Feeding Question

michelle_1221

I know I should probably post this on the BF board, but I find this board more helpful.  I am still BF'ing, and DD has began solids.  I know BF is her primary source of nutrition, but does she begin having less?  For months, she takes about 5oz while I'm at work, but when I pump, I'm only getting about 3-4 oz.  She is growing well, and often I am having a tough time pumping enough to leave her 5 oz bottles.  She also does not get fussy on the weekend when I'd guess she isn't getting the 5 oz because I nurse her.   

I'm wondering if I should leave 4oz bottles instead, and especially since she is eating a decent amount of solids now.  I also considered that I may need to just begin supplementing with formula (which I know this is ok, but I'm worried I'll end up quitting if I do this).  DD nurses or has a bottle 6 times/day and eats solids 3x/day.   Any thoughts?  Thanks!

namara5532

Like I'm sure you've heard before, baby can generally get more out than the pump.  So she may be getting 5oz when you breastfeed even though you only pump 3 or 4.  You could try sending 4oz and see how she does, but I wouldn't go too much below that per feeding.

aboynamedbarry

if she's taking the 5 oz during the week, I would say keep giving it to her as long as you can since like namara said baby will almost always get more from you than the pump will. if it's difficult to keep up with that, do you have any frozen stash? even if you have like 20 or 30 ounces in the freezer, you can freeze it flat (i like the lansinoh bags for that) and break off an ounce or two at a time so that if you're only pumping 3-4 fresh, whoever is feeding her can thaw out enough to top off the bottle. I think that pretty average for a baby getting solids 2-3 times a day is approx 25 oz of breastmilk. I googled "how much breastmilk should babies get once eating solid foods" and a bunch of helpful links popped up. But everything is a guideline, no rules really when it comes to this, every baby is different so you'll just have to take everything into consideration and see what works hope that helps!