How old is your baby and how much breast milk in a bottle does your baby eat at a time? R is 8 weeks old and I go back to work on September 3rd. She's been taking 4-4.5 ounces of breast milk at a time but this morning she took 6.5! Im hoping maybe she will eat more at a feeding and have less feedings overall but I don't want to give her too much either. Is that possible?
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R is 5 months and takes 5 oz bottles. Day care asked me to send 6ozs cause they said that she was still hungry, so I did. But then she started spitting up a lot. So I think that she was over eating so I started sending 5 ozs again and she hasn't been spitting up as much.
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How are you feeding the bottles? Laying reclined with the bottle tipped down? I haven't tried this yet but at the bf support group I went to yesterday she mentioned paced feeding- basically sit baby upright and hold the bottle at a 90 degree angle, so she has to actually suck it out rather than it dropping down without her working on it. She said babies tend to eat an ounce or half ounce less that way which can add up when you are pumping. They have longer to realize they are full. So if it seems like she is eating too much from a bottle you could try that. But it's all theoretical for me- C has only had one bottle which she sucked down in seconds!
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From about 8 weeks on, LO took at least 6 oz more like 8. She always let me know when she was done. I never worried about her getting too much since I figured I had no idea how much she was getting when I nursed her.
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@Foodnerd81: ooohh, that's a good tip! Thanks!
@Smurfette: maybe I'll try a 5 oz. bottle and see if that's enough for her. She has had problems with spitting up but they've gotten a little better. I don't really want them to come back
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@hilary: how many feedings a day did she have with 6-8 oz bottles?
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Little man is 5.5 months and has just moved to 4 feedings per day. His first two bottles are 6.5 oz, his third bottle is 4 oz, and his last is 7 oz. We have only had this schedule for about a week, but it is working so far. The reason the amounts are different is because of the way they are spaced (there is only 3 hours between bottle 3 and 4, so we give him less at that feeding) 7 oz is the max he can eat at once. I can tell he has eaten a little too much if he spits up shortly after.
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I EP'ed for 13 months, and my LO never took more than 5.5 oz of breast milk. He moved up to 4-5 oz towards the end of the year, but his bottles were mainly 3 oz for the longest time. I always went by his cues, and I let him take charge of the amount and frequency. Breast milk changes as your baby gets older, making it more fatty. The grandparents would always be worried that he wasn't getting enough milk, and they would overfeed him. It almost always resulted in him spitting up a lot. Trust your instincts. Babies only need 25 - 35 oz of breast milk a day.
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@swedishfish: google it for a better explanation if you are interested. I'm going to have Dh try it next time.
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At 17 weeks she gets 4 oz in a bottle.
Kellymom has some good info on this. Basically, most babies between 1 and 6 months of age will eat 25-ish oz a day. To figure out how much to put in each bottle divide the 25 oz by the number of feelings your baby gets each day (my LO typically eats 7-8x/day, but a coupke if those feeds are more like snacks) http://kellymom.com/bf/pumpingmoms/pumping/milkcalc/
Agree regarding paced feedings. We split DD's 4 oz into two 2 oz bottles. We give her the first 2 oz, take a break, then give her the rest. We also make sure she is sitting up and using the lowest flow nipple.
I would be hesitant to try to drop feedings for such a young baby (or really any EBF baby - they know when and how much they need to eat
). She will moderate her own feedings over time, but I would still want to feed on demand.
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@swedishfish: 5 feedings/ every 3 hours during the day. We were lucky in she's been a 7-7 sleeper since 8 weeks so puts it away during her daytime hours. She's almost 9 months now and just starting to drop an oz here and there and increase her solids but still an every 3 hour kind of baby.
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DS is almost a year and takes 4-5oz bottles @YIN said everything I was going to post about quality/quantity
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@swedishfish: thanks for starting this, I've been trying to figure out what to send to daycare. I really have no clue how much she eats
I'm putting her on an every three hours schedule starting today, so I guess I'll see how many feedings that is and use the previous posters' advice about how many total ounces.
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My LOs are 7 months old. The most they take at once is 5 ounces every three hours.
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Almost 4 months and 0.5 ounces...ahhhh! I need to out her through bottle boot camp on this because I'm going back to work soon.
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I second pace feeding!
B is 9 weeks and he takes 3 oz bottles usually (sometimes 4). I send one extra bottle every day just in case he wants more.
I'm putting her on an every three hours schedule starting today, so I guess I'll see how many feedings that is and use the previous posters' advice about how many total ounces.
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