What to do with a baby drinking too much formula?
Spring asked:
I have a five month old that has started drinking over 8ozs every bottle feeding (I now have to make two bottles:one 8oz and one 4oz) to fill her up. If I don’t then she is crying for more in an hour. Her doctor said to try her on baby cerial but she doesn’t like any of it! I have been trying all diiferent types for a month now.
We even had her tested for worms! But it came back negitive and she hasn’t lost any weight.
Before you ask she is not over weight or anything like that. The doctor says she’s a very healthy baby.
I have tried distracting her and playing with her but that doesn’t help either…
Any ideas?
LOL
Everyone keeps talking about her sleeping but she she goes to bed between 7-8pm and doesn’t wake up until 6am. She just doesn’t sleep during the day.
She doesn’t get gasy or anything from the cerial, she just refuses to eat it.
I have a five month old that has started drinking over 8ozs every bottle feeding (I now have to make two bottles:one 8oz and one 4oz) to fill her up. If I don’t then she is crying for more in an hour. Her doctor said to try her on baby cerial but she doesn’t like any of it! I have been trying all diiferent types for a month now.
We even had her tested for worms! But it came back negitive and she hasn’t lost any weight.
Before you ask she is not over weight or anything like that. The doctor says she’s a very healthy baby.
I have tried distracting her and playing with her but that doesn’t help either…
Any ideas?
LOL
Everyone keeps talking about her sleeping but she she goes to bed between 7-8pm and doesn’t wake up until 6am. She just doesn’t sleep during the day.
She doesn’t get gasy or anything from the cerial, she just refuses to eat it.
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she’s 5 months old now! babies start eating solids anywhere from 4-6 months and if she’s needing more than 8 ounces to get full she’s trying to tell you she’s ready for a bit more. cereal is bland with no taste…put a little drop of lightkaro syrup in it and she may like it a little better. you can start her on stage 1 baby foods and see how she does with that. if she still refuses mix a little in her bottle. best of luck
Maybe she has some intolerance of the cereal, especially if they’re wheat based. Does she get gassy or constipated or the opposite.
This may sound old fashioned but I have done this many times. Make your nipple hole on the bottle a little bit larger and add cereal to her milk/formula. The milk will conceal the cereal testure if diluted properly and the cereal will make her feel fuller and hopefully more content. Good luck to you.
Add cereal in with her milk. Go ahead and start her on baby food. Your doctor or you may think she is too young but when they are drinking that much milk they need something else.
Start her out on the first foods from gerber and put it in one of those baby food feeder bottles.
(My mom put me on baby food when i was 3 months old, no i am not overweight either)
rice cereal, maybe a 1/2 teaspoon of it, or a little applesauce, maybe she/he is not getting full enough.
put it into her bottle mixed with applesauce, and get cross cut nipples. this will help and make the baby sleep a little longer at night as well
I had this same problem.
First, is she needs to eat at least 2 hours apart……..so what you do is give her juice diluted with lots of water……..so that it barely has a taste………it will satify her for a while.
Then when you do feed her, mix her formula with that watery juice mixture and a tiny bit of cereal. This will give her more taste and more substance to hold her off for a little while. She will most likely sleep better and longer to with a full tummy! Good Luck!
Are you mixing the rice with water or formula? My son will not eat rice or oatmeal that is mixed with just water. Make an 8 oz bottle and stir some in with the rice and feed her and what ever formula is left over let her drink that. See if that works.
Only give her 8oz, whether she cries or not. Although she may not want her cereal you should keep on trying, she’ll come around. You can mix alittle formula into the cereal so that it’ll have some of that formula taste that she’s used to, then gradually put less and less formula each time until there’s not more to put in. I started out with rice cereal with alittle formula, and she ate it all up. It takes time to go through the transition of trying out some new foods.
As my daughter became more and more hungry we tried to get her on solids and she wouldn’t cooperate! We mixed some fruits with the cereal and she’d eat a little but not enough, so our doctor suggested we mix the cereal into her formula and feed it through the bottle. you have to get the nipples with a large opening so it doesn’t get clogged. This way you are thickening the formula filling the baby up and introducing her to solids on her time.
Did the doctor say it’s too much formula? How often does she “eat”? How many ounces total is she getting in a day? At 5 months my son was consuming about 30 – 35 ounces a day and our doctor said this was fine.
If her weight is ok I wouldn’t worry about it. If she’s hungry, she’s hungry and you should give her what she wants/needs.
I wouldn’t worry about the cereal right now. The formula actually has more fat and calories in it and will fill her up better than the cereal.
In the mean time, to simplify things a bit for you, look on the back of the formula canister. Generally there are instructions to make a large batch of formula that will keep in the fridge for up to 24 hours. I found this to be a huge time saver rather than making individual bottles at every meal. I made a double batch and whipped it up in the blender to get rid of any lumps. All you have to do at meal time is pour a bottle and heat it up in some hot water.
Hope this helps. Good Luck!
Try mixing just a little banana or applesauce with the cereal. Once she gets a taste of that little bit of sweet, she may learn to love the cereal. Also make it a bit thin at first so it is easier to swallow – even if it is messy – and the texture doesn’t put her off.
Good luck!
She should be eating – mash some carrots, potatoes, peas or buy some baby food to supplement the formula. Mashed bananas for breakfast, or Gerber fruit with cereal, mashed up carrots, peas, for lunch and same for dinner, this way she will be full and only need 4-6 oz of formula. Plus you’ll sleep better at night
Just cut herr off at 8 oz and keep trying the cereal, mix it with baby food jars like bananas! 8 oz is definately enough and she will eventually start eating the cereal! Good Luck!
try mixing a little fruit into the cereal, its time for solids. start with veggies