need some info please

[monique13]

Ok for you lovly bf mothers out there i really need some help with all my babies i have bottles them with Formula but this time around i want to use my breast milk to feed this baby can i express my milk and bottle feed my baby and how much day would i have to express each day to feed my baby thanks.

[Pinky McKay]

Good on you for wanting to feed your baby breastmilk.
Yes you can express and give your milk in a bottle-although this is extra work, some mothers do do this for a variety of reasons.

I would suggest contacting the Australian Breastfeeding Association regarding hiring a breast pump or depending how long you would like to maintain your supply, contact Whittletstone Australia - their breast expressor is wonderful to keep up supply and expresses both breasts at once ( some other pumps can do this too) which makes expressing much faster ( dont buy this brand off Ebay as they will be older models and can't be serviced here).

Re how much to put in each bottle:

At first, your baby will have a very small stomach capacity - a newborn will only be able to drink about 5 to 7 mls at each feed on his first day, increasing each day. At this stage, you will produce colostrum , the first yellowish fluid that comes and is extremely high in antibodies. This can be expressed and collected in a syringe to be given direct to your baby so you don’t waste any.

An exclusively breastfed baby's milk intake increases quickly during the first few weeks of life, then stays about the same between one and six months but may increase for a few days at a time during growth spurts.

As your baby starts solid foods his milk intake will gradually decrease.

The research shows that from one to six months, breastfed babies take in an average of 750 - 800mls per day.( intake doesnt increase with age or size). This will vary between individual babies but a typical range of breast milk intake is from about 570 mils to 900 mls a day. So to estimate how much milk your baby will need each feed, work out about how many feeds your baby will have in 24 hours then divide 800 mls by that number . For instance, if your baby has 8 feeds a day, you would offer 100 mls at each feed.

It would also be wise to express/ store some smaller amounts – say, about 30 to 50 mls, to offer as a top-up so that you don’t waste precious expressed milk by starting another full bottle if baby is a bit hungrier than usual.

Best of luck,
Pinky