Friday, March 13, 2009

Gulp


By the time a baby is 10-12 months old, if they're still breast feeding, they should consume 24 ounces of breast milk per day. Today Lyla went through 23 ounces...during the day. She's not even four months. What the hell is going on?

Part of it might be the regurgitation volcano within her that erupted a couple times early on. She also might be growth-spurting again. But maybe she's ready for solid foods.

Most people say six months is when you should start introducing solid foods. Babies can transition earlier if they sit fairly proficiently, if they seem quite interested whenever you eat, and if breast milk no longer satisfies them. Right now Lyla only qualifies under the third criterion.

We'll see what happens as the days progress. I think she just had an off day (or a really really on day). Of course, I'm not smart enough yet to know when she wants to eat. After feeding her and noticing her fussiness, I run through the list of ways to get her to stop fussing without realizing that she might be still hungry. But to give you an idea, at 3:00 I gave her a full four ounces. Then at 4:00, she had another three, and at 5:00 another four. That's a lot, and she chugged it all down like a desperate-to-be-cool college freshman.

She has a doctor appointment next Friday, so I'll ask about it. Until then, I hope she doesn't drink us out of house and home.

4 comments:

The Sloneker's said...

I was told that babies tend to eat more that first week Mom goes back to work. Like they are overcompensating for missing their Mom's or something??
Just thought I would share.

Dan said...

Word!

Susi said...

Same thing happened to us when I went back to work. Anja started eating 5-6 oz at a time, 3-4 times while I was at work. It did go back down a little, but we did start her on cereal when she was 4 months since she was so interested. Good luck!

Anonymous said...

Hmm...that makes sense that Lyla is eating more now that Jules is at work - I too often overeat when I'm feeling down. :)