3 1/2 Month Old Daughter Not Eating Alot

As long as she's making enough wet and dirty diapers I wouldn't worry. My son has never eaten a steady amount. One day he would eat 30 oz and the next day only 16. He's a year old now and he's still doing that! If you're concerned about wasting formula then only make 2 oz at a time. If you really feel the need to make 4 oz then don't throw away whatever she doesn't finish. Put it in the fridge and use those leftovers first the next time she eats. Good luck!

Are you feeding her because you think it is time or are you feeding her because she is showing signs of being hungry? She is only 3.5 months. She will let you know when she is hungry. I personally am not a rigid scheduling person and maybe the child will eat better if you allow more time between feedings. watch her weight to make sure that she continues to grow but don't get highly concerned. simply monitor that she is eating. Sleeping at night that varies with the personal child. I am a mother of three boys and they all are unique and different. some children sleep all night and others it could take until preschool or kindergarten before they sleep all night.Best of luck and don't fret. she is gettting 20 oz. of nutrition.

My daughter barely ate 24 oz a day when she was 6 months old and was always a light eater. She was always well under the 5%ile for weight (and is only in the 15th at age 5) but she continued to grow on her own little curve on what she wanted to eat. I tried everything to get her to eat more but nothing worked. We finally both found some peace with it when I quit trying to force it and just let her eat what she wanted. As long as she continues to thrive I wouldn't worry too much. As far as the wasted formula goes, you may try making up 2 - 2 oz bottles at a time and just refirgerate the second one for later if she doesn't get to it.

How often are you feeding her? If you're feeding her every 2 hours, she may not have a chanceto get hungry. You may have to make her wait at least 3 hours between feedings. What about her weight gain? If she stops gaining weight, I would call the pediatrician.

Hello A. B:
I have 4 children all of them are lactose intolerant. I went through changing their formula several times. Then trying soy... That was a nightmear. By the time I had my forth child I too breast fed him. Then when he got his first 2 teeth at once, and bit me breaking the skin... I tried to put him on formual. That's when he started having issues. So when they wanted to put him on a meat based formula, I said no! I want to try that Carnations Good Start for breast fed babies! They didn't like the idea, but they said it was up to me. So I bought the powder and with in 12 hrs. I saw a big improvement in his vomiting and stools began to take form. By the end of the first month he had gained 5lbs. Today he is 12yrs. and can drink any form of dairy. The other kids still can't. I believe that giving him the "Carnations Good Start" made all the differance!

a little about me:
I am a 52yr.young Christian widowed mother and grandmother of 2. I love music, cooking for the elderly and being a grandmother!

I agree with Shannon. Your baby does not have an intolerance to your milk, maybe to something you eat, but if your baby has an intolerance, your milk could really help her. Would you think about returning to breastfeeding? If so, please call your local La Leche League leader. Find your local leader at http://www.llli.org/ in the upper left hand corner there is a pull down menu. There is also lots of information on the site. It hasn't been too long, adoptive moms who've never had children can induce lactation and you can too.

That being said, I know I came on a little strong. Do what is right for your family. If you decide not to go back to breastfeeding, try formulas until you find the one. Be your child's advocate. Make your doctor pay attention and help you make your little girl feel good.

K.

Your baby has been use to the taste of one kind of milk. Now you have changed it. She may need time to get use to the new taste. Watch her and make sure that each day she drinks a little bit more. If this is not happening then you need to let the doctor know. There are ways the doctor's office can help you with this. Put them to work for you! If your baby is drinking in one week what she should drink in one day. You need to tell the doctor ASAP. That is not normal.

Take care

I would probably try to reestablish breastfeeding.

My daughter is 11 yrs old and was alot like what you are discribing your girl to be like. My girl was in the lower 10% for her age and height until she was in about 3rd grade. Now she is about 40%. She is perfect(well to me!) My girl never took more than 4 oz. at a time...ever while she was breast feeding or on a bottle. My husband still worries that she doesn't eat very much. But she has regular check-ups and is fine. She gets the what her body needs by what she does eat.

When she was a baby, I worried all the time. She weighed 17lbs 1oz at a year old, but she was a very health and happy baby. She just ate a little more often than most and not as much and she is still like that. I really think that her metabolism is slower, like mine and that she simply doesn't require it.

When she was about 4 mos, I put a very small amount of rice cereal in her bottle and made the nipple hole a slight bit bigger to help her get a little more satisfied at night and she did start sleeping through the night.

As she got older, I just made sure that she got good quality food and drink(hardly ever got juice) to make sure she was getting a well balanced diet of food.

Good Luck and I just keep up the check ups and as long as she is thriving, (going up and not down) she'll probably will just be a little girl a little longer!!

When you say milk intolerance, what do you mean? Sometimes it is just the lactose that bothers their bellies. Try a laco-free formula and see if she tolerates that better. The lacto-free formula is milk based but it takes the lactose out and breaks the milk proteins down for her. It should be much gentler on her belly. I found that the Soothie bottles and Dr. Brown bottles were the only bottles my daughter would take.

How are you warming the milk? You may be making the bottles too warm and it may not be satisfying to her. My daughter waisted lots of formula too at this age as she was going through a growth spurt. As far as what your dr is saying about how many oz to take per day, it is a recommendation. As long as she is eating something and seems satisfied and has wet and poopy diapers, I would not worry about the amount. Make sure you do not reuse leftover formula left in a bottle. If she has an unfinished bottle throw the leftovers out. If you put it in the fridge after she eats it she could get sick from the bacteria that grows in it from her saliva. Hopefully this will help you.

Hi A.,

Well I agree with alot of what the other moms were saying. I don't believe your daughter has an allergy to your breastmilk, I think it's more in the form of maybe what you are eating.

I don't understand why they went right for soy formula when there is plenty of milk based formulas to try. One of the reasons why she may not be eating is because her formula isn't warm enough, think about it she is used to drinking from your breast and think about the temperature of what it probably is. The other thing is that the taste of breastmilk and the taste of soy formula is totally different.

Also the amount a baby can eat can vary, for instance...I have 4 children and the oldest would drink 4 ounces every 2 hours and never went over that. My 2nd would eat 6 ounces every 4 hours. And my 3rd would eat 8 ounces every 3 hours. And my 4th daughter was eating 8 ounce bottles every 4 hours. So if you do the math for my 4th child she was eating 48 ounces in a 24 hour period and this is at 3 1/2 months old. My 3rd daughter was eating this much at 2 months old. So like I said it can vary fron child to child.

I think I would do a little more research on the formula/breastmilk situaton and also move towards milk based formulas ( you may have to try a few different ones before you find the one that works.

For instance again I have a friend who had twins the same age as my 4th daughter and they couldn't handle the Enfamil Gentlease or the regular Enfamil so they finally found that Carnation good start worked best (after she gave it her best effort to breastfeed). My daughter counln't handle the regular Enfamil but she could handle the Enfamil Gentlease.

So go with you gut, see what you can find out on your own. A pediatrician only knows our children by what they read in their chart. They don't live with each of our children each day like we do, W.

I'm so sorry you were given inaccurate information. Breastmilk is not like cow's milk. Your baby could have a cow's milk sensitivity but not a breast milk sensitivity. She is not intolerant of your milk but she could be intolerant of something in your diet. It is not too late to put her back to the breast. You may just have to cut out dairy. Contact La Leche League if you are interested in getting her back to the breast. As far as how much she is taking, follow her cues just as you did when breastfeeding. As long as she has plenty of wet and dirty diapers she should be getting enough. As far as sleeping through the night, it is not developmentally appropriate for a 3 month old to go more than 5-6 hours without eating. Some cannot go that long. They also need comfort regularly through the night. None of my kids have slept through the night before they were 2! She may just take small amounts often. Also, the 24 oz the Dr recommended is an estimate. All babies are different. Good luck.

I'm also wondering why she was put on formula instead of adjusting your diet. Sometimes peds will jump to that instead of realizing that your baby can still have breastmilk with some adjustment to mom's diet. I have a dairy intolerant baby and he has never had formula. I have done an elimination diet for him. Also note that many babies who are intolerant to dairy are also intolerant to soy. If you are going to stick with formula, you may want to try a hypoallergenic formula. If you want to go back to breastfeeding and it was going well for you aside from the allergy issues you might try www.kellymom.com for dairy elimination information. This has also been a great resource http://www.beanmom.com/nomilk.html

I don't know enough about formula to give you advice on how much she should be eating but I want to wish you luck with whatever you need to do!

I am honestly not familiar with formula feeding.

I would be especially concerned if she is showing signs of dehydration and/or weight loss. It may also be that she is not adjusting well to that formula or doesn't really like the taste. You may need to try a different soy formula. What ever is causing her lack of appetite I would definately contact her doctor.

Hi A.! I'm not exactly sure how much my daughter ate when she was little because I almost exclusively breast fed, but I can tell you she didn't eat much. And she didn't gain much weight either. I was so worried because my son was the exact opposite. He ate tons and tons and I was always engorged. With my daughter, I felt like I hardly had any milk, so I did some natural things to increase my supply - BIG mistake. I ended up with mastitis! UGH! So, I learned that my body was just reacting to my daughter's needs. She is a little peanut still. At 1 year old, she only weighed 18 pounds (she was 8lbs. 11oz. at birth). This is a hard one, but I think that if you are truly worried, than go to the breast feeding clinic and see if they can give you some help. But, if you think she is just a little peanut, then she's probably ok. It's so hard to know sometimes. Some kids are just tiny, while others are little piggies!

Why did you have to take her off of your breast milk? Usually a baby can tollerate her mother's milk, before the soy milk. We had to put one of ours on goat's milk, but she also had pneumonia a lot, lots of mucous in the chest and lungs----but a drastic drop in milk consumption at 3 1/2 months, is not normal! At 2 years, that would be different. I think you need to get a second opinion and don't let a Dr. tell you NOT to worry---follow your own heart!! Of course she isn't sleeping well, you aren't either, so pursue this problem or it will mushroom into other problems, I can guarantee!