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How much BM to put in bottle?

briepileggibriepileggi member
in Breastfeeding
How do you know how much BM to feed your baby from a bottle when you return to work? Our pediatrician gave us this formula: baby's weight in pounds divided by 2 = oz to feed. So that would mean 7oz for a 14 pound baby, but I can't pump that much! I asked a lactation consultant and she said that was way too much and that it sounded like it was a calculation meant for formula-fed babies. My LO is 3 months old. He is very healthy and his weight is great. We recently started giving him 4oz of BM from a bottle at each feeding and I'm sure he doesn't get much more than that when he breastfeeds with me and is not fussy after. But my SIL fed him 9 oz at one feeding yesterday and said she thought he was hungry. I think he continues to suck for comfort. I am getting conflicting answers on this. Anyone have any info on this? Thanks!
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Re: How much BM to put in bottle?

  • vvvvvfeevvvvvfee member
    here is a helpful calculator at kellymom. the average intake for a 3 month old is about 25 ounces a day- so divide that by the total number of times your LO nurses in a day to get approximate ounces. of course there will be some trial and error before you work out exactly how much to send. you can always give your care provider some frozen milk as backup.

    when i went back to work, my DS was 12 weeks old. he took 3 4-oz bottles during the day. when he was a little older we upped it a little bit to about 4 1/2 to 5 ounces per bottle.

    make sure your care provider is informed about how to bottle-feed a breastfed baby. again, kellymom has great info on this. unfortunately the tendency is to overfeed and/or to feed too fast.
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