How much should a newborn take?

[Dream.A.Dream]

At the moment I am combination feeding as LO won't latch on.

He is having probably around 80% EBM and then topping up with aptamil. The MW in the hospital said for his weight (5lb 13oz) he needs to be taking 30ml (1oz) at a time if he's feeding 3 hourly or 40ml if feeding 4 hourly.

At the minute he's really varying what he takes from feed to feed, sometimes only half an oz, others 3 and a half or 4ozs. Is this okay? When he has a big feed he's taking loads more than MW said he needs so I'm not sure if it's possible to overfeed him? xx

 

[Claire788]

I'm combo feeding at the moment, at 2-3 days he was doing 2oz every 2 hours and some boob! HOwever he was 9lb 4 at birth, so a big diff from your LO. I wasn't aware you could overfeed, if you do they just yak it back up? Interested to read others replies

 

[dragondrums]

My son in the beganning had to use some formula because my milk had not quite come in yet and he acted like he was starving and they told me only to give him so much too but he wanted more so I just gave him what he wanted as long as he was not spitting it back up I figured it was fine and I just kept on trying to breastfeed him as well, when he would let me. I figure they know what they need and when to stop and at this old they really do vary on how much they eat and when. Anyway I guess what I am trying to say as long as he seems content and his food is not coming back up a lot as soon as he is done I am sure you are doing just fine. Also just keep trying to introduce him the boob and hopefully with some persitance he will take it. Good luck hun and congratulations on your beautiful little boy.

 

[dragondrums]

Also I thought I should tell you that with my first son I had a very hard time getting him to latch on and I really did not want to confuse him with a bottle and I ended up starving him for a couple days because I did not realize he was not getting anything, but I could tell he was unhappy because all he did was cry and cry and then I took him to the doctor and they told me what was wrong and assured me it was okay to give him a bottle and then they helped me figure out what my problem with latching was and thankfully he took to it very well. Sorry to throw all that in there but I just wanted to give you some encouragment.

 

[WW1]

A newborn will take what he or she needs. If you're demand feeding then they will eat what they want to and leave the rest. As long as you BF first then top up with formula (rather than the other way round) you can ensure they're getting as much BF as possible and wont be hungry.

I combo fed for the first month and found that the amount of formula my LO took varied day by day, hour by hour. I gave her enough until she didn't want any more.