how many oz?

[luckyme225]

I'm going back to work and I was wondering how many oz of breast milk should he get per bottle at 3+ months? Thanks

 

[Margerle]

As much as he'll eat in a sitting

just teasing... I would guess 6-9 oz I'd probably freeze in 4 ounce and 5 ounce increments and just have caregiver thaw 2 for a feed.

 

[dizzy65]

as much as he wants to eat

 

[luckyme225]

Thanks! I'll start him off at 6oz every 2-3 hours and if he is still hungry I will increase it.

 

[sam's mum]

At 3-4 months Sam had 6oz every 3 hours (I've only worked for 2 days though, but it seemed to be enough for him) x

 

[Mango]

Your body is trained specifically for yor baby. How ever much you are abel to express during a missed feed, whether it be 4,5 or 6oz is exactly how much your baby will need.

On average my lil girl was drinking 4-5 oz per feed at 3 months and fed every 2-3 hours.

 

[Lyns]

How ever much youa re abel to express during a missed feed, whether it be 4,5 or 6oz is exactly how much your baby will need.
.

Thats sadly not necessarily always the case.....my little girl can 'drain' a boob far more efficiently than any breast pump ever, and I have worked with some mum's who have never been able to get anything by expressing but their babies are well fed and thriving on BM from the breast exclusively.

It is trial and error I'm afraid. I wold be expressing as much as I possibly can, and seeing what satisfies.

Would be good to have a couple of trials at home....perhaps with someone else feeding him/her before you actually go back.

Whilst each baby has individual needs, mine btw, at 3 months would drink about 180ml every 3 -3.5 hours if fed EBM, but was sleeping for 2 lots of 6 or 7 hours through the night by that time.

 

[sam's mum]

Your body is trained specifically for yor baby. How ever much youa re abel to express during a missed feed, whether it be 4,5 or 6oz is exactly how much your baby will need.

On average my lil girl was drinking 4-5 oz per feed at 3 months and fed every 2-3 hours.

It's true that you will be producing the amount of milk that they need, but not everyone finds it easy to express - your baby is very efficient at getting the milk out, but some mums find they can only express a couple of ounces, while their baby would be drinking a lot more...and some can't express at all. In theory you should be able to express the right amount, but I always try to store slightly more than I think he'll need in each bottle, as sometimes he'll finish it and want more!

Also if you're building up a stock in advance, your baby will have grown and will probably be taking more milk than he was at the time you expressed it x

 

[sam's mum]

Thats sadly not necessarily always the case.....my little girl can 'drain' a boob far more efficiently than any breast pump ever, and I have worked with some mum's who have never been able to get anything by expressing but their babies are well fed and thriving on BM from the breast exclusively.

It is trial and error I'm afraid. I wold be expressing as much as I possibly can, and seeing what satisfies.

Would be good to have a couple of trials at home....perhaps with someone else feeding him/her before you actually go back.

Whilst each baby has individual needs, mine btw, at 3 months would drink about 180ml every 3 -3.5 hours if fed EBM, but was sleeping for 2 lots of 6 or 7 hours through the night by that time.

Sorry Lyns...was typing when you posted that (slowly as I'm feeding Sam)...didn't mean to just repeat what you said! x

 

[Lyns]

Sorry Lyns...was typing when you posted that (slowly as I'm feeding Sam)...didn't mean to just repeat what you said! x

lol! Great minds think alike huh?

 

[sam's mum]

lol! Great minds think alike huh?

definitely! x

 

[Mango]

Didn't consider that ladies, you're definitely right Lyn & sam! It is harder for some to express than others, sorry about that. A trial run at home is defiitely a good idea.

Start with 5 oz and see where you go from there maybe?

Also, worthwhile to note, my li one always cries when a bottle is finished because she likes to comfort suck but can't do so on a bottle, which has at times confused me and made me think she was still hungry.

 

[sam's mum]

What you said is probably true for a lot of people...I always seem to get loads out with my pump! But I think people worry they're not making enough if they try to express and hardly get anything

Also, worthwhile to note, my li one always cries when a bottle is finished because she likes to comfort suck but can't do so on a bottle, which has at times confused me and made me think she was still hungry.

Good point...forgot about that - Sam's the same and the first few times we tried him with a bottle he drank it really fast, screamed as if he was still really hungry so I fed him and he was very sick everywhere! Think he just wanted to suck on me without the huge milk fountains that came with it

Now I just keep something next to me to distract him with when he's finished the bottle - his feet work nicely too...seems to be obsessed with playing with them at the moment! x

 

[Ragirl]

Mine ate 4oz every 2 hours at that age. I also gave the school 2 backup supplies (containers with 4oz each) for the freezer so that if he was still hungry or something happened to one of the bottles, they could thaw one. About once a month I would send a bottle with one additional oz in it to see if he was ready for an increase yet or not.

 

[luckyme225]

Didn't consider that ladies, you're definitely right Lyn & sam! It is harder for some to express than others, sorry about that. A trial run at home is defiitely a good idea.

Start with 5 oz and see where you go from there maybe?

Also, worthwhile to note, my li one always cries when a bottle is finished because she likes to comfort suck but can't do so on a bottle, which has at times confused me and made me think she was still hungry.

We have been giving him a bottle every night since he was 2 weeks and he always cries for a little bit afterward.