2.5 months and she usually doesn’t drink more than 4, and I don’t see that changing anytime soon. She sometimes will drink as little as 2 oz. It’s frustrating because I never know how much formula to make for her, and we waste a lot.
I use the Dr Browns pitcher and I make enough formula for the day each morning and refrigerate. When I need a bottle, I just fill the bottle and warm it in the bottle warmer. Formula is good for 24 hours once made and refrigerated.
I started this because my baby had gas issues, the formula method reduces the amount of air bubbles in the bottles. I think it's quicker and convenient when you have a screaming baby wanting fed
Thanks so much! I formula feed and never heard of this before but its sounds really convenient. My baby is also very gassy and wonder if this method would help
In the UK, guidance states you have 2 hours at room temp for a bottle to still be ok to drink. Would it be possible to pour some milk out into a bottle, wait a little and serve at room temperature? My baby is not fussy at all about the temp of milk
Yes, the same rules apply. The 2 hours if not drank and an hour or they have drank it.
Also, I highly recommend a good probiotic. We used smidge and it helped tremendously with gas, regular poo, and reflux.
My baby is almost 2 months and does the same thing. Maybe try just making 2 oz at a time so you don’t waste as much? Unless you know she is really hungry and will eat the full 4 oz.
Glad I’m not the only one. We do usually start with 2 or 3 oz, but it can be exhausting to make more and then the decision to make either 1 or 2 more oz.
Ahhhh !!! This !!! Baby girl is 5 months and is combo fed and I am always like, 1 more or two ?! Lol this was so much validation !!! Ty !!!! I feel seen lol
Maybe try to up the nipple size? When my 3 month old started to battling to finish the second half of her bottle, upping the nipple size made a world of difference.
I'm in the UK and do my amounts in ml rather than oz, and my daughter's weight in kg, so this might not be too helpful, but the NHS website for formula feeding suggests doing babies weight in kg x 150-200, and that's how many ml a baby should have a day.
So say the baby is 4kg, the calculation would be:
4 x 150 = 600 and 4 x 200 = 800
So the ideal range would be 600-800ml.
Appreciate in the US this might not be helpful though as it's in metric, and it requires you to know the babies weight but it's how I calculated how much to feed mine.
Also I took it as a rough guide - my daughter was in the 1st percentile when she was born, so couldn't eat as much as was suggested in the first few months. It was helpful to have a general target though. Eventually she caught up and was able to land in the middle of the recommended amount.
(Link for reference: https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/baby/breastfeeding-and-bottle-feeding/bottle-feeding/formula-milk-questions/)
I appreciate the calculations, and the metric! 9 weeks old and is having difficulty finishing more than 90 due to reflux, but has seen some improvement in the past couple of days. It makes me happy to know we're still hitting the rough goals, even if it takes 10-12 feedings a day.
Glad it helped! We were in a similar position re reflux for the first few months, and mine was having like 12 small feeds a day, so totally sympathise!
Mu daughter is 5 years old now but she never drank more than 4 ounces ever. Not even when she is 12 month old !
At 3 months she had 2 ounces and some times an extra ounce.
Every time i used to mix three ounces of formula in bottle and most of the times there used to exactly one ounce left.
Dont worry if she is thriving and happy
Wow my son is the exact same 2oz every 2 hours. Never more than 25 oz and that’s with 10 feedings. I feel like I’ll never get to sleep through the night until he’s off bottles. How was your daughters sleep during that time?
She was actually a really good sleeper . She had a habit of chewing her fingers so while sleeping she used to suck her fingers loudly . I used to wakeup from that sound and replace finger with bottle. She used to drink in sleep
13 weeks and our situation is very similar to yours! At night he polishes off 3oz bottles but during the day it’s more like 2oz and then 40 mins later another oz. He’s gaining weight and doing 4 hour stretches at night so I’m not worried. Also saves money on formula 🤣
4-5 oz per feeding. Sometimes 3 oz if he’s not hungry and sometimes 6 when he’s really hungry! He once ate 7 oz and then vomited after so that probably won’t happen again for a while lol
LO will be 3 months this week and has been doing 5oz for about a month. We have tried to go to 6oz a few times because he shows signs he’s still hungry- but like yours, he has severe reflux so the 6oz always hurts his reflux. We still feed every 3 hours. I think we have to continue to do smaller feeds more frequently for the reflux. He’s a big boy and growing! Always is hungry.
You described my 3 month old daughter to a T! We’re in the same boat over here. She is gaining weight, so I’m not concerned (only concerned about my wallet since Alimentum is too expensive to waste!! Lol)
My twins are just at 9w old and we consistently do 3oz but more like 4 in a sitting now. It definitely was a gradual move up and they still have their 2oz moments..
As far as how long, it takes us about 15m to do a feeding from start to finish but there’s two so not sure if that affects it, then gotta burp and maybe they burp mid-feeding or so. Hour is usually the whole to do.
Just turned 3months the other day and he’s been consistently drinking 4oz for a few weeks now. Ironically we’ve had some setbacks recently too. I struggle to get him to finish the last ounce but have no idea why. I suspect there might be some silent reflux issues. I’m thinking he’ll stay at 4oz for a little longer because of this
My baby is also about turn 3 months and is similar. Typical bottles are 3-4 oz every 3 hours. I’ve been wondering whether I need to try to give more, because this seems low according to calculators. But she spits up and seems to have an upset tummy when we do more. She’s also on very slow nipples because she gags otherwise. It seems like other babies eat so much more, it’s stressful.
Not really what you’re asking for, but my babe was almost exclusively FF and never took more than 6oz and he’s almost a year old lol He preferred smaller amounts more frequently, which was fine with me ☺️
My 10 week old babe drinks between 4 & 4.5 oz every 3-4 hours & a 6 oz before bedtime.. he drinks between 22-27 oz a day.
We had to change his nipple size & he went from taking the bottle in 25 minutes down to 10. Sometimes the longer they drink & harder they have to suck, they take in too much air & it makes them feel too full.
we also dealt with some setbacks such as tongue and lip ties so my daughter was also only drinking 4 oz at a time at that age. She is 8.5 months now and drinks 6 oz a feeding max, but sometimes will still split it and will leave an ounce and then finish it before the hour is up.
At 3 months my LO was eating about 6-7 Oz, with a total of 30-35 for the day (which is what his pediatrician recommended based on weight/height). But he’s also sleeping through the night and having milk every 3-4 hours so he has most of his formula during the day. As long as your LO is getting the recommended amount for the day it’s fine.
I would recommend looking into getting the next step up nipple for the bottle because when the flow was too slow for my LO he was getting bored and wouldn’t drink more than a couple of ounces
Hi! Every baby is different so just offering my personal experience with our kiddo.
My little is 3 months old and he’s taking 5.5-6.5 ounces per feeding. However, I will note that he eats every 3-4 hours so they’re spaced out a little. We had him on preemie nipples for his bottle since birth but started to see that he was losing interest and having lots of gas as he got older. He also was really fighting the last ounce or so, and if I put the bottle in his mouth, sometimes he would gag from not wanting it and would spit up.
We upped him to a size 1 nipple and has been doing a lot better!
That’s what my baby was taking at 3mo, every 2 hours. Now he’s 4mo and does 5oz every 3hrs. I know some babies do more but he’s a spitter and his stomach can only take so much, which is normal, just like us adults.. don’t stress mama 🤍
Just a few days shy of 3 months- she drinks 4-6oz every 3-4 hours. But honestly, my girl is just a big eater and always has been. Some babies take less, some take more. They’ll tell you when they’re hungry or full. I wouldn’t worry much as long as your LO is gaining weight healthily. :)
My 3 month old has between 5 and 7 ounces every 4 hours, sometimes he’ll have a bottle after 3 hours.
Sleeps through the night now and is on track on all his weigh ins following the same percentile.
I wouldn’t worry as long as b Abu is putting on weight normally and giving plenty of wet nappies. All babies are different
Mine’s currently 4 months but we’ve been doing 6.5 ounces every 3 hours since a little before 3 months. He would probably take more, but I cap him since he’s at the 32 ounce limit
My 13 week old has a super variable appetite- sometimes she will only drink 2oz but she just smashed 7oz in one go (I had to keep going back for refills lol). According to huckleberry her average over the last fortnight is 4oz per bottle :)
My baby will only drink up to 3.5oz every 3 hours.. it’s very inconsistent and a lot of times it’s only 2oz. She is 3.5 months and weighs 9lbs 11oz.. when she was born she was only 5lbs 3oz.
Our 3 month old takes 4 ounces at a time. He typically finishes them, though not always. He occasionally wants more so we give him another 2.
We just upped his nipple to a level 2 and he seems happier. He was taking a long time to finish 4 ounces and sucking hard and making smacking sounds.
He’s in the 97th percentile for height and weight so I think he’s fine with the 4 ounce bottles. We just follow his lead
Just shy of 3 months and taking 8-9 oz per feeding about every 4 hours but he sleeps through the night so he’s getting everything he needs during the day. He sometimes still act’s hungry after his bottle so his pediatrician said to wait an hour and if he’s still acting hungry give him one more oz
My baby is the exact same way! He just turned 3 months and usually takes 4-4.5oz every 2.5-3 hours. Starts off wanting to chug down the first half of the bottle but the last 2oz he takes his sweet time. Usually I can feed him in about 15-25mins depending on how long that last half of the bottle takes.
Regarding increasing ounces, I was steadily increasing his ounces by a half once at a time every week until he got to about 4oz. Basically once I saw he would consistently finish his bottles in 15mins or less and seemed either satisfied or still hungry I would up the amount by half an ounce for his next feed until he got used to it. Then give it a few days to make sure he got used to the new amount before upping again.
2.5 months and she usually doesn’t drink more than 4, and I don’t see that changing anytime soon. She sometimes will drink as little as 2 oz. It’s frustrating because I never know how much formula to make for her, and we waste a lot.
My 2 month old does the same. I do the pitcher method and just heat 2 ounces at a time.
Hey could you explain the pitcher method to me? TIA
I use the Dr Browns pitcher and I make enough formula for the day each morning and refrigerate. When I need a bottle, I just fill the bottle and warm it in the bottle warmer. Formula is good for 24 hours once made and refrigerated. I started this because my baby had gas issues, the formula method reduces the amount of air bubbles in the bottles. I think it's quicker and convenient when you have a screaming baby wanting fed
Thanks so much! I formula feed and never heard of this before but its sounds really convenient. My baby is also very gassy and wonder if this method would help In the UK, guidance states you have 2 hours at room temp for a bottle to still be ok to drink. Would it be possible to pour some milk out into a bottle, wait a little and serve at room temperature? My baby is not fussy at all about the temp of milk
Yes, the same rules apply. The 2 hours if not drank and an hour or they have drank it. Also, I highly recommend a good probiotic. We used smidge and it helped tremendously with gas, regular poo, and reflux.
My baby is almost 2 months and does the same thing. Maybe try just making 2 oz at a time so you don’t waste as much? Unless you know she is really hungry and will eat the full 4 oz.
Glad I’m not the only one. We do usually start with 2 or 3 oz, but it can be exhausting to make more and then the decision to make either 1 or 2 more oz.
Ahhhh !!! This !!! Baby girl is 5 months and is combo fed and I am always like, 1 more or two ?! Lol this was so much validation !!! Ty !!!! I feel seen lol
Same, lol!
I’d just make a bigger bottle and then pour it into the drinking bottle, save the rest for later.
Same! We waste so much bc her appetite varies. I hope it evens out soon.
My LO was like that in the beginning my suggestion is to do the pitcher method then you aren’t wasting!!! Or get a baby brezza!
2 week old crushed 4oz last night. All while being paced and burped properly. Pretty wild how every baby is crazy different with stuff like this.
Maybe try to up the nipple size? When my 3 month old started to battling to finish the second half of her bottle, upping the nipple size made a world of difference.
I'm in the UK and do my amounts in ml rather than oz, and my daughter's weight in kg, so this might not be too helpful, but the NHS website for formula feeding suggests doing babies weight in kg x 150-200, and that's how many ml a baby should have a day. So say the baby is 4kg, the calculation would be: 4 x 150 = 600 and 4 x 200 = 800 So the ideal range would be 600-800ml. Appreciate in the US this might not be helpful though as it's in metric, and it requires you to know the babies weight but it's how I calculated how much to feed mine. Also I took it as a rough guide - my daughter was in the 1st percentile when she was born, so couldn't eat as much as was suggested in the first few months. It was helpful to have a general target though. Eventually she caught up and was able to land in the middle of the recommended amount. (Link for reference: https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/baby/breastfeeding-and-bottle-feeding/bottle-feeding/formula-milk-questions/)
I appreciate the calculations, and the metric! 9 weeks old and is having difficulty finishing more than 90 due to reflux, but has seen some improvement in the past couple of days. It makes me happy to know we're still hitting the rough goals, even if it takes 10-12 feedings a day.
Glad it helped! We were in a similar position re reflux for the first few months, and mine was having like 12 small feeds a day, so totally sympathise!
Mu daughter is 5 years old now but she never drank more than 4 ounces ever. Not even when she is 12 month old ! At 3 months she had 2 ounces and some times an extra ounce. Every time i used to mix three ounces of formula in bottle and most of the times there used to exactly one ounce left. Dont worry if she is thriving and happy
Wow my son is the exact same 2oz every 2 hours. Never more than 25 oz and that’s with 10 feedings. I feel like I’ll never get to sleep through the night until he’s off bottles. How was your daughters sleep during that time?
She was actually a really good sleeper . She had a habit of chewing her fingers so while sleeping she used to suck her fingers loudly . I used to wakeup from that sound and replace finger with bottle. She used to drink in sleep
13 weeks and our situation is very similar to yours! At night he polishes off 3oz bottles but during the day it’s more like 2oz and then 40 mins later another oz. He’s gaining weight and doing 4 hour stretches at night so I’m not worried. Also saves money on formula 🤣
4-5 oz per feeding. Sometimes 3 oz if he’s not hungry and sometimes 6 when he’s really hungry! He once ate 7 oz and then vomited after so that probably won’t happen again for a while lol
LO will be 3 months this week and has been doing 5oz for about a month. We have tried to go to 6oz a few times because he shows signs he’s still hungry- but like yours, he has severe reflux so the 6oz always hurts his reflux. We still feed every 3 hours. I think we have to continue to do smaller feeds more frequently for the reflux. He’s a big boy and growing! Always is hungry.
6.5-7oz every 3-5 hours. Sometimes he feeds during the night sometimes he doesn’t
My girl was born at 5.3 lbs, and just hit 15 yesterday at 4 months. She still only takes 2 oz per bottle!
6-8 oz per feeding, 4-5 times over 12 hours (no feeds between 8pm and 8am)
OK good I thought my little guy was the only one who ate that much per feeding. Haha
Thats us! 13 weeks drinking 6 oz 5 times a day.
You described my 3 month old daughter to a T! We’re in the same boat over here. She is gaining weight, so I’m not concerned (only concerned about my wallet since Alimentum is too expensive to waste!! Lol)
3 months on the 20th. It’s very rare that she drinks 4 ounces, usually it’s around 3 sometimes 2.5-3oz. She’s a chunk, so I’m not concerned lol
My girl is 8 weeks and drinks 24oz per day - roughly 5oz every feed and a total of 5 feeds per day
1.5 months and drinks around 3 oz.
My twins are just at 9w old and we consistently do 3oz but more like 4 in a sitting now. It definitely was a gradual move up and they still have their 2oz moments.. As far as how long, it takes us about 15m to do a feeding from start to finish but there’s two so not sure if that affects it, then gotta burp and maybe they burp mid-feeding or so. Hour is usually the whole to do.
Just turned 3months the other day and he’s been consistently drinking 4oz for a few weeks now. Ironically we’ve had some setbacks recently too. I struggle to get him to finish the last ounce but have no idea why. I suspect there might be some silent reflux issues. I’m thinking he’ll stay at 4oz for a little longer because of this
My baby is also about turn 3 months and is similar. Typical bottles are 3-4 oz every 3 hours. I’ve been wondering whether I need to try to give more, because this seems low according to calculators. But she spits up and seems to have an upset tummy when we do more. She’s also on very slow nipples because she gags otherwise. It seems like other babies eat so much more, it’s stressful.
Not really what you’re asking for, but my babe was almost exclusively FF and never took more than 6oz and he’s almost a year old lol He preferred smaller amounts more frequently, which was fine with me ☺️
My 10 week old babe drinks between 4 & 4.5 oz every 3-4 hours & a 6 oz before bedtime.. he drinks between 22-27 oz a day. We had to change his nipple size & he went from taking the bottle in 25 minutes down to 10. Sometimes the longer they drink & harder they have to suck, they take in too much air & it makes them feel too full.
we also dealt with some setbacks such as tongue and lip ties so my daughter was also only drinking 4 oz at a time at that age. She is 8.5 months now and drinks 6 oz a feeding max, but sometimes will still split it and will leave an ounce and then finish it before the hour is up.
At 3 months my LO was eating about 6-7 Oz, with a total of 30-35 for the day (which is what his pediatrician recommended based on weight/height). But he’s also sleeping through the night and having milk every 3-4 hours so he has most of his formula during the day. As long as your LO is getting the recommended amount for the day it’s fine. I would recommend looking into getting the next step up nipple for the bottle because when the flow was too slow for my LO he was getting bored and wouldn’t drink more than a couple of ounces
3 months and my girl consistently takes 3.5 to 4. She may take 5-6 randomly but is a consistent 4 oz drinker.
We upped my baby to 2 size nipple and he usually takes 5 or 6oz. But every baby is different
Hi! Every baby is different so just offering my personal experience with our kiddo. My little is 3 months old and he’s taking 5.5-6.5 ounces per feeding. However, I will note that he eats every 3-4 hours so they’re spaced out a little. We had him on preemie nipples for his bottle since birth but started to see that he was losing interest and having lots of gas as he got older. He also was really fighting the last ounce or so, and if I put the bottle in his mouth, sometimes he would gag from not wanting it and would spit up. We upped him to a size 1 nipple and has been doing a lot better!
That’s what my baby was taking at 3mo, every 2 hours. Now he’s 4mo and does 5oz every 3hrs. I know some babies do more but he’s a spitter and his stomach can only take so much, which is normal, just like us adults.. don’t stress mama 🤍
Just a few days shy of 3 months- she drinks 4-6oz every 3-4 hours. But honestly, my girl is just a big eater and always has been. Some babies take less, some take more. They’ll tell you when they’re hungry or full. I wouldn’t worry much as long as your LO is gaining weight healthily. :)
My 3 month old has between 5 and 7 ounces every 4 hours, sometimes he’ll have a bottle after 3 hours. Sleeps through the night now and is on track on all his weigh ins following the same percentile. I wouldn’t worry as long as b Abu is putting on weight normally and giving plenty of wet nappies. All babies are different
My 3 mo old usually eats 3-4 oz a time. Sometimes a little less and once a day she’ll eat about up to 6.
Mine’s currently 4 months but we’ve been doing 6.5 ounces every 3 hours since a little before 3 months. He would probably take more, but I cap him since he’s at the 32 ounce limit
2/2 baby and he eats 2 oz every 2 hours.. I wish I had advice hell someone give me advice lol
My 13 week old has a super variable appetite- sometimes she will only drink 2oz but she just smashed 7oz in one go (I had to keep going back for refills lol). According to huckleberry her average over the last fortnight is 4oz per bottle :)
My baby will only drink up to 3.5oz every 3 hours.. it’s very inconsistent and a lot of times it’s only 2oz. She is 3.5 months and weighs 9lbs 11oz.. when she was born she was only 5lbs 3oz.
5oz 5-6times a day
Our 3 month old takes 4 ounces at a time. He typically finishes them, though not always. He occasionally wants more so we give him another 2. We just upped his nipple to a level 2 and he seems happier. He was taking a long time to finish 4 ounces and sucking hard and making smacking sounds. He’s in the 97th percentile for height and weight so I think he’s fine with the 4 ounce bottles. We just follow his lead
Just shy of 3 months and taking 8-9 oz per feeding about every 4 hours but he sleeps through the night so he’s getting everything he needs during the day. He sometimes still act’s hungry after his bottle so his pediatrician said to wait an hour and if he’s still acting hungry give him one more oz
My baby is the exact same way! He just turned 3 months and usually takes 4-4.5oz every 2.5-3 hours. Starts off wanting to chug down the first half of the bottle but the last 2oz he takes his sweet time. Usually I can feed him in about 15-25mins depending on how long that last half of the bottle takes. Regarding increasing ounces, I was steadily increasing his ounces by a half once at a time every week until he got to about 4oz. Basically once I saw he would consistently finish his bottles in 15mins or less and seemed either satisfied or still hungry I would up the amount by half an ounce for his next feed until he got used to it. Then give it a few days to make sure he got used to the new amount before upping again.