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Get advice and support with infant feeding from other users here.

Infant feeding

how much EBM for dinner?

16 replies

MacMomo · 28/06/2011 20:04

I'm going back to work and mum will be looking after dd including putting her to bed in the evennings - how much EBM should I pump for that feed please? DD is 6 months old and 17 lbs. Many thanks.

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TittyBojangles · 28/06/2011 20:24

It depends on how many feeds your DD is having in total. There is some info here from kellymom to help work it out.

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MacMomo · 28/06/2011 21:37

thanks, but that doesn't help me here as my baby takes varying amounts throughout the day, and takes different numbers of feeds. In the morning, she has small feeds and increases throughout the day. I was wondering how much other people give their babies?

Going by the kellymom website, dd takes 7-8 feeds a day so we're looking at 3.5 oz for a feed, but that's just not right at night when she seems much more hungry.

I've been experimenting for 2 nights and she hasn't wanted to take more than 5 oz from the bottle in one go, but has woken up crying and hungry 2 hours later and needed a breastfeed, so I'm wondering what other people give as a benchmark?

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japhrimel · 29/06/2011 21:59

I don't think you can really expect a LO to take more than 5oz of EBM. It is 20% of their average daily intake after all. DD never takes more than 4oz EBM in one go.

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PenguinArmy · 30/06/2011 01:30

5oz is a lot for a feed, I feel 3-5oz is a normal range.

There's still routine to consider (if a baby normally wakes after a certain amount of time or feeds 2 hourly, it will probably still do so). Also BF is more than food, it's comfort.

I used the 1oz/hr principle to roughly calculating feeds (well ordering DH what to feed her )

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EggsandBacon · 30/06/2011 09:16

My DS is 6mths and the same weight - I'm afraid I don't know the oz but he takes between 180 - 210ml of expressed BM for his last feed (around 7pm, goes to bed at 7.30pm - my DH feeds and puts him to bed one night a week so I can go out and do stuff). I tend to express every morning (I only get around 50-100ml when expressing) and freeze it in bags, then when I am going out I defrost enough bags to make up around 200ml. I think that's a lot though, he would probably be fine with less.

It will probably vary from baby to baby depending on when they feed during the day, so perhaps you could experiment, and express a lot for the first few times and then you can see how much he takes? Hope that helps.

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MedicalEd · 30/06/2011 20:46

My DD is four months and has taken anything from 180ml to a massive 360ml of ebm at dinner time.
There doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason to it either.
One day she will chug 180ml as if it wasn't there and the next time she will take an hour or so to finish it.
Generally if she is having an ebm feed, I offer 210ml to 260ml and go back for more if she finishes that.
It does mean I have to have several bottles/bags of milk ready but it will keep in the fridge for several days (if it hasn't been frozen).

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kimberlina · 30/06/2011 21:59

DD will take about 8oz EBM as the bedtime feed

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MacMomo · 30/06/2011 22:30

thanks everyone, I think I just needed to know that I wasn't imagining that she was hungry after 5oz: 200 mL is about 7 oz. DH searched the internet and found advice that it should be 2.5 oz per lb in weight over a 24 hr period after 6 months which gives us 43-44oz as a rough guide. Not sure where he got that from, though. I know all babies are different - perhaps might is just saving up all her hungry tokens for the evening. I'll up it to 5.5 and then 6 and see what changes. thanks very much again.

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PenguinArmy · 30/06/2011 22:33

Formula amounts and expressed amounts are different. Breast milk requirements in volume terms do not increase with time after approx 6 weeks (as milk changes) unlike formula.

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PenguinArmy · 30/06/2011 22:34

Also BF babies can often take more than they need to when given a bottle as they are used to comfort sucking (sucking with no milk) in a bottle, sucking leads to milk regardless and swallowing it can instinctively cause another sucking motion (if that makes sense).

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MacMomo · 02/07/2011 21:30

Formula amounts and expressed amounts are different. Breast milk requirements in volume terms do not increase with time after approx 6 weeks (as milk changes) unlike formula.

wow, I did not know that - how interesting!

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PenguinArmy · 02/07/2011 23:43

linky

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MacMomo · 03/07/2011 23:05

I just don't understand how BF babies can take in so much less in quantity and still feel full! - not so say I don't believe it, I do - I just don't understand it. This week's experiment seems to be that dd likes 6oz at night. I don't want to even try to give her more than that. She seems to feed less during the day and save herself for a big bedtime binge.

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kimberlina · 03/07/2011 23:08

Isn't that one of the reasons why BF babies are less likely to be obese - because they stop when they are pleasantly full rather than totally stuffed like a FF baby (and prob why then dont go so long between feeds!)

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PenguinArmy · 03/07/2011 23:19

think of like you all can buffets, you eat far more than you need to

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MacMomo · 05/07/2011 10:15

Last night at 6pm: 4oz EBF from bottle, then latched and had a proper full feed from both breasts. Didn't need feeding again until 2 am! She asked for it half-heartedly at midnight, mind, but accepted a dummy instead quite easily. I wonder if since I've been on domperidone my milk is more watery than before when I was making less and so she was always getting the fattier stuff as the breasts never had time to fill again between the constant feeds. Hmm.