breastfed babies, amount being fed?

angierosebkr

My son is 5 weeks old and exclusively breastfed. I am feeding one bottle of breast milk a day. Usually I put 3 ounces in thr bottle for DH to feed him. It just doesn't seem like very much. How much breastmilk should a 5 week old be drinking?

mrsbtobe20122

My guy takes anywhere between 3-5 oz and he is 6 weeks. DH starts with 3, burps him-- if he still acts hungry he will warm another ounce not to waste any. He's taken 5 oz twice.

apinkpelican

Following... Would like to add 'when do you typically feed the bottle?' Before bed? MOTN?

apinkpelican

LO will be 6 weeks on Sunday. Finally is taking a bottle. We give her 2.5-3oz in bottle. Wanted to try to give her a bottle at the evening feeding hoping she'd have more and sleep longer but we aren't there yet.

angierosebkr

Hubby typically feeds it to him before bed and I'll pump. He has done one or two motn feedings and I did not pump

manna1212

Our LO takes anywhere from 3-4 ounces.

danabsd

My fatty eats about 4ozs.

kendy20

Our LO is 5 weeks 4 days and we are giving her 3.5 oz bottles before bed and bottle for the MOTN. Then I EBF during the day and pump for our nightly bottles.

gutsysneakers

EBF and DH gives a bottle of pumped milk at night. DD is almost 6 weeks old and eats 4-5 oz.

Nikkipal82

@MK1013‌ Your LO is more efficient at removing milk from you than your pump. If she seems content , is gaining well, and making enough wet/dirty diapers, you're all good.

apinkpelican

@MK1013‌ what @Nikkipal82‌ said. When I first saw a LC we did a weighted feed. We weighed her then I fed her and we weighed her again. The scales are down to the half ounce and we could see that she had enjoyed 2.5 ounces. Worth checking out.
I may try 4 oz next bottle. I was starting off slow bc for about a week and a half all she would take from bottle was 1 oz and would refuse rest. We are making progress though as she took 3 oz today.
She is about 9 lbs if that has anything to do with it

dogsombrero

MK1013 said:

I'm worried. All of your LO's seem to be drinking at least 3+ oz. I truly don't believe I'm making 3 oz. on one side alone (and that's all she takes right now). Is she going to be getting enough? She doesn't cry for more and seems content, but is she going to be okay weight wise? Is there a way for me to know how much she's getting from me? We haven't introduced a bottle. When I pump I usually only get 1-1.5 oz......

Several local hospitals in my area have a bf-ing moms group where they have a scale for worried mins to do a weighed feed. Definitely look into it if you are worried but if LO is gaining, satisfied and having enough wets/poos you are probably doing just fine.

Princessimani

At my princesses 4week check up she weighed 9lbs 10ozs. I was really proud that she'd gained that much weight since we left the hospital at 7lbs 1oz. I exclusively breastfeed g and pump as often as I can. Since receiving my electric pump from WIC in can pump 2.5-3ozs per breast. I usually bottle feed at night and she drinks 3-4ozs at once. But now she sleeps through the night waking up at 6am.

angierosebkr

DH fed him during the night last night and hr wasn't satisfied with the 3oz of milk I had thawed so I had to get up and nurse afterwards. So I think ill start making 4oz bottles and we will see how he does. I don't pump that much in a session though(only about 3oz) how can I increase how much I'm pumping? Is it ok so add an ounce from a different pumping session?

apinkpelican

@angierosebkr‌ yes you can combine just put them both in fridge first so they are same temp when combined.

apinkpelican

@mk1013 ours in at the hospital or maybe your peds office would let you do this. I can go in and weigh LO at Drs office whenever I want to

gutsysneakers

@mk1013 - at your next pedi app, stay and nurse and ask for LO to be weighed again.

tbiscuit18

@MK1013‌ I'm not sure if you live in a metro area, but we have a couple of parenting centers who have LC's on staff and offer free baby weigh drop ins where I live. I've never used it, but when I was there yesterday for a class a few women were there for that.

Princessimani

@MK1013‌ look up la Leche leagues in you zip code. It's an international breastfeeding support group. There's one almost everywhere.

Princessimani

@angierosebkr‌ try feeding the baby as much as possible and pump as much as you can. Too increase your supply eve if nothing is coming out when you pump. You body will think baby needs more milk, so it will make more

KBowen715

MK1013 said:

I'm in an average size town, but have nothing like that. Two weeks ago I had an appt on the same floor as pediatrics and so I asked if I/they could weigh her quickly since I was there and to be sure she was gaining (I even told them I was new at breastfeeding) they told me no as she wasn't on their schedule. I think my pedi would've been upset had I told her, but I forgot when we had DD's check up. I thought that was so mean. It would've taken all of 2 minutes (if that) of their time...

I totes walk by and put LO on te scale and act all dumb blonde when they side eye me. Whoops.

spinsoffresonance

Haven't given DD2 a bottle yet but when DD1 started daycare at 6weeks she was taking 2.5oz bottles every 2 hours. At 2 months she went up to 3oz every 3 hours. Then at 4months 3.5oz and at 6months 4oz

giggler25

MK1013 said:

I will do that, didn't know it was that easy. and however much she gains is about how many oz she's getting?

Yep, weigh her then feed her and then weigh her again! The difference in weight is how much milk she drank.

JKTTC1

LO is exclusively fed from the breast. He hasn't had a full bottle at all yet (only an oz to take meds) and he's 8 weeks.

I wasn't able to do this with my DS1 as we had issues and supplementing plus going back to work. Now that I'm not this time around, I enjoy feeding him every time. He feeds every 3-4 hours during the day and 3-6 hours at night!

I had an oversupply at the beginning and was pumping for relief in which I stores everything. Got about 100oz or
More Frozen.

Audrawilder

DD is 5 weeks 2 days and will take a 4 ounce bottle. Normally I give it to her at her last feeding before bedtime. Seems to keep her full pretty long before her MOTN feeding.

ns1

This one likes to graze all day long and is just learning the bottle... so he only takes about 1.5 oz. and finishes with the boob. He has to get better before daycare!

DD never took more than 4 oz. in a bottle and was at 3 oz at you LOs age.

RachelCA29

angierosebkr said:

DH fed him during the night last night and hr wasn't satisfied with the 3oz of milk I had thawed so I had to get up and nurse afterwards. So I think ill start making 4oz bottles and we will see how he does. I don't pump that much in a session though(only about 3oz) how can I increase how much I'm pumping? Is it ok so add an ounce from a different pumping session?

You can try to pump right after you feed your LO. It will indicate to your body that you need to make more each feeding so it can help increase supply.

For anyone interested I found this weight based chart about EFB babied and each feeding amount.

https://www.best-breastpumps.com/Milk_Intake.htm

fussybunch

@RachelCA29 Thank you so much for posting the link to the chart! Very helpful!

spinsoffresonance

RachelCA29 said:

angierosebkr said:

DH fed him during the night last night and hr wasn't satisfied with the 3oz of milk I had thawed so I had to get up and nurse afterwards. So I think ill start making 4oz bottles and we will see how he does. I don't pump that much in a session though(only about 3oz) how can I increase how much I'm pumping? Is it ok so add an ounce from a different pumping session?

You can try to pump right after you feed your LO. It will indicate to your body that you need to make more each feeding so it can help increase supply.

For anyone interested I found this weight based chart about EFB babied and each feeding amount.

https://www.best-breastpumps.com/Milk_Intake.htm

Interesting... DD1 reached 12lbs at 2 months but she was in daycare until 8months old and never took more than 4oz in a bottle . Remember breastmill changes composition as baby gets older so they don't necessarily need to increase the feeding amount like a FF baby would.

yogasailmomma

My LO is 8 weeks and is breastfed but takes a pumped 3oz bottle each night. I've tried giving her 4oz and she will never take the last one. She weighs 11.5lbs and I guess is right on track according to that chart, thanks for posting that, it's interesting.

caballo718

My DS is 6 weeks old and takes about 4-5 oz in a bottle feeding. He's taken 5oz a couple of times and seems content with 4 right now. I try to bottle feed before bed because he will sleep for 5-6 hours after that.