How Much How Often??

I agree w/ Jessica. Both my boys were approx. 14 lbs at 4 months and their doctor was not at all concerned. I'm petite as are most of the men on my paternal side of the family so genetically it makes sense. Additionally, my boys were thriving and healthy. At 4 months my youngest would drink approx. four 3-4oz bottles a day at daycare and would nurse about every 3 hours at home. Now, at 8 mos, he drinks three 6 oz bottles at daycare approx. every 4 hours, gets one 6 oz bottle at bedtime and wakes up once in the middle of the night to nurse (during which he might get approx. 3 oz). His bottles contain approx. 2-3 oz pumped breastmilk plus approx. 4 oz formula. Hope that helps

Your baby is actually right in the average weight range for 4 months old. A baby boy of his age is on average 15 pounds. That means that while 50% of baby boys in the U.S. may be 15 lbs, there will be 25% that weigh more and 25% that weigh less. Your baby is ONLY 1 lb less and if he's in the 25%-tile he's still in the low normal average.

You have to take into consideration that he probably needs some time to adjust to the daycare. You also should take into consideration family genetics. What you really need to look at is if he's happy and healthy and thriving, not his weight. Is his color good? Is he developing typically? If you can answer all of those with "yes" then he's perfect the way he is.

What does your practitioner say? Are you getting pressure from someone who thinks that "all babies must be chubby" and if they're not in the upper percentiles then they must not be thriving? Are you comparing him to other babies in your group of friends or the daycare? Trust that he's perfect. Don't let friends and family criticize because they think he should be fatter because he's a boy or whatever the reason is.

I used to get flack from all sides with my girls. They weren't chubby enough to some people and were too fat to other people. Girls shouldn't be so tall, said some, yet to others my girls are all so dainty and short. I stopped letting what others said matter. Let them worry about their own kids. My kids are perfect little snowflakes. :-)

I don't completely trust the weight/height percentile charts. They tried to tell me that one of my 12 month old twins, who is 22 pounds and 27 inches tall was in the 7th percentile...I just find it hard to believe that 93% of the 12 month olds in this country were bigger than that...is your child is consistently gaining, and is healthy I wouldnt worry for now. Your son will adjust, so try not to worry. He will get used to daycare and different people feeding him and will bounce back. If you are overly concerned I would talk to your pedi.

when my lil guys were 4 months old they were eating about every 3 hours or so and taking roughly 5 to 7 ounces at a time. I have 3 sons.

I honestly don't know how much they ate when I was at work. But I do know that they never ate as well from the bottle. That is a big weight percentile drop, but I would just nurse on demand when you are home. Do you feed him before you go to work? I was working 2-3 days a week 12hr shifts when my boys were that young. My baby is now 11mo and I've just started waking him to eat before I go to work (he goes right back to sleep). Maybe trying a different bottle would help??? You could always contact a lactation consultant as well - they may be able to help.

One thing that helped me was waking my sone up every 2 hours when I was home and awake to nurse.....The more milk I could get into him at home from the breast the better....

I think my DD went down in percentile, but kept gaining so the doctor said she was fine. You might find that he reverse cycles. I would make sure that he nurses frequently when you are with him. Wake up early to do a morning dream feed if you need to before work. We'd get DD around 6AM, she'd doze off, I'd take my shower and nurse her again before we left if she was really hungry. I don't really remember exactly what she took. I provided 12 oz per workday and she drank that and she nursed multiple times per evening.

kellymom.com was also a big help for me to figure out how much and how not to worry or how to push back when someone acts like you're starving him. Output will tell you about input.