How much formula should my son be eating daily?

Question

I have a 4 month old son, and his doctor want's us to start feeding him rice cereal this week along with his formula, how many ounces of formula should he be eating daily?

My son will be 5 months in 10 days, and his Doctor said to feed him rice cereal, so if you think he's too young, your not a Doctor, so please don't judge, thank you.

Answer 1

According to the guidlines my doctors use, based on the ones from the AAP, he should be getting between 28-32oz of formula a day. The solids should be secondary - and if he refuses them, don't force the issue. Just try again a different time. Formula is still his primary source of nutrition for another 8 months or so.

Answer 2

Rule of thumb is 2 to 2 1/2 oz per pound per day. So if your baby weighs 15 lbs, around 30oz in 24 hours is okay.

So since you're just starting cereal, it will not fill him up longer quite yet. It won't really go so much in his mouth as his clothes.. So he'll just be practicing for a little while. So still same amout of milk. After about a week, he may spread the time between morning bottles out further b/c he's got cereal in his stomach.. So if he's eating every 3 hrs, he'll be full for 4 hours or so..

At least this is how my doc. explained it and this is exactly how my son is. He'll have a bottle around 6 am.. Wake up eat cereal at 8, and then bottle about 10-12.. all depending on how much he eats, we never push him to. sometimes he'll eat a full jar of fruit and alot of cereal!!!

Answer 3

Formula feeding usually follows this schedule:

Newborn, 2-3 oz every 3-4 hours
1 month - 3-4 oz every 3-4 hours
2 months - 4-5 oz every 3-4 hours
3 months - 5-6 oz when hungry
4 months - 6-7 oz when hungry
5 months and on - 7-8 oz when hungry

They shouldn't have more than 40 fluid ounces a day.

Answer 4

Rice cereal at 4 months?! That seems a little young to me.

Answer 5

Formula should still be your son's primary source of food..around 4 months it should be close to 32 oz but your doctor should be able to confirm this for you so you have a range to shoot for.

Answer 6

Hi there! He should be taking roughly 2-3 ounces per pound of body weight total daily. Here's a link for more information...

http://www.drgreene.com/21_857.html

Answer 7

24 - 32 oz

Answer 8

i think its 32 oz. but our dr. had us do a feeding log just to see how much our son was eating so you might ask your dr. to see if you should do this too!