Can't keep up with my LO's stomach

Re: Can't keep up with my LO's stomach

• rjeller32 member

  July 2013

  PrivacyWanted:

  It sounds like your DC is overfeeding. there was a whole big discussion about this about a week ago in a thread by Financial Diva. I'd link but I'm on mobile. First I'd schedule an appointment somewhere to do a weighed feeding so you know how much she takes while nursing. Your bottles shouldn't give more than that And my link isn't pasting right from mobile but Google "bottle feeding the breastfed baby"

  Thanks! That's what I was thinking, but I wasn't sure. I will look for the thread, and will Google it too. 

  I am hoping to get it solved, because I don't want to lose out on BM for her because of DC error. 
  

  
   
  

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• drpayne member

  July 2013

  I would prep bottles for them as opposed to just handing them a ton of milk.

  

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• financialdiva member

  July 2013

  Here is the original post Privacywanted was talking about.

  https://community.thebump.com/cs/ks/forums/thread/74810771.aspx

   Here is the follow up

  https://community.thebump.com/cs/ks/forums/thread/74846379.aspx

   

  And I agree with PP about making your own bottles. GL!

  

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• boogerbearoriginal member

  July 2013

  Look at the links FinancialDiva posted, there's a lot of great tips. And ditto making up the bottles yourself vs. letting them because DC may be wasting milk making huge bottles and/or overfeeding her. If they are making up 8oz bottle, and she's only drinking 1/2 they may be throwing the rest away (which is a formula rule) vs. re-offering at next feed. 
  

  It is very easy to overfeed a BF baby with a bottle, so first step would be to educate DC. Also, kellymom.com has a good calculator where you can input number of total feeds and it will tell you approx ounces per feed. General rule of thumb is an ounce per hour.

  My LO maxed out at 4, 4oz bottles. It's rare, although possible, for BF baby to take up to 5-6oz at a time. Often that's only one bottle too, so baby will take 5oz bottle first thing, then 3-4oz the rest of the day. 

  I would make up my bottles, then freeze any excess milk in 1-2oz portions. While it used up a lot more bags, it meant caregiver could add a tiny bit and not waste much if LO still was acting hungry after the 4oz bottle. 

  GL - sorting out bottle size is a common (and frustrating) problem.
  

  
  
  

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• jnnfrrose6 member

  July 2013

  Our DC requires us to bring the bottles prepared, but that also allows me to control how much LO gets each feeding.  Early on they told me I should try to get more in the bottle which stressed me a bit, but I was getting anywhere from 4-7 oz (depending on which bottle of the day it was), which is plenty for a breastfed baby and I had to basically ignore their early requests and explain that I was pumping what I could and he was fine.  Now that he's older and eating solids, we're down to 1 bottle at DC that's anywhere from 4-6 oz (I am able to nurse him on my lunch break and before and after work and before bed).

   If I really feel light for the next day I will throw in an extra session about 90 minutes after he's down for the night, but that usually only gets me about 2 more ounces.  

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• Karla CS member

  July 2013

  I had the exact same thing happen.. Prior to sending LO to daycare, dad watched her for two weeks, and she was eating 3-4 3oz bottles a day, so that's what I sent her with, plus one extra. They kept asking for more on a daily basis, and at the end of the week, they thought 4x5 oz was perfect. I couldn't figure out if she really did need 20oz/day and I'd been starving her the couple of weeks before.

  The next week, I sent her with 5x3oz bottles, and she was FINE. She only went through three of them. She's been holding steady on 9-12 oz ever since, and they can't stop commenting on just how much happier she is. My guess is she was comfort eating. (She also wasn't napping that first week, which meant more time that she was awake to eat)

  The amount of stress caused by this is enormous. Seriously, the first week was hard enough, but I was in tears every time they called during that first week saying they were worried they'd run out of milk. Go with your gut.. Really, 16 oz should be enough for most babies.

  

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• rjeller32 member

  July 2013

  Karla CS:

  I had the exact same thing happen.. Prior to sending LO to daycare, dad watched her for two weeks, and she was eating 3-4 3oz bottles a day, so that's what I sent her with, plus one extra. They kept asking for more on a daily basis, and at the end of the week, they thought 4x5 oz was perfect. I couldn't figure out if she really did need 20oz/day and I'd been starving her the couple of weeks before.

  The next week, I sent her with 5x3oz bottles, and she was FINE. She only went through three of them. She's been holding steady on 9-12 oz ever since, and they can't stop commenting on just how much happier she is. My guess is she was comfort eating. (She also wasn't napping that first week, which meant more time that she was awake to eat)

  The amount of stress caused by this is enormous. Seriously, the first week was hard enough, but I was in tears every time they called during that first week saying they were worried they'd run out of milk. Go with your gut.. Really, 16 oz should be enough for most babies.

  Thanks for all the advice. All the other responses were helpful, but I am really understanding it exactly with what you said. I will start just preparing bottles the morning of and leaving frozen milk at my house.

  I don't even know why I didn't think of this! 
  

  
   
  

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• brookemcalland

  July 2013

  If you're not sure if your baby eats enough for her age you can get recommendations for your baby's feeding schedule from here: https://earlystart.me/ They give you access to their app by e-mail. By comparing your baby's schedule and the recommended one you'll be certain your baby eats ok.

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