How to know if baby is taking enough?

[SpudsMama]

Does 600-700ml of formula a day sound like enough for a 4 month old (well, 4 months in a few days)? 7am, 10am and 1:30pm Ben will drink 7-8oz, then at bedtime at 5pm (ish) he'll only manage about 3-4oz before falling asleep and being transferred to his cot. He then sleeps right through so no overnight milk. He's a very happy baby, so content and loves his bottles so that gives me reason to feel it must be enough to satisfy him. But he's also slow at gaining weight so that makes me a little paranoid. He was on the 50th centile but has dropped down to the 25th over the last few weeks. He's currently 13lbs 14oz at 16 weeks.

 

[MindUtopia]

If you're feeding him on demand as much as he'll take and as often as he's hungry and he's generally happy and content, especially if he's not waking at night, then that sounds like he's getting what he needs. They often even out a bit in their weight around 3 ish months, so while you wouldn't want to see a drastic drop in weight, going up or down a bit in centiles is normal. I think probably most HVs wouldn't be concerned about going from 50th to 25th, so long as he didn't then suddenly drop to the 9th or lower. I think at that age mine was having about 6-8 feeds in a 24 hour period, including 2 during the night. I don't actually know what the amount was, but it wouldn't have been more than about 90-120 ml per feed. She wasn't STTN and she was small and had a lot of weight issues to start (dropped to 2nd centile from 9th at birth), but fed on demand. If he's draining every bottle, I'd be offering more per feed, but if he's finishing them sometimes and then other times leaving 30 ml or so, that sounds perfect.

 

[FeleciaPhelps]

If you're feeding him on demand as much as he'll take and as often as he's hungry and he's generally happy and content, especially if he's not waking at night, then that sounds like he's getting what he needs. They often even out a bit in their weight around 3 ish months, so while you wouldn't want to see a drastic drop in weight, going up or down a bit in centiles is normal. I think probably most HVs wouldn't be concerned about going from 50th to 25th, so long as he didn't then suddenly drop to the 9th or lower. I think at that age mine was having about 6-8 feeds in a 24 hour period, including 2 during the night. I don't actually know what the amount was, but it wouldn't have been more than about 90-120 ml per feed. She wasn't STTN and she was small and had a lot of weight issues to start (dropped to 2nd centile from 9th at birth), but fed on demand. If he's draining every bottle, I'd be offering more per feed, but if he's finishing them sometimes and then other times leaving 30 ml or so, that sounds perfect.

I completely agree with your advice. If the baby is satisfied with the feed then he will be happy and will be in the playful mood.