How many oz per day?

evertz · December 2013

Have you decreased the oz of milk your baby is eating each day as they eat more and more solids?

I'm asking because I cannot keep up with my milk supply anymore. I used to do fine but I started my period about a month ago and since then I just can't produce like I used to... Baby drinks 3 - 7 oz bottles at daycare, nurses before daycare, and nurses once again before bedtime. I'm only pumping about 15 oz during the day and another 5 at night. We typically use about 5 oz of that to mix with cereal leaving me only 15 oz for bottles. I've had to dip into my freezer stash and now only have enough left for 7 more days of this routine. I would like to here what your experiences are here...

1. Should I keep the bottles the same but start making his cereal with water (or whole milk maybe? He doesn't really like cereal with water.)

2. Should I decrease the bottles at daycare to 5 oz w/ breakfast, 5 oz w/ lunch, and 7 oz in the afternoon?

3. Should I start supplementing with formula?

Thanks in advance for the advice!

MKC12/22/2006 · December 2013

DS is only eating a little bit of solids each day right now, so we have not seen a decrease in milk consumption yet. I guess I would advise asking your pediatrician about it to be sure. I have heard not to start cow's milk until 1 year because their stomachs aren't ready for it, though. We actually don't use cereal - DS eats regular food so no milk is needed. Can you try that? Or even purees that don't need milk? That would save you 5 ounces a day anyway.

Kate_C · December 2013

DD has gone down quite a bit, but I also asked her daycare to supplement with some formula because I'm not sure how much longer I want to pump. She takes about 10 oz of BM per day at daycare plus 3-5 oz formula. She is usually only taking 2 bottles. I nurse her right before I drop her off, so one late morning and one mid afternoon plus solids.

mariahrb · December 2013

ive been having massive supply issues. I used to pump 14-18 oz a day. now im down to 6 -9. I talked with bradleys doctor and she said that I can pump and give him whatever I get. not to worry/stress about needing more milk. I just need to make sure he gets enough calcium via cheese, yogurt and cottage cheese. hes also a really really good eater and eats anything we give him. he eats large amounts and is 100% on table foods. no purees or baby food. he loves real oatmeal made with 50/50 water/juice. we also nurse 6 times a day, on average, when we are together. his doctor also said I don't need to supplement with formula. I saw a lactation consultant last night, she 100% agreed with his doctor.

evertz · December 2013

chgibeau said:

I wouldn't decrease what he drinks - if he's hungry, why starve him? I've dealt with a baby starving all day (reverse cycling) - it's not fun. It disrupts their naps. It disrupts their night sleep. It makes them crabby all the time. Don't do it.

Just to clarify.. I wasn't suggesting that I would starve my child. If he was fussing after dropping his bottles by 2 oz I would have no issue giving him more. I just thought since he's eating a lot more foods these days he may not need the extra few oz of milk.

Oh - and I want to keep the cereal b/c the iron drops make him throw up so I like the added iron of the cereals.

Thanks for the suggestions guys! I'll call my doctor and get the ok first.

La Olivia · December 2013

If you are using the powdered baby cereal you can mix the powder into yogurt or a fruit or veg puree. It just makes it thicker, but no milk required. If it is too thick you could thin out the mix with water and avoid the flavor of cereal and water that your baby dislikes.

I haven't done this with my lo but I used to work at a daycare center where we sometimes did this.

mariahrb · December 2013

La Olivia said:

If you are using the powdered baby cereal you can mix the powder into yogurt or a fruit or veg puree. It just makes it thicker, but no milk required. If it is too thick you could thin out the mix with water and avoid the flavor of cereal and water that your baby dislikes. I haven't done this with my lo but I used to work at a daycare center where we sometimes did this.

we did this with his cereal when we started solids around 6 mo. it was approved by his doctor as well.

edited because internet explorer wont insert my text. anybody else having issues?

Aprilbaby49 · December 2013

N used to eat between 28-34 oz per day and now he eats 24-28 oz but he has always been supplemented with a little formula (2 oz formula and 6 oz bm per bottle).

I wouldn't decrease the amt of milk in each bottle because the amt of milk intake is still so important for the babies. If you are not opposed to supplementing I'd suggest doing that because then at least you'll have peace of mind that he is eating enough and getting the appropriate amt of calories from the bm and formula together.

If you don't want to supplement then maybe try mixing his cereal with water like you mentioned. If he's not a big fan of the water because it's plain then maybe try adding a little puréed fruit to the cereal to give it some flavor

08summerbride · December 2013

I am not pumping enough to keep up as well, so I started topping each bottke off with ab ounce of formula, and that has made up the difference and cut my stress level over pumping. His 9:30 bottle is sometimes less since I nurse him at 6:30 and he has breakfast around 8:30.

pinottoparenthood · December 2013

7-oz bottles seem huge to me... Rhys drinks three 4-oz bottles while we are apart. I nurse him once in the morning and twice in the evening. Maybe you can add an extra nursing session to help make up the difference if Clark is drinking less milk at daycare? But I don't know how long you guys are apart during the day. Rhys still seems to drink about the same amount, but he is definitely starting to eat more solids now (up to 2 meals a day and he is getting much better at eating/getting more in his mouth). If you need to supplement, I would go for that. By the way, if you are mixing 5 oz of milk into cereal, that still *counts* as 5 oz that he is drinking. He's still getting those calories. So if he's starting getting 5 less oz to drink but he is now eating cereal with 5 oz of milk, that evens out. If that makes sense.

Angela814 · December 2013

At the max, DD1 and DD2 only took 5-6 oz bottles, and I think that only lasted a few weeks. As they started taking more solids, my supply decreased, so I ended up giving them whatever I pumped. That ended up being 4-5 oz bottles.

DD3 is 8.5 months and taking three 4-5 oz bottles the days I work. She eats some lunch at the babysitter's plus dinner at home and sometimes breakfast if we're not running late.

I've done BLW with dd2 and dd3. DD1 got some rice cereal, but I mixed it with water in the beginning and just used it to thicken purees as she got older.

arschm02 · December 2013

Will usually does 4-5 6oz bottles a day with table food 2-3 times/day.

hatroopes · December 2013

Nope, we're still doing four 6oz bottles each day at daycare plus a bowl of cereal (mixed with water) and a puree. She also eats some of whatever we have for dinner.

My supply has been dipping as well especially this week since I'm on my period. I just make up the difference with the freezer stash which is still a lot. I'll continue to pump and nurse till she turns one but I don't stress about it anymore and I'm glad we lasted this long. If/when it runs out, we'll start her on formula.

evertz · December 2013

I know, right?! He's such a big eater!! But he does SSTN an we only nurse twice at home. Once in the AM and once before bed.

Just and update - I did talk to the pedi. She said to go ahead and cut his bottles back to 6 oz at daycare. She says he should be getting around 24 oz total each day at this point. She also said no cow's milk until 11 months so she gave us a sample of formula to mix with his cereal.

Thanks for all the feedback everyone!

Sarahbeth1169 · December 2013

My son is nursed in the morning before I leave for work then he gets 3 4-5oz bottles during the day plus solid foods. Then I nurse him 2-3 times at night. Sometimes he only eats 2 of the bottles but he gets 2-3oz of milk in his cereal. So he still gets milk even if he doesnt always eat that last bottle while I'm gone. :-)

AprilloMom · December 2013

Kellymom.com says 1-1.5 oz per hour you are away. I bet you could reduce each bottle by a little bit. Make sure your dcp does "paced feeding" (kellymom has info about that too) so LO doesn't gulp it all down before his belly/brain has time to realize it's full.

I'm gone for 13 hours and my son gets 3 5oz bottles. My husband says sometimes he still "acts" hungry after he is done and he will give him a little purée or Cheerios basically to occupy him a little longer. Then he does great until his next feeding. If you still want to do cereal (we do oatmeal) you could mix it in to juice or fruit purée. We mix with a little pear juice. Hope this helps! My pumping supply has decreases recently also and I don't really have a stash.

BeautyfromAshes · December 2013

I don't even own bottles bigger than six ounces, so that seems like a huge amount of milk to me! But I know every baby is so different, and you've just got to go with the flow. Trial and error! Try decreasing the amount and see if he minds it. My son is just about 9 months old and he takes 3.5 ounces of BM in a bottle about two or three times when I'm away, along with purées and table foods. He nurses early morning, then nurses or gets a bottle (depending on if I'm at work) at lunch and dinner time, then nurses before bed. He's a giant in the 80th percentile so he's obviously not missing any meals haha.

CanukMam · December 2013

evertz said:

chgibeau said:

I wouldn't decrease what he drinks - if he's hungry, why starve him? I've dealt with a baby starving all day (reverse cycling) - it's not fun. It disrupts their naps. It disrupts their night sleep. It makes them crabby all the time. Don't do it.

Just to clarify.. I wasn't suggesting that I would starve my child. If he was fussing after dropping his bottles by 2 oz I would have no issue giving him more. I just thought since he's eating a lot more foods these days he may not need the extra few oz of milk.

Oh - and I want to keep the cereal b/c the iron drops make him throw up so I like the added iron of the cereals.

Thanks for the suggestions guys! I'll call my doctor and get the ok first.

I think this is a classic "every baby is different" situation. My LO only ever ate a maximum of 12oz during the day while I was at work (7am-4:30pm), 9.5 hrs, with a typical day being 10oz. Since we introduced solids (2-3oz while I am at work and 2oz when I get home) he only ever eats 7-8oz/day maximum. We couldn't get him to drink more if we tried, so we are not starving him, if he was hungry then we would feed him more.

If he's hungry, feed him. But to answer your question, since introducing solids his milk intake has gone down.

With all of that being said, he does NOT even come close to sleeping through the night (4 or more wake ups). We co-sleep so whenever he wakes up I nurse him back to sleep, but I get the feeling he's not eating much and just comfort sucking but this could explain why he eats less during the day and I've been told he's probably reverse cycling. In January we are going to start sleep training in the crib because mama needs her sleep badly and enough is enough. LO will occasionally fall asleep next to me while nursing for naps but other then that we have been walking our 22lb+ baby in his infant car seat to get him to sleep and my back is about to break.

Sorry this turned into a sleep rant, but I think intake during the date is directly related to how well they sleep.

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