September 2015 Moms

Yes you can overfeed a breastfed baby- with a bottle !

keehank1keehank1 member
edited November 2015 in September 2015 Moms
Apparently I have been over feeding my breastfed baby -pumped milk !

After talking with a IBCLC Turns out baby only needs 24oz of milk in a 24hr period of time - an oz an hour . This never changes with age - as our milk is constantly changing to meet our babies needs.

With formula fed babies they get the same ingredients every time the package is opened -because of that they need more as they grow.

We were feeding 4 oz every 2-3 hrs and have since dropped down to 2oz every 2 hours .

As a result baby has had less reflux , spit up, and gas and overall seems much happier . I've also noticed his green poop going back to yellow !

She told me a baby will take what you give them in a bottle because --When they're on the breast they clamp down to stop the flow or unattach when the are full . With the bottle - when they clamp down it forces more milk to come out - causing them to continue to eat and not unattach .

Re: Yes you can overfeed a breastfed baby- with a bottle !

  • So what about at night? Is baby waking up every 2 hours?
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  • keehank1keehank1 member
    edited November 2015
    I make sure he's getting almost all of the 24 oz before he goes to bed .

    I Also try three oz for his last feeding and give him what he will take and don't force anything If he seems to be satisfied .

    He wakes once or twice during the night depending on when he goes to bed
  • Yup! And it stays the same amount from 1-6 months
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  • This is actually very useful and helpful information! Thank you!
  • We do paced bottle feeding and I can definitely tell when baby has not had enough. Sometimes he eats an oz and sometimes he eats all 4, and typically gets between 25 and 30 oz a day. Some days he's hungrier than others. I definitely think every baby is different.
  • My baby boy is exclusively breastfeed. I too was over feeding him with pumped breast milk at the beginning (I was power pumping to get more milk and bottle fed several times a day) and was feeding him 3-4oz and he had major reflux, green poop, and spit up a lot too. When I started producing what I needed I stopped bottles and noticed baby was only needing 2-2.5oz per feeding. I feed on demand and that usually works out to every 2-3hrs during the day and 3-4 at night (baby goes down at 10pm, wakes at 3am, then 6am, and then 9am and that's my wake up time, but he goes down again until 11am)

    I still pump for back up and am sure to only store 2.5oz per baggy to avoid wasting.

    I learned the hard way when I was bagging 5oz and had to waste all that extra milk!!! :(:(

    I never knew our milk adjusts with age.... Does that mean in a few weeks my frozen milk won't meet his needs anymore?

    Thanks for the useful post! Now I feel like I'm doing something right!
  • I had same question!! Is milk pumped and frozen in eg October still beneficial to baby? (With milk changing to meet babys needs)
  • Good question, regarding if milk pumped earlier in baby's development and frozen will meet future dietary needs, according to this model. 
  • According to kellymom.com bf babies eat between 19 and 35 oz a day. When mines going through growth spurt he eats 5 oz at a time other days it's 3 or 4 oz every feeding. We EP but I go with his cues. He will let me know when he's not had enough. We've never had green poop which is a fore milk hind milk issue i believe. he rarely spits up we give 3 oz then burp. Wait to see what he does. But yes bf babies do not increase in oz like formula as they grow from 1 m to 6 m and after that solids are introduced so bf amount decreases. Feeding lo milk from Oct is fine. The changes are in fat content and antibodies the baby will do fine on milk a little older.
  • According to my pedi, you wouldn't know how much the baby was getting if you were directly breastfeeding so there's no actual "over feeding". My lo will happily drink me or a bottle dry and that could be 8 oz! (11 occasionally). However I cap him at 6oz in the bottle because any more and he does spit up.
  • When we feed DD a bottle of breast milk (around once a week) we do paced bottle feeding. If she doesn't resume sucking, we just take the bottle out even if there's an once or two left. Then we'll try seeing if she's interested in latching. If she's not, she's done.
    *Siggy Warning*

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  • DS2 will spit his bottle out or move it to the side of his mouth when he is done.  He just stops eating, we frequently have milk left over.  At night sometimes he will only drink 3 ounces out of a 6 ounce bottle.  
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