how much should a 3 week old baby eat??

Question

my son eats like every hour..he is eating like 5 oz every time and sometimes still hungry! he was 8 lbs 11 oz when born and last week he was at 10lbs 2 oz ......he is also very gasy....its to the point where im now putting baby rice cereal in his bottal ..is this normal or am i feeding him to much?

Answer 1

I don't think you should be feeding him anything but breast milk or formula. Their stomachs are not able to digest solid foods yet. You should feed a baby that young as much as they can drink, they'll stop when they're full.

Answer 2

Man some people can be stupid with their answers. Putting rice cereal in the bottle really isnt a good idea. My doctor told me rice cereal can be put in their bottle after 4 months old. Some people do it around 3 months. A 3 week old though should only be eating 2 ozs of formula. 2-4 is ok but 5 and up is a little too much. The baby will cry for something to eat but try your best to space out 4 ozs every 3 hours. Good luck!

Answer 3

Wow!!! That is alot of formula at one sitting. It ranges from 3-4 oz 6-8 times a day for a three week old baby. So between 18 and 32 ozof formula a day. It doesn't matter if he was big when he was born, so was my daughter. At this stage the babies stomach is so small it can only hold so much. So if your son is spitting up alot is because your feeding him too much. Cereal should NOT be fed to her until she is a supported sitter. If you think she's hungry for a bottle because she is crying alot, that is not the only reason babies cry. For the first couple months babies cry alot. Ranging from needing to be changed, hungry, tired, bored, etc.

Answer 4

well you are feeding him way to much. You need to ask the doc. for advise and maybe some gas med. ( prescription) The reason the baby is eating so often is because he is colicy and they love the sucking I think you need to try to use the passy as much as possible. Just think of it this way ..if some one feed you every hour a good amount you would be so full you are miserable. That is what is wrong with him. I think you need to just give a passy or water bottle to him. I think the rice is ok... but I am still telling you he is not hungry he is just used to you feeding him so much ( it is VERY normal for this to happen) it is just hard to break. Just be consistent try to break him to 2- 2 1/2 hrs. ( event if you have to let him cry it out ( I know it sucks for you but he will be broken from this in no time)

Answer 5

my son is 4 weeks and is eating 6 ounces every 2.5-3 hours.....which is actually almost double the daily required amount but his doctor says at his age to feed him till hes full....but not to feed him more often. so i think the every hour is a bit much. my son was 7lb 9 oz at birth...9 lb 3 oz at 2 weeks....and yesterday at his wic appt was 10lb 5 oz but hes not getting overly fat...hes also not gassy though you may want to ask your doctor about your babies feeding, but id say hes still a little young for cereal...and never give a baby that young water contrary to some of the other posters. they can dilute the nutrients in there bodies and get H2O intoxication......ive had it believe me its not pleasant for an adult....and they say it can kill a baby.

Answer 6

what type of formula are you using?? are you using distilled water? i found that canned liquid versus powdered made a difference for my son.. the canned liquid formula gave my son really upset / gassy tummy aches. you should try a different brand. I found enfalac worked best for my son. for the gas.. try gripe water.. this will relieve some of the pressure in his tummy..
if it is really bad, try ovol, but it isn't something to use all the time..

Don't give him cereal in a bottle.. his body digestive system cannot handle it at 3 weeks and you will be doing way more harm than good.. contact your doctor if you are concerned

he is a growing boy and boys grow fast.. and my son was the same way.. he is now 3 years old.. over 3 ft tall and 45 lbs.. he is very healthy, solid not fat and he has tonne of energy..

Answer 7

I think your baby is getting enough milk but, you can still give him another ounce and a half or so but every 3 hours apart at most. About the cereal i really think you shouldn't feed him that, he's too small for that and maybe that is why he's too gassy even though newborn babies pass a lot of gas.

Answer 8

I have a very hungry 5 wk old and I asked my pediatrician about rice cereal and they told me not to. I did have someone in an early post talk about hungry baby milk. I am looking into it but it says not to use till 6 to 8 wks old. I would ask your ped about it.

Answer 9

I would not put any rice cereal in his bottle as that might be upsetting his stomach and making him gassy.

I am thinking he is overfed if you are giving him 5 ounces every hour. It sounds like he can't tell if he is hungry or gassy.

Have you spoken to your pediatrician? Maybe you need to switch formulas.

Answer 10

ok...i think your feeding him too much!! its sounds like he has wind, ( u say his gasy) a baby with wind tends to eat wenever u put the bottle to his mouth becoz the pressure it puts on their bellys relieves the wind pain, they usually feed every 3 hours. in between feeds give him straight boiled water or boil water with 1-2 Bay Leaves its a herbal leaf so its safe however tastes abit yuck so add a small ammount of brown sugar (my son drank it without sugar) be sure to boil the water for 7-10mins. try laying him on his belly across ur knees and patting/rubbing his back to bring up the wind let me know how it goes...theres heap more things to try