Expert: ruth kraft - 4/28/2009

Question
My baby is 3 months old.  I breastfeed her while at home, and also pump for feedings from the bottle while at the babysitter.  Can the babysitter be overfeeding her from the bottle?  She feeds her more ounces and more often than we do at home.  I work nights, and the babysitter is telling me that she is making up for what she is not getting at home.  She is only at the babysitter's 3 nights a week, and never acts extra hungry at home during the day or on the nights we have her at home.  When she is fed from the bottle at home (Daddy's feedings), she eats 4 - 4 1/2 ounces every 3-4 hours.  The babysitter, most recently, fed her 9 ounces in a 2 hour period.  I don't have an overabundance of milk, but every indication points to her getting enough to eat -weight gain, wet diaper, etc.  Can babies overeat on the bottle when they are used to the breast?

Answer
yes, you can overfeed a breastfed baby from a bottle. What your sitter has decided is hunger is actually not, breastfed babies have a much stronger suck reflex than those bottle bed babies because they are using all the muscles in their mouths where bottle fed bbaies do not. so when given a bottle, they "guzzle it" which happens in 5 minutes, because it takes 10-20 minutes for the hunger fullness feeling to set in, they will drink more. by the time the baby drink 9 ounces, shes over stuffed BUT the feeling of fullness is there. so she wont drink more. this is why formula fed babies have a higher chance of obesity, the stomach gets overstretched and eats twice as much as it needs to get full.

2 ounces of breastmilk is equivilant to 4 ounces of formula. so the 4-4.5 ounces your baby takes is perfect  for her nutritional needs as indicated by the weight gain and diapers, developmentally on track etc. Your body isnt making 9 ounces at a time because there is no need too. You make the perfect amount for your baby.

My suggestion would be to tell your sitter that according to her pediatrician, the baby is fine, and to please only give the alloted milk that you specify to keep her on the routine that you have. If she disagrees or starts giving formula in your absence, it may be time t ofind a new sitter who understands she is your daughter, not the sitters.

Good luck :)