Saturday, October 14, 2006

How much should your baby drink?

All the while I've been relying on this method which I found was quite accurate when feeding Athena.

4 years ago, like all first time parents I didn't know how much milk to prepare for my girl. What I managed to notice was that she started at 35mls and somehow I did slowly increase her intake as each week passed. And when I found out about this calculation from the website, it proved to me that I was feeding my girl the correct amount.

The formula as given : eg. baby weight's 3.2kg

3.2 x 2.5 x 2.5 =20
20 divide by no of feed per day
eg. 20 div 8 = 2.5oz per feeding
(2.5oz amounts to approx 70mls)

It was kind intention from friends who told me or tactfully hinted to me that I'm under feeding Aricia as I told them she's drinking every 2 hours instead of normal babies at 3 hours. I know everyone reading this will think "she must be very hungry, for goodness sake increase the milk intake. Poor baby & you silly mother!"
However I do have my reasons for standing true to my belief.
1) Both my babies were born small, not the average 3.2kg and above babies but a mere 2.6kg and 2.3kg baby. So naturally the intake is lesser than any average infant
2) Babies are born with small stomachs, I can't over fill my babies stomachs in the hope of extending their feed intervals - they may end up regurgitate the milk.

On Tuesday, I brought Aricia to see her PD and raised the issue of "is 50mls per feed too little or too much for her" She was stunned at my questioning and asked why, so I told her what friends had advised me but what I believed and the calculation method I relied on. She smiled and told me "your girl is doing very well, considering she was born at... 2.3kg" Then she taught me another formula :

150mls per kg
So if baby is eg. 3.2kg
3.2 x 150 = 480mls
(Baby needs 480mls per day)
480 div by no of feeds
e. 480 div 8 = 60mls per feed

[Okay, we give and take a little. Considering maybe the method I'm relying on is the angmoh calculation and hers - our Asians calculation.]

In all, I was assured that Aricia is infact drinking more than she should already.And there's no way I can do a sudden tremendous increase coz' she did say "yes! babies stomach are small." Wah! I so smart hor? I think I can become a PD already!! Dr Teo. Umm.....

But since Thursday, I'm happy to say that she's gradually increased her intake to 60mls - of course what! she's growing day by day (her cries goes louder day by day too!)

No comments: