Expressing Milk - help how much to give!

[Issey]

Can anyone please tell me how much milk I should be feeding bubs when expressing :confused: . I am expressing about 60-70ml from one breast and feeding that to him as one feed. Does anyone know how much bubs should be getting in each feed? Can't find advise on this anywhere.

Debster

[Tea Lady]

How old is your bub? Does he drink all you give him? I used to try to have a little left over so I knew bub had had enough, but that's easier said than done!

[bpato]

Hi

I asked the CHN this today and she said that is 150mls x weight in kgs divided by the number of feeds..

For example:

DS weighs 6.4 Kg and is having 6 feeds per day, to figure it out it is 150 x 6.4 / 6 which gives me 160. Therfore he needs 160ml per feed.

The CHN said to give him between 160mls and 190mls and that he should be having 5 feeds per day and this would be 190mls per bottle.

Hope this has helped

Belinda

[Issey]

Sorry for not getting back to the site! Thanks that is a help My bub is 3.5kg. I haven't really counted the feeds but will work it all out. The good thing is he has put on 1kg and is 5wks old so I think he must be doing okay, however from reading other posts I think he is suffering reflux and I am not getting that much sleep!

Thanks
Debster

[Crazy Monkey]

Hi Debster,

I can totally relate to a bubs with reflux and no sleep... My DS has reflux and he would be up crying for most of the day, which is very tiring... It was at about the 5 week mark that we saw a paediatrian and got some medication for him... It certainly helped things a lot..

I hope you get things sorted out soon..

PM or email me if you need to talk...

Cheers

[jonesso]

3.5kg... I think from memory (bl@@dy baby brain!!) it is about 60-80mL per feed - so what you are expressing is about right. How often are you feeding? About every 2-2.5 hours?

By about 1 month they need about 100-120mL per feed, then by 8 weeks about 150mL per feed, but the feeds may start to stretch out to about 3 hourly.

If you want a cheating way to do it... look on a formula tin! It will give you a good guide as well!

[bpato]

If you want a cheating way to do it... look on a formula tin! It will give you a good guide as well!

I have found that what is stated on the formula tins is too much for bub. He is always leaving around 40 to 60mls, where as if I work out what he needs using the formula the CHN gave me he is lucky to leave 10mls and is always settled after the 160 to 170 mls.

With formula for a bub bwteen 2 and 4 months it says 180mls of water but by the time you add the formula it ends up being aournd 210mls.

each child is differnet and I think this is why the formula the CHN gave me works on the childs weight.

Belinda

[aardvark]

My 2 week old is 4.2 kg, and when I went out on Friday night, I left 120ml, and it was ample - there was about 30 ml left.

I rang the breastfeeding counsellor from the breastfeeding association to get an idea of how much to leave with my mother.

[expecting_mum]

I was wondering if anyone had any suggestions of how to get my son to take the bottle? Is persistance the key?

[Issey]

Thanks heaps everyone

Life has improved heaps, bubs now 10 weeks and seems to be over the crying, he does be sick after feeds but isn't crying etc so easy to deal with, just change his clothes lots! He is now sleeping from about 8pm and waking around 3am or sometimes sleeping to 5.30am :smiliedance: Yay I feel human!

I never had any trouble with him taking the bottle but he doesn't really like taking it from me as can smell my milk he will take it from his Dad or anyone else fine. Not sure if you have tried that?

[expecting_mum]

Bub is taking the bottle fine now - from both myself and hubby. Maybe he just had to get used to the teat on the bottle.

[bpato]

Expecting mum

Your boy is gorgeous!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Belinda