How much ebm should I leave when I'm on my night out?

[megonthemoon]

Leaving DD (11 weeks) on Fri night while I go out with some friends for my first night out post baby :) I've only expressed before to make sure she takes a bottle - never actually replaced a full feed so I have no idea how much she takes. She still does a bit of cluster feeding in the evening - probably 1 big feed and a couple of snacky ones (or maybe just comfort sucking?) and then has a big feed around 11ish which I should be home for.

How much ebm should I leave? I was thinking 1 x 6oz and a couple of 3oz bottles plus another 6oz bottle just in case I'm not back for the 11pm feed (given I'm reliant on southern trains to get me home...)

Does that seem reasonable? Or would you leave more just in case.

I have 9oz already in the freezer, so just need to work out how much more I need to pump between now and Fri evening to make sure DH has enough milk that he isn't pacing the floors with an angry hungry baby all evening.

I think you'll need around an oz an hour, plus a couple of extra oz I guess?

Breastfed babies take around 25oz a day, so you can divide that by the number of typical feeds to get an idea of how much a full feed is.

Thanks moonunit - sounds like the 18oz I'm planning to leave should be more than enough :)

Each feed for my 6 monther is about 3-3.5oz. If possible decant what you have into that size amounts as it's all too easy for a bf baby to just finish a bottle because they lack sucking and then as they've had too much to vomit and then be all hungry again (bitter experience). 4 separate feeds would be loads so your 18oz is more than generous even if your baby is a gorb like mine.

mega, what you are suggesting sounds like plenty of milk. I had my first proper night out (a party at my sisters house from 4pm onwards) when my DD was 12 weeks. I was drinking alcohol so wanted to leave enough to last from 4pm - 9am so that I wouldn't have to do any of those feeds. I left 26oz, which was a perfect amount.

I should add that my boobs were huge and milk was literally pouring out of them on the taxi home at 1am, so remember to pack your breast pads!

molly - that's a good point. The couple of times DH has given her a 4oz feed she did throw up more than usual afterwards and then proceeded to take a decent sized feed from me - which was why I thought 6oz bottles might be necessary. Will plan to just leave DH with sterilised bottles and lots of milk and let him decant it 4oz at a time.

harverina - thanks - will take double pads just in case :o! I hope to be back for her 11pm feed as she has just started sleeping 7 hours from then so if I don't make it home for that feed then I will be in serious leaky agony next morning!