4 Month Old - How Often Should She Be Feeding

I think at 4 monts old my doctor said that they should be getting 24-32 oz of milk a day. I was told when i was stopping breastfeeding that i should not eat oatmeal so try eating oatmeal. The more you feed the more you produce. Do you pump? I got a hand pump and pumped when my production was down. Drink lots and lots of water. I think that was part of my problem. Take a hot shower and then feed, the heat will help produce and let down. Ask you pediatrician for more advice!

I nursed both of my boys until they were 10 months, and 14 months. The smell of formula made me gag, so I only used it if I absolutely had to. What I found was that the more I nursed, the more I produced. I kept up my own liquid intake, and paid close attention to how what I ate affected my milk. My boys didn't like anything carbonated, with caffeine, or garlic and onions. Oh yeah, chocolate didn't help either. My youngest son would get a red rash on his face when I ate barbecue sauce! Now it's his favorite condiment!
Check with your doc for amounts if you keep up with formula. I really made up my mind that was going to nurse, even with some very difficult challenges at the beginning that almost made me give up. My positive mindset, determination, and focus are what got us through
As far as frequency, I tried to space feedings initially at atleast every two hours when they were so tiny, the older they got, the longer the spread. I remember being exhausted, but you find a way to get through. I also learned to put my babies down for sleep while they were still awake, so they would learn to soothe themselves. If I put them down asleeep, they would wake up and pitch a fit.
Good Luck! These times pass way too quickly, so don't hurry them.

Hi A.~
I was in your shoes but the supply issue didn't happen to me until my LO was about 9 months old. Try to stop giving formula - that is one way to decrease your milk supply quick. When you give that your body gets the hint to not produce more milk. You may want to try to consult a lactation consultant for further advice. You can call the hospital you delivered at or if there is a local birthing facility you can call there too. To help increase your supply try nursing a little more often - ex. if you nurse every 2-3 hours now, try every 1-2. Make sure you're relaxed and that baby is awake. The more the baby nurses that stimulates your body to increase its supply - think of supply and demand. This may take a few days to a week. Does your baby really need formula? You may have to talk with the pediatrician about intake. You also may need to pump in between, not to collect more but to help stimulate. Another thing to try, if this isn't working (but give it a little time) is to get fenugreek tabs and/or mother's milk tea. These herbal supplements will help stimulate as well. I used these off and on, but it should only be used as needed otherwise your body will get use to it. Before you do this please talk with your pediatrician and/or lactation consultant because there is dosing limits and don't rely on the drug store clerk to tell you. There are also websites for quick reference - babycenter.com and lll.org (la leche league). These sites are BF friendly. If you have any more questions or anything you can email me at ____@____.com luck!

Paula G.

When my daughter was 4 months she was eating 6oz every 5 hours (except at night she goes 9hrs) and we also introduced solids at 4 months. (My doctor recomended solids at this age, maybe ask yours what he/she thinks). All babies are different, you'll figure out what is best for yours. Also, a nice hot shower and a breast massage worked for me when I was trying to increase my milk production. Good Luck and God Bless!

I would nurse your baby on each side and THEN give her the formula if she is still hungry. This way it will stimulate you to produce more milk. Also, I think feeding every 3 hours is the rule of thumb for a long time (but not necessarily during the night). Even toddlers eat snacks between meals, and if you think about it, they eat that often!

Have you talked with a lactation specialist? The OB/Gyn office in my area has one on staff, as well as the local hospital. Also, the La Leche league in your area may be a good resource for you. I had a really hard time with my first child and ended up giving up breastfeeding much earlier than I had wanted and felt really guilty about it. I now have a 9 week old who I thought was doing well, but turns out he was not gaining enough weight. I nurse him every 3 hours during the day and I have to wake him up sometimes to do that because he would be content not eating. If you increase the frequency of feeding, that will help to increase your supply some. Make sure you are drinking plenty of water everyday; I drink about 2 liters. I have also started drinking nursing tea; Weleda makes some that I found at Babies R Us and on-line and I believe GNC also carries another brand. I have noticed an increase in my milk production, but not sure if the tea is doing it or just the fact that I am drinking water and nursing more frequently. I also pump if I have supplemented him with any formula. If you don't have a pump/don't want to buy one some hospitals/medical supply stores rent pumps. The Le Leache League again would be a good resource for this. Good luck to you! I know first-hand how frustrating breastfeeding can be, it is not a very concrete science. If it is really something you want to do, keep working at it and will work out for you. That being said, DO NOT feel guilty about using formula if that is what you need/want to do. Any breastfeeding you do is good for your baby! My daughter only nursed for a short time and was then formula fed. She is healthy and happy and if I must say so myself, very smart!!! Do what is best for you and your baby, whichever that may be!

A., seek out the LLL (La Leche League) in your area, they are FREE consultants that are BF mothers who are advocates of breast feeding.

You can go to LaLecheLeague.com

Here are the forums

Search for your state and area:
http://www.llli.org/WebUS.html

http://forums.llli.org/index.php?s=122c258993457a42af834d...

http://forums.llli.org/showthread.php?t=22803

I had the same issue with my first son. I thought i wasn't producing enough either. The truth is YOU ARE!!! It may feel like you're breast aren't "full" but you're probably used to the feeling of them being engorged when you first started feeding her. Once that engorged feeling goes away, you're breasts feel empty, but they aren't!! Believe me, their is plenty of milk in them; and the more you breastfeed, the more milk you're body makes. Stop giving her the bottles and breastfeed for 10 minutes on each side, every 2-3 hours. When you're giving her a bottle of formula, she's missing a meal of breastmilk. That signals your body to decrease the milk production. And pumping doesn't completely empty the breasts, even though the milk stops flowing. She's 4 months old and she's emptying the breasts faster than she used to. She sounds like she's gaining weight well and getting enough nutrients to grow. Also once you start her on solids, she is missing a "meal" of breastmilk, so you're milk supply will decrease then as well. But you are still producing milk, and she is always getting enough. Birth control and certain medications can also decrease your milk supply. Talk to the pediatrician on Friday about which ones you shouldn't take while breastfeeding; and also ask them about what you can do to increase the production; they may give you some medicine (or at least the name of some over the counter ones) that will help. For now, I would stop giving her formula and exclusively breastfeed. If she acts like she's hungry again an hour after you feed her, feed her again... that will definitely increase the amount your body makes after a week of this. I got ALOT of helpful advice from the lactation consultant at my WIC office; you don't have to be on WIC to visit one. Just call you're local WIC office and make an appointment for a consult if your pediatrician doesn't help. You can make as many visits as you feel you need to; if she doesn't help, there are others to look for help too, private ones or nurtitionists are helpful too. Good luck hun and don't give up, your body will catch up!!

To add to the other responses...Make sure that whenever you start introducing solids/cereal, that it is only to have your child practice eating. You should breastfeed first, then supplement with cereal. I aggree with the others in that if you supplement now with formula, you wont be making as much milk. I used to feed my son, empty both sides, and then pump to get out a couple of more ounces to freeze to have on hand. Also if she is sleeping for several hours at night, you could try waking up at night to pump, and then still be able to nurse when she needs it. Growth spurts are hard, it seems like they never get full. Good Luck and Congrats.

Get rid of the formula. Breast milk works on-demand. If your infant is not suckling enough you won't have any milk. Your body triggers the hormaone to produce more milk when ever the breast is suckled. Some folks like Mother's Milk herbal tea. Have you talked to a lactation consultant? You might try pumping your breast and mix the pumped breast milk with the formula if you feel you absolutely need the formula. Or there are devices that attached to your breast and deliver supplement milk via a tiny tube while you baby suckles at the breast, so then you get the stimulation you need and the baby gets the supplementation they need. Good luck.

I'm not an expert, but we went through this too. Our guy is still kind of small at 18 months and has just gotten his weight onto the growth charts.

What I recommend though is to pump. You can get a fancy breast pump for about $200 that works great or a hand pump for about $30 that works well too. Some hospitals also rent them out. I think Medela is the best brand.

Pumping several times a day will increase your milk supply more than anything else will and give you milk to feed the baby too. You can find directions on how to store it. Pumping also helps once you start cereals because you can mix it in. That's what we had to do for both of my kids to make sure they got enough and it works great so you can avoid formulas. The more you pump, the more it increases your milk.

I am breastfeeding my 5 1/2 month old son and have also struggled with my milk supply. I would recommend consulting with a good qualified lactation consultant. I could not have gotten this far without my wonderful LC. Pump as much as you can to increase your milk supply. Pump after each feeding if necessary. Also, I have begun taking More Milk Special Blend from www.motherlove.com I am not a big herbal person, but my LC recommended this and I decided to try it. More Milk Special Blend has Fenugreek, goat's rue, blessed thistle, etc. Tastes awful, but works great! I highly recommend giving it a try.

Hi A.. We have very similar stories. My boy was born 2 weeks early on January 25th, and he was 6lbs 5oz. I have been exclusively breastfeeding for the 4 months, but I have had every problem in the book! I think I talked to the Lactation Consultant at least once a week for the first 3 months! Your baby's weight sounds ok. My boy just had his 4 month check and he is now 13.4 lbs. About a month ago, I started giving my baby more bottles of pumped milk b/c nursing is not going well. My milk comes out too fast for him. Even with pumping often, I have barely enough to keep up with him. It is emotional for me for some reason to think about switching to formuala, but it doesn't have to be all or nothing. My Dr. reassured me of that yesterday! I'm going to start supplementing 1 or 2 feedings a day with formula because I am just exhausted! You do what you feel is best and whatever is less stressful for you and baby! She should probably be eating about every 2.5 to 3 hours. Of course it is hard to tell what they are getting when they nurse, but my baby eats 5 oz from the bottle now. When I do nurse him, he usually eats for about 10 minutes on each side. If you are going to stick with breastfeeding, make sure you nurse and then pump a little bit afterwards even if nothing comes out. That is suppose to stimulate your milk. Good luck!

I breastfed my son (now 22 months) exclusively for 14 months. When he was first born, my milk didn't come in right away so we had to supplement for a couple of days with formula. We supplemented with a device that hung around my neck and had tubes coming from it, I would tape the tube to my breast, and let him "nurse". He would be stimulating my milk flow/production but at the same time he got the formula that he needed to gain weight. I found one online just now called "Lact-Aid", in case you wanted to look into getting one. Hope this helped!

my daughter took about 4-6 oz about every 4 hours. i also started her on rice cereal at about 4 months once or twice a day. pumping between her feedings can help increas your supply, as well build up a supply to use later on. there is no shame in supplementing with formula. i had to do it sometimes. when she went through growth spurts, she'd want to eat more and sometimes the babysitter had use powdered formula to help fill her up, if she went through all the bags of frozen milk. also it seemed that at night she just wanted to nurse continuously and would then get really upset cause my breast would "refill" fast enough for her, so i'd have to give ehr some formula to calm her down. the best indicator that she is feeding enough is her demeanor, doesn she seem satisfied or is she still fussy after you've emptied both breasts, and her weight gain. even if she is in a lower weight range, but is steadily gaining at a healthy rate, then she's fine...jsut remember the more often you nurse,or pump, the more milk you will produce. i've heard there is some sort of herbal tea you can drink to help produce more milk, but i don't really know much about it.

When my son was four months old, I'm pretty sure he was still nursing every three hours during the day and sleeping through the night - maybe waking up once to nurse, I can't quite remember. I didn't supplement formula at all and I'm still breastfeeding. He will be one next month. If you feel that your milk supply is decreasing you should try nursing more frequently. The more you nurse (or pump) the more milk your body will make.

I'm sure others will recommend herbs and stuff, I'm just not sure what they are. Oh also, drink lots of liquids. I read somewhere that nursing mothers should drink at least 12 eight ounce servings of water - but I think juice, milk, tea, pretty much anything counts.

Hi A.. I had the same trouble that you are with my son and the pediatrician gave me a few tips that might help you. He had me drinking 2 gallons of water a day (which is kinda hard) and eating as many vegetables as possible(steamed preferably). The more u feed and the more you can pump the more your body will produce. It was described to me as a supply and demand type deal. Gentle breast massageing supposedly helps also? Good luck and i hope you it goes well for you and your new angel. Just pump as much as possible and feed as much as possible and remember breast milk is freezable.

I'm EBF my son who turned 3 months May 19 and I EBF my daughter too I feed on demand and like others have said supplementing with formula is the worst thing you can do with supply. Just nurse her often and you should build up the supply. It will take a day or 2 for your body to catch up to her since you have been supplementing but just nurse often. You might not be able to go out or do anyhting but nurse for a day till your body is cauht up. One thing that new moms might not know is babies have growth spurts often almost every 2 weeks where they want to nurse more to build up the supply so they get what they need. Many moms think this is a problem and they are starving their baby but they are not its just the babies way of saying "hey I want 5oz instead of 4 now" Also its not reccomended you start solids till 6 months old. If you started supplementing with formula cause your breasts didnt feel full anymore its not cause your supply was low its cause your body had adjusted to the baby's needs and didnt overproduce it just made enough for your baby. Also breastfed babies tend to be smaller then formula babies so if your DR. is not worried you shouldnt be. My friends 9 month old is only 14lbs and she's EBF. Good luck and Please dont quit just stop supplementing and your supply should come back.

have you tried pumping? Pumping AFTER she gets done nursing may increase your milk production. Good Luck! :)

Hi A.,
My name is K. and I am a board certified lactation consultant. To ease your worries on not having enough milk, only about 1% of the population that nurses really does not have enough, at least that is what the research says. The Acadamy of Pediatrics recomends exclusive breastmilk for 6 months and then start introdusing solids but with breastmilk remaining the vital food source. This is a constant worry for most moms and a lot of moms supplement with formula to ease their worries but I think you can go back to just exclusivly BF if you want. Nurse your baby on demand, watch for her hunger signs. Let her feed on the breast till she is done, she will slow down or close her eyes, then stimulate her and have her do the other side. You can massage your breast while she is nursing. The best way to keep your milk supply up is to breastfeed on demand, every feed. Supplementing with formula will actually decrease your milk supply because the baby is not demanding at the breast with that feed. Even if you pump you will still get less than the baby would if she nursed. Also, as long she is gaining weight and has 6-8 wet diapers and at least one poopy diaper a day you can be reassured she is getting enough. Studies have proved that pumping in between may raise the supply a little but really is just more work for you and will exhaust you. If I were you I would continue at the breast with on demand and keep her stimulated at the breast and let her decide when she is done. Don't time the feeding because every feeding will br different. Also, try doing some skin to skin with her. That has been proven to increease milk supply. When the baby has a growth spurt which is usually at 3 months but can be at 4 months, the baby will nurse more to get your supply up to meet her needs. Just remember demand and supply. I hope this helps and please send me a message if you have concerns and I also like to know if I was helpful, since it is my job.
K. J

You can pump after every feeding to try to "trick" your body into producing more milk. At that age, my daugher was probably drinking 20 oz or so a day. And if you're going to give her formula, I would suggest breastfeeding her first, then give her the formula. Then your milk supply won't drop since you won't be replacing a breastfeeding with formuala.

That seems kind of small to me, but my babies were pretty much monsters (2 of mine were 9 1/2 lbs) when they were born. I never produced enough milk. I tried everything in the book. It was MISERABLE. I felt like a total failure, especially from the "You HAVE to ONLY breastfeed" advocates. Sometimes there are extenuating circumstances which prevent successful breastfeeding. Anyway, I breastfed first at each feeding, then offered formula when the breastmilk was gone. Our pediatrician reassured me that any breastmilk was better than none and that my babes would get the antibody protection from even just a little bit.

But here's what I tried: fenugreek supplements, mother's milk tea (which I think has fenugreek, too), frequent pumping, frequent nursing, breast massage (to aid in letdown), and warm baths. Good luck to you!

Hi A.,
Just remember that your milk supply is based on supply and demand. I nurse on demand and have with both of my babies. If your daughter falls asleep while nursing, tickle her feet, rub her arm, gently stroke her cheek and she should begin nursing again. The more she nurses, the more milk you will have. So in answer to your question, if you want your milk supply to be increased, nurse, nurse, nurse. Discontinue the formula until your supply is well established. I would supplement my son with formula but not often, but after my milk supply was well established. And one of the beautiful things about breastfeeding is that you don't have to worry about how much they are getting. If you nurse them when they want, then they are getting enough. Some mother's go by a schedule and some nurse on demand. It's just always been easier for me to nurse on demand since I am a SAHM. Good luck to you and let me know how it's going! Please email me if you have any questions.
T.

I think her weight is good seeing how she was only 6lbs when born. I have a five year old and a six month old. My daughter who is six months old weighs about 17lbs. She was 6lbs even when delivered. I breast fed both of my children. With my son who is now five. I lost my milk when he was about 3 or 4 months old. I started back to work, so it didn't leave much time for pumping. I would recommend pumping alot, that will help your milk to keep producing. With breastfeeding I found that they need to eat every couple ours about ten minutes on each breast. I would say about 2-4oz each feed. At 4 months old, I've always been told they're little stomachs can't hold much.
I started my kids on rice cereal at night at this age so maybe you should talk to you pediatrician on her next visit. Hope this helps.