Just pumped 3 oz - is this enough for 10 week old?

[sweetpea5]

Would really appreciate any help on this. Right side is cracked and so painful so expressed for 40 mins but only 3 oz. Will this be enough for baby for 1 feed?

Thank you

It's so hard to tell, isn't it

For a 'snacky' feed it will probably be ok but I don't think it would have been enough for my DS when he was 10w

Are you feeding ok from the other breast? Could you just feed from that side and pump from the bad side ? You can keeping adding to it over the course of 24h (I think - may be 48) as long as you keep it in the fridge. Then you'll be able to build up a better stock, so to speak

Thanks bernard. Yes, other side is fine at the minute - just worried that if I do all feeds from it she wont get enough as I wont produce enough fast enough (3 hours between feeds). Do you think it might be ok?

Depends on how often they're feeding I'd guessm but good for a snacky feed, would certainly take the edge off hunger but maybe not fill up.

How are you expressing? By hand or pump? If you do it every two hours you should be able to build supply.

Have you got some lansinoh for the nipples?

I had to do exactly that when DS was about 3w

One side was SO painful I couldn't feed for 48hrs, so I just fed from the good side and hand expressed from the bad. He was fine

It's supply and demand, so the more you feed from it, the more you'll make

Electric super pump! I used it a couple of weeks ago and was getting about 5 oz, but maybe have to get used to it again...

Have got lansinoh, but am not going to use it as I am (probably irrationally) part-blaming it on my getting thrush (damp environment) so not using it again!

At the minute I can just about feed on the right side (with lots of tears etc) but am thinking I should just leave the crack to heal by itself for a few days then try again. If I keep trying to feed its just going to get worse isnt it?

I don't know what the 'official' advice is with a cracked nipple, but this is what I did. It was DC3, so I felt more confident in what I was doing, IYKWIM

• didn't feed from it for 48h

• fed exclusively from the other side, hand expressed from the cracked one

• regular Lasinoh

• when ready to feed again, tried a different position (the football hold one)

• REALLY concentrated on making sure the latch was right each feed

kellymom has got a calculator thing for expressed feeds:

www.kellymom.com/bf/pumping/milkcalc.html#howmuch

although i suspect it's not a perfect science so i would just go with what you've got!

oh and i second the football hold thing although it felt really odd at first (and i still don't understand how it relates to football)

Thanks so much. Will try football hold - Looks mad though!

Probably relates to American football

Yes, it's the rugby hold in "proper" english

I was told that rubbing some breastmilk on to your nipples helps the healing as well.

3oz wouldn't be enough for a full feed for 10wk DS, but would do as a top up feed.

My 16w dd will only take 3oz at a time when I express, she might take more when she feeds from the breast but I'm not sure. She's gaining weight fine and is between 25-50th percentile, it's pretty hard IME to express any more than 3oz at one go from one breast (one of my breasts at least!) so don't worry. Give the 3oz and see if the baby is hungry after, if so offer the other breast. BF is definitely supply and demand, my milk supply really picked up after the 3 month growth spurt and expressing seemed to help increase the supply. Stressing about how much I was producing didn't really help my confidence though!
We also had problems with cracked nipples and I found lansinoh and a 24 hour break with just expressing on the cracked side sorted it out fairly quickly. Good Luck!

I checked that calculator and it reckons 4.1oz per feed. I gave her the 3oz then she spent about 25minutes on the non-sore side and seems ok. Am now drinking loads of water so hopefully Ill have enough for her next feed.

So sore at te minute I cant imagine experimenting with the rugby/american football hold - but once crack heals hopefully Ill be ready for it!

Sounds like that's a good way forward till you heal then, well done. :)

If you've kellymom then you've probably read that BF babies (after 6 weeks) don't increase their intake with age. I think of it as 25oz a day is basically 1oz per hr plus 0.5-1oz for good measure.

Bear in mind that BF often take more than they need on a bottle so that them guzzling a large bottle (after or instead of a feed) is not an indication of them being mega hungry.

Hope your nipples recover soon

That's really useful info re them not increasing their intake after 6 wks. Didnt know that and was starting to wonder if I should "up" the volume of milk in expressed feeds.

Is that because your milk gets more calorific so even if they're bigger they dont need a higher volume?

That's my understanding, fat content changes with time.

Formula doesn't hence they need more with increasing age.

good- that's a little worry crossed off my list

DS never stays on for more than 15mins per feed and I was starting to think "but he must need more because he's bigger now". Seems like he knows best after all .....

Ohh thanks climberchick i didn't know that.

I hadnt noticed that - just went straight to the calculator but was wondering why there werent different numbers for different ages. That makes sense though - thanks :)

Btw if my nipple gets cracked again once I try again I was thinking of maybe giving up on it and doing all feeds from the good side. Is this a mad idea? Would I end up totally lop sided?

I think I would rather concentrate on getting a good latch for every feed rather than only feed from 1 breast (esp at a young age when they still feed pretty frequently)

Me too bernard - its just that I have had so many problems just cutting out the right side seems like a good option at the minute