One Month Eating Too Much

If I'm reading this correctly, he's drinking a lot because he's snacking, but then a lot is coming back up.

I'd feed him his recommended amount, and give him a big burp mid way - and after to make sure he's got that gas up. Then I'd use a soother instead of letting him keep soother/snacking on the bottle.

The thing with snacking on milk (to soothe) is it can create gas and then he'll wake if you don't get it up. Or he'll spit up, etc.

Have you tried a soother or other ways of soothing him?

I may not be reading your question correctly - but that's what I'm taking as being the problem here. Hopefully that helps.

Just to note - my firstborn was a snacker (breastfed) and finally at 3 weeks the doctor said Oh give yourself a break and told me to buy a soother.

K.,

Welcome to mamapedia and congratulations on your new son!

I take you are giving your son formula instead of breast feeding? If he's spitting up? It might be because the formula is too strong for him or his tummy can't tolerate the formula.

Have you tried breast feeding?

he's a month old - you don't "break" him of eating too much. He needs to grow. If he's hungry, feed him! If he's NOT gaining weight? with all the eating? Then the pediatrician needs to look into it.

Get yourself into a routine with your son. It will work out. The first year IS the hardest year and the year your child will do the most growing!

Good luck!

For a new born - I'd feed him on demand.
Their stomach is about the size of their fist - and it's tiny at first - about the size of a walnut - so it doesn't take much to fill them up and you feed and burp often - and feeding hourly is fairly typical.
In between feedings a pacifier might help - although some kids will never take one.
Our son was a thumb man from birth.

As they grow their feedings get bigger and you can go longer in between feedings.
When they go through growth spurts they will eat more than usual - and then slack off a bit when they are between growth spurts.

When my boys were that age, they tended to fall asleep while they were eating. It's very common in newborns. It's hard to do this, but you have to try not to think about the ounces so much. Try to relax and just focus on following his cues. When you feed him, relax. Just hold the bottle and let him drink. When he has had enough, take the bottle away. If he doesn't fall asleep right away, rock him a bit or offer him a pacifier. Don't offer him the bottle again until he starts rooting or gives other signs of being hungry.

I was able to breastfeed my boys when they were newborns. This isn't a judgment at all, but when you breastfeed, you really have no idea how much they are eating. So you really are dependent on their signals. Try to stop noticing the ounces and focus on his signals. Some nights it felt like they were never going to fall asleep! But sometimes they just want to be held or rocked.

Finally, a 1 month old really is a newborn. He is still so new to the world. I know you are concerned about breaking a habit, but that's really not much of a concern at his age. He's going to go through so many changes in the next few months. Just as soon as you find one way to sooth him or get him to sleep, he's going to change and you're going to have to find new ways to sooth him. So right now you are used to feeding him after 30 minutes. If you didn't do that, I'm not sure he would notice too much.

Mostly he just needs you ... he needs you to hold him and rock him and help him feel secure. And even though it sucks, it's normal for him to have short periods of sleep and keep you up half the night. Just know that this, too, shall pass.

One month olds do not overeat. Some babies just spit up until they are six months old or so. That's not the same as throwing up or having a medical issue. Feed your baby what he wants, when he wants it. Also find a new pediatrician.

I had one with reflux. 99% of reflux is overfeeding the baby. Period. Their tummies can only hold so much.

Feed your baby what they want to eat. If he's puking it up then he did get over full. Keep a log of how many ounces he ate each time for a week. Then see what he's averaging.

Let's say he's eating 5 ounces every time he's eating and he's losing a bit of that. So give him 4 ounces and give him a binky. He probably needs to suck more and that will help him to digest the food he has in his tummy faster.

He might need to be burped more. Does not sound like he is eating too much. Spitting up is different than vomiting up everything. Usually babies leave hospital drinking 2 ounces and it's increased as their appetite increases.

He’s not eating enough at each meal. Let him eat as much as he wants, stopping to burb every couple of ounces.

He is 1 month old. Feed him when he's hungry. And you might google "cluster feeding". It's really common especially in babies about to go through a growth spurt.

I think he's snacking and not eating. I'd give him a few ounces, then burp him and hold him upright, but then let him feed again, with repeat burping. Babies this young need to eat on demand, and if you are feeding him from a bottle, then someone should be able to help you and take some of the feedings. You cannot continue to be up all day and all night because he only sleeps for a half hour or an an hour and then eats again.

You also don't want to use feeding as a way to get to sleep, at least not long term. That leads to older babies and toddlers who expect to use food as a pacifier. Once they have teeth, having a mouth full of formula/milk lying in the mouth can cause tooth decay. It's okay if a baby eats and then stays awake for a while. Meals are meals, and sleep is sleep - I realize newborns sleep a lot and may well drop off to sleep, but don't make that your written-in-stone goal. Use that time to walk around and look at things, even maybe hold a little infant board book up while you sit in a rocker with him upright. It's okay that he doesn't know what's in the book - just get into the habit of sitting and snuggling together with a book. You can sing to him too. So don't deprive him of food or think in terms of a certain number of meals per day, but do give him more at one sitting (with burps in between) and learn to comfort him in other ways if he's fussy. He's just too little to really have a schedule yet, but you have got to have some help and not do this all alone.

You don't want to switch up formulas all the time either, but consider that he may have trouble with a certain brain or composition.

whats the flow rate on the bottle? have you tried changing to a slower or faster one? burp more often and offer a pacifier. try rocking, patting, a swing, bouncy seat, music, pacifier and even laying with him to get him to sleep. feeding is not the only way to get a baby to fall asleep.