How many oz. of BM to supplement 1 x a day...

bethybjj2 · August 2011

Hello!

So I have a quick question. I am supplementing between 1-2 oz of pumped bm to my LO a day. I am putting the vitamin d drops into it so she doesn't spit it up, and it's also an opportunity for my husband to feed her. My pediatrician is on board with the supplementation because she lost over 10% of her birth weight in the hospitaI but at our appt. last week she was back up to 6 lbs. Is there any specific guidelines in regard to the amount I should be following for this? Also, should I plan on pumping once a day to offset? Any advice is really appreciated !

Thanks!!!

tokenhoser · August 2011

A baby will probably start off taking 1-2 oz and work up to 3-4 oz by 4 weeks or so.

In the beginning, it's important to pump or feed often( ~every 3 hours at the most). I tried to skip a feed to let DH "help" and it was just painful and leaky. We gave that up pretty quick. Now, I do pump to have a bit in the freezer and a bottle in the fridge if I'm going out. I don't pump regularly, though.

BeetleLinz1125 · August 2011

Your post is a little confusing so I think I need some clarification...You're going to pump one bottle to give her the drops and also to have DH feed LO....That's not really supplementing, that's just bottle feeding breastmilk. Supplementing is when you feed formula in addition to feeding breastmilk.

I'm not quite sure what you mean by pumping to offset....

But my advice is to pump a bottle after your first feeding in the morning. This is typically when you have the most milk. That way LO is fed first. You will probably want to pump this every morning so that you don't have any engorgement/oversupply issues, but also so that you can work on building up your stash for any unused milk that you pump. I would start with about 2-2.5 oz and see what your LO wants from there.

bethybjj2 · August 2011

Sorry if I am confusing...probably because I am confused and incredibly sleep deprived. lol

My LO feeds very often. Most days it's every 1-1.5 hrs and every 2 days or so she will taper off a bit so I have more than 15 minutes before the next session. It's pretty intense but I don't want to screw up my supply by giving her a bottle with my bm, in addition to the regular feedings. I will take your advice about pumping after the morning feeding session. I guess my other question is when do you define morning when she feeds all throughout the night/morning? Would it be after she actually sleeps a couple hours?

lnelson20 · August 2011

We did a mixture of pumped milk and breastfeeding from the get-go (I had supply issues so we were using my milk and my wife's to provide enough) and Lex also ate almost constantly. If she is giving you a couple hours of sleep at about the same time every night, I would have your husband give her a bottle right before while you pump. I would make a 2oz bottle and see how she does and adjust from there. Our experience was that a bottle right before she went to bed actually made her sleep longer--I think because the bottle was less effort so she had a fuller belly to sleep off

bethybjj2 · August 2011

Thanks so much for all your help. I am such a rookie at all of this and sometimes the breastfeeding websites don't answer the questions I have so therefore I am so thankful for the bump!

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