5 weeks on Saturday, and I can't take all the bottles of ready made Infatrini with me, so she's been swapped to a high calorie powder which you add to regular formula.

At 5m we weaned her and by 6m she was on 3 meals a day. I woudln't recommend early weaning though, because it's not right for all babies, and it's better to delay it until 6m, but speak to your HV and see what your baby needs.

 

[ellie27]

From 3 all the way to 6 months Anna took just 24 oz maximum a day.

Until 3 months she went from below the 9th to under the 25th centile. From 3 months onwards she jumped up past 25th centile, and from 4.5 months she went above the 50th line - all on 24 oz a day - she never needed any more

 

[Kalah]

No clue how many ounces my LO eats but she has 3 meals of solids a day and is breastfed on demand which is still about 4 times a day or long feeds and through out the night. She's around the 9th centile.

 

[LankyDoodle]

My LO has been between 9th and 25th since about 7 weeks old. She fell from 40th to 25th then to 15th and followed that for a while then at 5 months dropped to 9th and followed that for a while, picked up, dropped down again and she is now on about the 15th again (or was at 9 month weigh-in). She gained about 1lb a month except in month 5 when she gained overall about 3oz due to a loss early in the month when she was ill, then in month 8 a gain of 4oz (ill again). 1lb a month is OK.

Babies, like adults, have differing metabolisms, different activity levels, different appetites etc. Isabella eats literally like a HORSE! We have a horse and I'm pretty sure she eats more bulk than him haha! She has a mahoosive bowl of porridge (normal oats) with whole milk and a pot of fruit puree to sweeten) and either a slice of jammy toast or a banana, for breakfast. She eats the lot and she is BLW so I don't force her in any way! For lunch she will have a smallish meal - usually rice cakes or if she didn't have toast at breakfast she will have cheesy toast or a sandwich, always washed down with some more fruit and/or an organic yoghurt - full pot! She will have a mid-afternoon snack of some dried fruit or raisins or rice cakes or a gingerbread biscuit or a big wedge of cheddar, something along those lines. Dinner is then a big, hot meal... something like pasta with loads of veg and sauce, or a homemade fish pie/shepherds pie/pasta bake/etc; then for pudding she will have fruit or homemade rice pudding or yoghurt (all depends what she had after her lunch). I try to get some fats into every meal (cheese, butter, full fat yoghurt for afters) as with being a slow gainer and at what point having lost a chunk of weight, I felt it was important.

She has always been a very frequent feeder as well. Until we started weaning she would feed 1.5-2 hourly, then through the night she'd wake 2-3 times for a decent feed. This tailed off after 6 months and she started sleeping through, but now at 9 months she still has anything from 4-8 feeds a day (always a wake-up and bedtime feed plus mid morning and mid afternoon, but she will sometimes 'demand' extra feeds). I always worried about my milk, even when my confidence grew and I started ignoring comments like 'your milk is not good enough' (which I actually got from one chn's centre worker); but seeing how much she packs away (I genuinely think she could outeat a toddler!) and she STILL doesn't gain a huge amount, I know for sure it's because a) she is so active/alert and has been really since birth; b) she has and always did have reflux which doesn't help the weight; c) she was ill at 5 and 8 months, causing weight losses (if she had gained 1lb in those 2 months as well then she'd now be up in the high 17s/low 18lbs area - still small but more mid-range than dinky!).