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preparing for infant care

EllBells610EllBells610 member
in Breastfeeding
Hey I need some advice. I'm EBF my daughter and I'm going back to work the last week of January. At that point she'll be about 3.5 months old.

1. How many hours should she be going between feedings at that time? I'm so worried about not having enough bottles for her and also not sure how I'm going to produce enough milk for amount of bottles she'll need. I'm going to be away from her for about 9 hours.

2. Everyone keeps telling me I need to start getting her used to the bottle. Right now she only takes a bottle if I'm not around and someone is watching her for a few hours while I take care of errands and she does take it. Should I really give her a bottle more often even when I'm around?
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Re: preparing for infant care

  • elisetaylor09elisetaylor09 member
    My LO is 4 mo and I go back to work on Monday. Short back story I had to go back to work when he was about 2 wks bc I work for my family's business but I was able to take the whole month of dec off. He was getting 2 bottles a day and doing fine but where I've been home all dec he had a hard time going back to the bottle. I've had my husband give him a bottle everyday for the last wk so that he'd be okay when I go back to work. He eats about every 3/4 hrs.
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  • surpriseadditionsurpriseaddition member
    Different babies like to eat at different frequencies. Some babies can get a bottle every 3 hours, but some need it every 2 hours. Also, the amount of ounces per bottle also varies by baby. If your LO is STTN at that point, they need to consume all 24 oz during daytime hours. Therefore, each bottle may need more ounces. However, BF babies never need more than 5 oz max per bottle (even at a year). I always sent three 5 oz bottles for full days (9 hours) but my LO slept through the night. GL going back to work!


    **DD1 - 7/9/98**

    **DS - 11/9/00**

    **DD2 - 4/30/13**

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  • flclflcl member
    Like PP have mentioned, BF babies tend to eat roughly an ounce an hour (25oz in 24hrs) and at different frequencies (b/w 2-3 hours).  This might be helpful...  https://kellymom.com/bf/pumpingmoms/pumping/milkcalc/    Do you have a SO that can help with bottles?  If so, offering a bottle once a day/every other day is good practice.  If not, it really isn't that big of a deal if LO isn't taking bottles all the time now.  She will take a bottle when you go back to work and that's her only option for food.  My guy took a bottle once a day more or less until 11 weeks and then refused all bottles until I went back to work when he was 5.5 months.  
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  • EllBells610EllBells610 member
    thanks for the input everyone that helps alot! I've also been using this month to start building a supply of frozen milk just in case. I usually pump at night. When she wakes up she'll usually only take from one side before falling asleep so I pump the other for relief. For the first 2 weeks I was actually exclusively pumping since she couldn't stay latched due to tongue and lip ties but ever since we got it fixed she's been breastfeeding much better. Maybe I will start letting my husband feed her with a bottle a couple times a week and just pump during that time instead. She seems to be going closer to 3 hours between feedings, sometimes 4 during the day.
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