expressing for 8 week old - 14 Ib 15 oz - how much per feed?

oscar2 · Oct 24, 2011 10:23AM

my 8 week old has been exclusively BF and is doing really well. he's now 14lb 15 oz and started off at 8lb 13 oz so im really proud of myself! I love feeding him, he has two night feeds now which i think is good going and i still feed hourly for some of the morning and afternoon, with a 3 hour stretch at some point. He's my first and im not at work so i feel pretty chilled out about it.

I haven't worried too much about expressing till now but at the back of my mind i am worried that is should introduce a teat to him soon (don't want to fall into the trap of him refusing anything but me as am going back to work when he's 7 or 8 months and would still like him to have some breast milk alongside food). Also, there may be the odd social occasion along the way and it would be nice to think we could occasionally do something for a few hours! After feeding him on the left breast and putting him to bed i used my handheld pump on the right for 15 mins and got 110mls which ive put in the fridge. Im going to get someone other than me to try him with it tomorrow (I know its important they can not only take a bottle but also can accept food off someone else). I just wondered if this is likely to be enough for a baby of his age and weight? Some of the cluster feeding he does may well be for comfort rather than just to fill up as have probably been guilty of putting him on the boob when he's been unsettled - its so easy just to calm him down! x

Tigerlily13 · Oct 18, 2011 3:17AM

Thanks for asking this as i'm intrigued too. Want to start giving him ebm once we've reached the 6 week mark so i can leave him with hubby for a bit, but not sure how much to give as i don't know how much he gets off me! He tends to go mad in the evenings and cluster feed for ages without much break in between, stocking up for overnight i think as he's pretty good at night at the moment.

xxx

Gail1977 · Oct 18, 2011 4:57AM

My baby is 6 months and sometimes she takes 4 ounces from a bottle but doesnt seem to fill her for long but as breast milk is absorbed within an hour that may be why. You might find you feed your baby and he wants more but just getting him to accept the bottle even if its not enough is a good start. Once you have that sorted then you will start to realise when you express how much he actually needs. You won't know how much till then. But just getting him to accept a bottle is a good start. Make sure he cant see or hear you when someone gives him the bottle and make sure he isnt starving and crying. He obviously needs to be a little hungry but if he is starving you might find he gets agitated. Also a good idea to put a bit on his lip first if he wont accept it so he actually knows what is in the bottle. Good luck x

oscar2 · Oct 18, 2011 2:53PM

hi ladies thank you. I ended up giving it myself today as was on my own but i found it easy to express so in a couple of days will do it again and get my mum to give him it. It perhaps wasnt the best idea to do it today as LO had his injections this morning. He seemed a bit puzzled but took 60ml (2.5 oz) from the bottle with an advent teat - i could tell he was shocked at the speed it hit him! then he burped well but became really upset.he wouldnt take anymore and was worried maybe he had a temp and felt ill. I put him to breast for comfort really as i didnt think he was hungry and he took 5-10 mins then passed out. I had 50 ml left in the bottle so maybe it was about right?! will be giving him the 50 in a feed at some point tomorrow to get him used to the teat.

tigerlilly how long is you LO going at night?

I think it's hard for babies that are breast fed as they love the cuddle as well as the food - tbh so do i it was hard to feed him with a bottle and not cradle him close! But needs must and at least if he's started to take it i can build on that. Do you know if there are any better teats than advent for BF babies not used to the speed of it?

piggypops · Oct 18, 2011 4:31PM

currently at 13 weeks DD takes 5/6oz of ebm at bedtime, i think its quite important that they know what a bottle is and get use to it, so she has one bottle a day, i think at 8 weeks she took about 4/5oz, if you have quite fast flow you may need size 2 teats quicker as we found DD had to work too hard with size 1 and wouldnt take it x

oscar2 · Oct 19, 2011 6:40AM

thanks piggypops he took 2oz yesterday from the advent bottle that came with the pump, then got upset so had a BF. Today i only managed 10mls but at least he took some. Don't think its helping that im giving it with the option of boob so close to him! Will get my mum to try at the weekend. I think henry struggles with milk coming fast rather than too slow.

Tigerlily13 · Oct 19, 2011 3:49PM

He normally goes 3-4 hours between feeds overnight which works well as we have last feed at 10-11ish, he gets up 2-3ish then again after 6, which i think is pretty good for just over a month! He implemented this routine himself as soon as we got home - had a week in hosp so a bit all over the place there. He's unpredictable in the day as to when he eats and sleeps though - except i can guarantee as soon as i've made myself a meal he'll be ready for more - am becoming quite skilled at eating one-handed and with a baby attached!

xxx

oscar2 · Oct 24, 2011 10:23AM

hi ladies

tigerlily - wow things sound very good going for a month. I too am good at eating over henry (a breast feeding widgey pillow helps as i can balance my plate on it as well as him!) i tend to dust henry down after ha ha.

piggypops when your lo was 8 weeks and took 4/5 oz how long did she go for?

its been tough with henry he did not like the advent bottle at all, my mum went out and bought tommee tippee closer to nature bottle, with a teat designed for BF babies. They came for lunch and i tried him, he screamed the place down and my mum got so upset - she cant bare him crying. She tried first off but she got as upset as him! Not helpful! I had to give him a bit of breast, then a bit of bottle, then a bit more breast. He mainly pushed the teat around with his tongue and let the milk accumulate at the back of his throat and swallowed, not exactly proper bottle feeding. Then all of a sudden it seemed to click and he drank it, all the time looking at me. Today we tried again and he took the bottle with no breast first or after, he looked at me and cooed and smiled while it was in his mouth. I think he sees it as a bonus that he can see me while he feeds as on the boob he can only see my breast! I know i need to crack someone else feeding him but im pleased he is getting used to a teat first and i hope, if we do a bottle a day, in a few days he won't miff if someone else gives it.

As for amounts - ive not exactly been trying my hardest with the expressing, henry has now moved to just one feed a night which is brilliant but by morning, after expressing the evening before, my boobs are so hard!! If i was just going to throw the milk away i didnt want loads so he's only had 60-70mls about 3 oz. This seems to last him about an hour (he does hourly feed in the morning) and then he wants a BF so think im going to have to do much better than that if i want to go anywhere. At least double i think.

Im so proud of my beautiful boy though - to crack the bottle and only be getting me up once a night at only 9 weeks (going 1930-3/4 ish - 0730). He also damaged a muscle in his neck due to his position in me and has to have stressful physio to stretch his neck at every nappy change. He takes it all in his stride bless him xx

expressing for 8 week old - 14 Ib 15 oz - how much per feed?

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