How much expressed milk?

[Daisybelle]

Hello,

My LO is 6 weeks old (well, almost) ... and he has an expressed bottle at night. The rest of the time he just goes on the breast.

With his expressed feed he takes 5oz but then sometimes goes on the breast for a minute or i go and get him another Oz. After this he has his longest sleep (or about 5/6 hours).

I was just wondering, what is a normal amount of expressed milk for a baby to be having? Websites i've looked at seem to say anything over 5oz is over feeding... but it isn't making him sick or anything.

Thanks in advance for replies

 

[mara16jade]

LOL I have no idea. My baby has eaten an 8oz bottle of expressed milk, but has also just eaten off me and I'm sure I'm not giving more than 4-6oz (depending on when I last pumped).

At night, he feeds off both sides, then gets a 4oz bottle as well and will usually sleep at good 10 hours (with one waking point to be rocked back to sleep, no eating). Sometimes he eats all 4 oz, sometimes he eats only 2oz. And sometimes he sucks it all down and looks like he could have had more!

Sorry, I don't have an answer for you. But all I can say is, as long as he's not throwing up from over eating, I think its ok. That's what I've been doing, and my lo is perfect on his weight.

 

[kajastarlight]

When my DS2 was a baby I started worrying at about 3 weeks that he was nursing all the time and always seemed hungry. I went to the pediatrition and she said he was in the 30th percentile but not loosing weight so she wasn't worried, but still set me up an apt with a lactation specialist. I took him to the lactation specialist hungry, they stripped him down and weighed him, I diapered him up and fed him, and they stripped him down and weighed him again and he had ate 8.5oz! At 3 weeks! I was like "what!!!" and the lactation specialist was like "hungry baby!" and I insisted on getting my milk tested because I was positive that it wasn't caloric enough for him. So she did, and it came back with such a high fat/calorie/some other good stuff content they asked me to donate to the premie milk bank. And I did because I was so busy trying to get my supply up that I had enough for two hungry babies!! (I thought I must have a low supply if he wanted to nurse so much! Ha!)

The moral of the story... I should have just trusted my pediatrician when she said he is staying in the same percentile so nothing to worry about! If your baby is hungry, and feeding him more does not upset his tummy, then feed him until he is full. Most babies won't over eat anyway.

 

[Swtpinkbabi]

My baby is 6 weeks and my pediatrician only recommended giving him 2oz per feed in a bottle. He only has about one bottle a day so that dh can feed him. They said he was being over fed. He's definitely still hungry after that bottle and I end up nursing him within the hour. He's definitely not over weight at 7 pounds.

 

[mara16jade]

My baby is 6 weeks and my pediatrician only recommended giving him 2oz per feed in a bottle. He only has about one bottle a day so that dh can feed him. They said he was being over fed. He's definitely still hungry after that bottle and I end up nursing him within the hour. He's definitely not over weight at 7 pounds.

I think 2oz is the average for what babies typically eat....but that doesn't mean that all babies fit that statistic. If it were me, I'd just let my baby eat whatever he wanted and not restrict him. That's what I've been doing, and he's at about the 35-40% range.