opposite question as waitn...is ariana eating too little

[mom2ariana]

ariana sleeps about 12 hours...and i KNOW thats such a blessing but since shes sleeping 12 hour stretches at night (sometimes longer) shes only consuming about 3 bottles a day at 5 oz each. i dont know if thats enough nutrition for her. formula contains all those vitamins and such, and im concerned now that she isn't getting enough. we put her back on cereal because shes on zantac alone and it wasn't cutting it, shes a completely different baby on formula without cereal. so shes eating every 4 hours and sleeping very long at night. which is GREAT dont get me wrong; because my body absolutely requires 10 hours at the minimum...if i get less than 10 hours i can tell...i am a zombie all day and im cranky as hell. so im so thankful she sleeps a lot but im scared she doesn't have enough vitamins. what do yall think?
her ped says prevacid is very expensive; we can't even afford my asthma medicine so we have been unable to get her on prevacid in addition to zantac. so the only option we had was cereal at every feeding..
what do yall think? i havent really thought about it until now...but 3 bottles a day CAN'T be enough..can it? shes still gaining weight and all...shes about 15 pounds and 5 months old now.

[mom2ariana]

haha ya if she likes big meals she'll take after her mother because i myself am a bottomless pit. ex. i inhaled like 4 pieces of pizza and 3 breadsticks last night and still wasn't full.

[Ashelen]

LOL that's what he's there for..it's not bugging, it's using the services you pay for! Just see how she does she may surprise you.....that sounds like a fairly good idea to try IMO. Some women might say it sounds like too much at once, but if Grey can eat 8 1/2 oz at not-quite 3 months and not spit it up and have no tummy issues..I think Ariana can do just fine with 10oz if it doesn't upset her tummy. Some babies just like to have big meals hehe.

[mom2ariana]

yeah i just now tried that..i gave her some cereal and then she started rubbing her eyes so i picked her up and let her have some of her bottle. and then a little more cereal. only thing is im not sure it'll matter cause we were weaning her off so she was still getting some cereal. hmmm i even wonder if she had 10 oz 3 times a day with not as much cereal but just as much formula, but still thick enough to pass through the tops of the nipples shed do better. maybe ill try that.
if none of these suggestions work then i'll bug her ped. again. haha.

[Ashelen]

my guess would be if you feed her a few bites of cereal before the bottle that she'll still have help with the reflux becausei t will pad her stomach but it will allow her to drink pure formula....and you don't really have to wake her up. I think if she's eating a small amount of cereal to formula ratio she'll naturally increase her formula intake just from an increase in hunger...but that's just my guess. it would be worth a try to rotate between a cereal bottle and a regular bottle too, but she may have the same trouble for the regular bottles....so idk. Maybe try a few bites of cereal, a few oz of formula, a few bites of cereal...the rest of her bottle?

but yes that's what I was told...2-2.5x their weight in oz a day. it's proven the magic formula for both of my babies but some babies will always eat more or less so you don't HAVE to have her eating that much...but it's a good target. :)

[mom2ariana]

thanks yall...ivy: i am mixing it with formula...every bottle has cereal in it but thats why shes not eating a lot of formula. she should be doubling her weight in ounces i think right? we tried weaning her off...the ped asked me to try that and i did. i stuck with it for 3 weeks and she was eating normal formula...but it didn't work. her reflux was AWFUL again. she threw up every 5 seconds to the point where she wasn't even enjoyable to hold. after being embarassed in a restaurant by her screaming (and arching her back) i finally gave up. he said i could put her on prevacid in addition to her zantac but that its very expensive...and we can't even afford her asthma medicine :( i wonder if there is a way i can rotate during the day; cereal, regular bottle, cereal, regular bottle. but she would need to DOUBLE the ounces of formula shes taking right? dang idk how im going to accomplish this without waking her up to eat? ughh.

[ricky2010]

15oz is not enough nore is 3 feedings. Babies who are 6 months should be eating 6-8oz at a time and 6-9 feedings in a 24 hour period. The 12 hours is ok for her but she willhave to eat more formula in the day. Cereal has added iron and to much can make you get sick easier, veggies are more important then cereal too. SHe should be comsuming 25-32oz a day so she is way behind on nutrition. If the cereal is casuing her to not eat formula then she will need to come off it.

[Mumita]

Ask your pediatrician, if he/she isn't worried then I wouldn't be worried.  The important thing is that she is growing and is following up with her developmental skills aside from sleeping.  If she is learning and growing then I wouldn't be worried.  My son would eat about that same ammount when he was that age and sleep less than that becuase he was teething and didn't want anything to do with food. He got over it and he's a healthy active 14month old.

[julianovak]

Well now that i think about it, 15 oz is little for a five month old. Although my daughter didnt weigh 16 lb til six months, she ate more then that in a day.... im thinking 25-30 oz daily... i guess she was a mover.... doing things really early.... thats why she was little.

[julianovak]

Well, She is gaining weight. That is all that matters, in my opinion of course. She is at a healthy wieght at 5 months.

[Ashelen]

Well she's eating enough to continue to grow for certain and the rice cereal has enough calories to provide her body with energy....but as for nutrients/vitamins? I see why you're worried...I would definitely ask her pediatrician if I were you. A lot of times she's probably getting full from the cereal and I understand why you guys don't have the option to stop that....but yes it might be filling her up too much and making her want the bottle less, which should be her primary source of nutrition until a year. So hm....it's definitely something to bring up. Are you mixing the cereal with formula or water?

Also..how long have you guys had her on the cereal? have you tried weaning her off of it slowly so that she's only eating cereal with a spoon several times a day and using bottles as her primary food source for a week or two? I just say that because very often babies outgrow the reflux, but because treatment has been so successful often the parents don't notice right away because they're used to the symptoms being gone...but if she could transition back to using a bottle as her primary food and using cereal just for practice....that might be worth asking the ped if you should try. But definitely ask first, as my babies never had reflux I only know second-hand through friends so I can't guarantee it will work from my own experience..but it did work for my friend and her vomit-constantly-for-4-months son who had reflux :).

but either way I'd say it's definitely worth a call. 15oz of formula when it should still be her primary source does NOT sound like enough at 5 months....My guess would be that she needs closer to 35+ a day but like I said...ask the doc! Maybe call tomorrow and leave a msg.