Newborn feeding? How many ounces do I feed in a session?

[Kelx44]

I'm pumping my breast milk and was wondering how much do you feed a newborn? I usually give an ounce and he falls asleep is that enough or do I wake him up for more?

 

[fdcsw126]

An ounce is enough for a newborn but by the time they are 2 and a half weeks they should be up to 2 ounces

 

[Wugz22]

Mine drank 2.5 at 3 weeks. Before that, an ounce or 2 should be fine!

 

[Popples1]

That's probably fine for a brand new baby as their tummies are only the size of a marble at first. Just keep an eye on the clock. I had a very sleepy (jaundiced) newborn and was told to make sure he fed every 3 hours day & night. Once he started gaining weight and woke up a bit we were able to relax things again.

 

[lovebabyhopes]

My baby will be 2 weeks old tomorrow. I just asked my pedi this very question yesterday, and her reply was that, at this age, an infant should be fed roughly 1 ounce per hour. Meaning, if you feed every hour, 1 ounce is appropriate. If you feed every 2 hours, 2 ounces is good. And lastly, if you feed every 3 hours, 3 ounces.

 

[Kelx44]

Ya I'm feeding about 3 ounces now every 3-4 hours.

 

[Popples1]

Obviously if baby is still hungry you keep feeding him (if he drains the bottle, offer more) but if you think he's had enough, I wouldn't worry too much about waking him.

 

[TCK_Runner]

Agree with what the others wrote. I'm also mostly pumping and my baby's 7 weeks now, but she has been eating about the same since 4-6 weeks old excluding the few days of a growth spurt. Up until that point she was steadily increasing the amount she was taking in. During the growth spurt she'd sometimes eat 4-5 ounces every 2-3 hours (!), but otherwise only takes in about 2.5-3.5 ounces (max) every 3-4 hours. At night she can now sleep a stretch of 5.5 hours and just take in one big feeding before and after, or she'll cluster feed until she falls asleep and then takes in one big feed (~3.5 ounces) when she gets up in the morning.

The MW said a baby 4-6 weeks old should be allowed to consume up to 5 ounces if they want to, and one should only monitor closely if you think the baby isn't consuming 2 ounces / 2-3 hours at a feed at this age. I will say that this happened once (for about 1.5-2 days before I noticed!) and I got worried... then I smelled my refrigerated milk and noticed it had a funny soapy smell and taste to it (yuck!!!) which explained why my poor baby was only choking down 1/2-1 ounce per feed and getting fussy. I threw out most the milk in the fridge (smelled it first) and the fed her from breast, and pumped a lot to start over my supply at that point. I started freezing anything I didn't think she'd consume within the day because after testing out a bag or two of defrosted milk I did notice she will eat that (as it doesn't smell like soap).

With all that said, I also would NOT wake a baby unless the pediatrician is concerned about weight gain at the first check-up and explicitly tells you to start waking to feed.

 

[Islas_mummy]

My baby is 8 days old today and I am pumping (due to extremely ruined nips) for the time being. He is taking 3oz every 3 hours.

 

[Kelx44]

He's now doing 3 ounces so his appetite sure grew lol. Hopefully my milk gets greater as does his appetite lol. I only express about 2-3 ounces each time every 3 hours.