Feeding My 4 Month Old...

From a mom of 2: the stats and charts and numbers right now are really just a curiosity if everything is in the 'normal' range. Babies tell you exactly what they need and most will fight for it if parents don't supply it.

I'd certainly start introducing solid foods now that she is 'asking' for more food (talk to your pedi first if it makes you feel more comfortable)!

My pedi said that length is a much better measure of nutrition than weight is at that age, so I always paid more attention to my child's length from check-up to check-up rather than the weight.

I would go ahead and give her another bottle. Along with teething, she could also be growing and needing the calories. If you are ready to start, you can introduce solids, and maybe that will satisfy her. What ever the situation, I would not withhold food from her.
It sounds like you are concerned about your little girl's weight.. It may be in the 75th percentile, but what percentile was her head and length in? If they were anywhere between 50% and 90%, then it is totally okay for her weight to be 75%. She is proportional. Your baby's weight in the 75 percentile does not mean that she is too chubby or that her weight needs to be watched. If her length or head where somewhere around 30%, then you might be concerned about her weight. On the other end of the spectrum, my 1st baby's weight was consistently around 30%, but since her head and length were around that range too, my pediatrician was never worried and he assured me that I should not be worried either. Besides, if you saw how chubby she looked, you would have thought she was in a higher percentile.
Good luck!

Talk to your pedi. She may be waking up at 3AM for comfort rather than really needing a feeding. I'm by no means an expert but my baby is almost five months old and we started letting him cry for short time (after recm'd from my pedi's office) a few weeks ago because he was still waking up a couple times a night. After about 3-4 nights, he started sleeping through the night "like a baby". I'm still breast feeding and he now gets his last nursing about 10:30 and he will sleep until between 5-6AM. I also weigh him once a week to make sure he is still gaining weight--ask your doctor how much they want her to gain each week. I've not introduced rice cereal yet but I do feed him 2 oz. of formula at the 10:30 feeding & then finish up with breast milk.

I would say to follow her lead. Not to depress you or anything, but my son continued waking until over a year to eat at night. I was breastfeeding, and he would gobble and then go back to sleep. She could be waking up to eat to relieve the teething pain. By eating, it puts pressure on the gums and relieves the pain. Also, in my experience with my two kiddos, they always increased their intake right before a growth spurt. To me, this was God's way of saying that they need more to grow more. I also like the statement someone made about babies not worrying about societal pressure on eating too much. It seems that at 4 months, they are following their hunger cues. If she can't go longer without food during the day, then to me it shouldn't be any different at night. When my oldest could make it six hours during the day without eating, then I knew his night waking was a habit and not actually needing nutrition. The second child is the one that woke until over a year. However, he could go no more than 4 to 5 hours during the day without eating. The second child has a faster metabolism, as he has always been 75% height and 10% weight. He is long and lean. Good luck!

Your daughter seems to need that feeding in the middle of the night. I think you are feeding her a perfect amount. We started our son on cereal at 4 months. We started with rice and mixed in some formula until it was thin that seemed to help him sleep better since his tummy was more full. Enjoy the 75% time after they hit 1 year they most of the time just grown up my out and that weight falls off.

Added daily feedings will not affect her at night. Babies don't have to worry about the social pressures of eating and weight; they know instictively what they need. Your best bet is to follow her needs--she is obviously expressing them to you! My 4 month old still wakes up for that 3 am feeding. We may not like it, but we just do it; it's what he needs. And just because she is "plump" now doesn't mean that she will be that way when she is older. Babies were meant to be plump!

Hi Emily..... You are not alone. I am a new mother of 4 month old twins & they do the same thing for me. My daughter is also on gentlease & my son is on the soy protein. She sleeps great & he does not. Are you feeding them cereal yet? It seems to satisfy my daughter & she is now sleeping from 8:30pm to 5:00am. It is wonderful but my son on the other hand wakes up about 3 times in the night. He is also very plump & i hate to feed him so i try to put him back to sleep. My pedeatrian said you need to not feed them when they wake up unless they act as if they are hungry. If you continue to feed them everytime they wake up they are going to expect that everytime. Have you tried reading the book Babywise? It is a great book with alot of helpul info. I recoment it. Try finding what it is that soothes them. A pacifier soothes my daughter & his dry burp cloth soothes him. Every baby is different but i just wanted to see if my advice could help you.

Mine is 4.5 months old... we feed her on demand (somtimes every 2 hours, somtimes longer, usually sleeps 7 hours in a row at night). She is 100th percentile for height and 90th percentile for weight, pedi. said it was ok b/c she is in proportion with her height and to continue to feed her on-demand. Babies do not eat more than they need according to the pedi.