How Much Should He Be Eating???? - Denton,TX

IMO ... to lose THREE pounds in a month at the age of 5 months ... seems like it should be a concern - seems like a lot of weight. Fluctating a pound or two or loosing weight once they're more mobile .. I can see that .. but not 3 at 5 months .. again ... Just My Opinion! Since your ped isn't concerned then that's great. :-)

Here's some information from Dr. Greene's website .....

<<<It all starts fairly simply; most healthy formula-fed newborns take 2 or 3 ounces of formula per feeding, and eat every 3 or 4 hours. By one month of age, most have increased on their own to about 4 ounces every 4 hours. By six months, the amount at each feeding has increased to 6 or 8 ounces, but the frequency has dropped to 4 or 5 times a day. By timing these larger feedings while you are awake, your baby won’t need to eat in the middle of the night.

Another way to express this rule of thumb is that the average baby takes 2 or 3 ounces of formula each day for every pound of body weight, up to a maximum of 32 ounces. A newborn weighing 7 lbs. will take an average of 14-21 ounces of formula in a day. A 4-month-old weighing 14 pounds needs 28-32 ounces.

Nevertheless, these are general guidelines. In real life, this may vary quite a bit from day to day and from baby to baby. It’s best to remain flexible and to let your baby’s appetite guide the amount. You don’t need to coax him to finish a bottle, or stop him if he still acts hungry. If your baby consistently chooses to take more or less than the expected amount, discuss this with your pediatrician.>>>>

I also would be concerned about the weight loss. When I went back to work, I found that I really had to spend some extra time nursing on the weekends to help rebuild my milk supply as I did find that as the week progressed I was pumping less and less, which also meant that when my boys nursed at home, they were likely getting less each feeding. If you focus on spending the time on the weekends for some extra nursing, you should be okay and not have to supplement, since you are quite close to him having some solids during the day. Another thing I did was to use solids only while I was away from them during the day. Then at home, we nursed exclusively until about 8 months. That takes a little more preparation since you have to prepare to take the solid foods to the caregiver, but I do think it helped to preserve the milk supply. Both my boys nursed until way past one year of age and both consistently gained weight with this approach.

If he were formula fed, I think he'd need around 32 ounces a day, plus some solids. With nursing, the only way to tell is his mood and whether he's staying on his growth curve. Even if he eats less during the day, if he's nursing well in the morning and at night, he should be getting what he needs. It might mean you have to wait longer for a full night's sleep though :-)
You don't have to stop nursing, but if he continues losing weight, or fails to gain, you will likely need to consider summplementing. You can mix formula with breastmilk for his bottles, and that will make it go further. As long as you keep pumping and nursing, you can put off formula for as long as you can.

I will say though that it was easier to continue breastfeeding and working with my daughter than it was with my son. I only wanted to nurse to 6 months, and even went a few weeks beyond that with my daughter because she would still nurse morning and evening even after I quit pumping at the office.
She didn't have a huge appetite, so I always had enough milk. The boy was a different story.
Also, life with 2 kids is just so much busier and more stressful.
He was a voracious eater and got frustrated easily when my supply was down after I went back to work. I made it to 4 months with him and threw in the towel. He was soo much happier with a bottle!

Babies that age should get at least 24 oz of breastmilk/formula per day. I breastfed both of my kids for about 4 months. My milk supply decrease a ton when I returned to work. If he is eating cereal or baby food that may be filling him up a little more too. Is your son spitting up? My son started spitting up at about 2 1/2 - 3 months, and was loosing weight. He would want to nurse and take 3 oz of formula every hour and a half. After a ton of testing we finally found out he had really bad reflux and was spitting up everything he took in. Now he is gaining weight and back on track. 3 pounds in a month seems like a lot to me.