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how much expressed milk to give?
My 5 month old 17 pound baby boy has only just started to confidently take a bottle so now i have to experiement with amounts to give him.
Ive read on web sites that a bf baby has the same milk intake between 1 and 6 months and that if he has 7 ish feeds in 24 hours (every 2-3 hours) he should probably need 3-4 fluid ounces. i want to leave him for 3 hours or so to have my hair done, ive expressed 4 fluid ounces, will this be enough?
I mainly wanted him to take a bottle due to returning to work when he's 8 months and i havent even started him on solids yet. Also wondered from your experiences what your LOs needed milk wise when they were on 3 meals. on days off ill bf as normal, when at work i wondered what i should expect to give him. Should always be able to do a morning feed but sometimes might miss bedtime (which i imagine would need to be a bigger expressed feed than one that i might give at another time?) any advice would be appreciated x
Ive read on web sites that a bf baby has the same milk intake between 1 and 6 months and that if he has 7 ish feeds in 24 hours (every 2-3 hours) he should probably need 3-4 fluid ounces. i want to leave him for 3 hours or so to have my hair done, ive expressed 4 fluid ounces, will this be enough?
I mainly wanted him to take a bottle due to returning to work when he's 8 months and i havent even started him on solids yet. Also wondered from your experiences what your LOs needed milk wise when they were on 3 meals. on days off ill bf as normal, when at work i wondered what i should expect to give him. Should always be able to do a morning feed but sometimes might miss bedtime (which i imagine would need to be a bigger expressed feed than one that i might give at another time?) any advice would be appreciated x
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Replies
My 4 month old son (15+lbs now) will take 7 oz every 3 hours - hope this helps. But remember they are all different.
I found too that it depends on what time of day the milk was expressed as it has more prolactin (the sleepy rich milk) over night than in the morning etc.
When I return to work I'm hoping we will have moved to 3 meals 2 snack times and probably a feed first and last thing. With weaning you can introduce baby rice part way through the dinner or lunchtime feed so baby isn't too hungry and in the mood for eating. Then if they take a taste you can finish them of with breast as a reward. At first its just about getting them to experiment and the calories will still come from your milk.
I can't really help with the amounts when going back to work. My LO is 5 months old and 16lbs. I I go out for an evening I leave my husband with about 10oz. Sometimes LO drinks 8oz whilst I'm gone other times he's only had 3 or so so varies alot depending on when last fed, growth spurts, comfort feeding etc. My husband makes him up small bottles or 2-3oz to avoid waste if he doesn't want a big feed.
Good luck x
Doesn't really help I'm afraid, sorry!
I use Avent electric pump and also have tommee tippee manual. Have got on fine with both.
Im told women solely feed their babies with hospital grade pumps, even when babies never learn to latch on at the breast, they are so effective and coz you do both sides at the same time its much quicker. Ive been looking at the medella symphony as it comes in a handy backpack with a cooler bag to keep the milk cold and would be subtle to take it to and from work. It retails at 240 most places but have found it on amazon for 190.
I know it sounds a shocking amount of money but we had nothing flash for henry and lots of second hand stuff, i really can't imagine there is anything more important than what we put into him!
i went in to see my employer who was quite negative about the whole thing as i knnow she would rather i didnt lol! She told me that once she started work her milk depleted almost immediately to nothing, she'd rush home full of milk and find that her LO had been hungry half an hour earlier and had had something to eat so wouldnt bf. I was thinking if i havent managed to express one shift to give my mum warning to try and keep him from eating or just to give him a snack. Does this sound reasonable? Otherwise if i have a good pump at least this would provide the best stimulation possible.
I think the emotional aspect of continuing will really help us both in the upheaval of me returning to work and henry starting nursery etc. Any experiences any of you have with the pricier breast pumps and working and continuing your milk supply would be appreciated x