please help, how much to feed.

[Natzer]

I am unfortunately mixing formula, breast feeding and feeding my expressed milk. But am getting very confused about how much to feed. (5 day old baby)

My formula says feed 100mls every 4 hours. We are trying to stick to a 4 hour routine. But how does expressed breast milk compare milimetre by milimetre? Im happy to breast feed on demand as it is soothing for her. ( I tend to feed her as much as she wants both first thing in the morning and at bed time)

Does anyone please know roughly how much to feed every 4 hours, either formula or breast?

First time mum, and getting a little anxious, stressed and emotional.

can i ask why you're mixing formula and breastfeeding and expressed milk?

only wondering because if you're happy to feed on demand then it would make your life a LOT simpler to just do that for the moment, especially as baby is so young.
by supplementing with formula so early on you do risk undermining your milk supply and ending up having to fully formula feed.

a 5 day old baby needs feeding more often than every 4 hours

4 hours seems a long time between feeds for a newborn. I used to demand feed and never really took any notice of how much (ml wise) they were drinking. I kist fed until they stopped and then fed them again when they needed more.

Can I ask why you are BF, FF an bottle feeding expressed milk? Seems to complicate matters.

I think you need to relax about routines for now, as she's only 5 days old. Sounds like you're putting a lot of pressure on yourself. Feed her on demand for now and think of a routine once you're used to each other and she's settled in at home. Also, 3 hourly would be better at this stage if you really want to stick to a routine. Try 100ml, and if she drinks it all, then she might want a bit more, if she doesn't finish it, then there's your answer.

Sorry, sounds garbled, hope you understand what I mean!!!!

Natzer Sorry you are so stressed, its really early days, you must still be so knackered, my dd is 10 weeks and I'm getting ready for bed To be honest I only formula feed, and I do it on demand whenever she wants it. Your baby is still very tiny, if it helps I only made bottles up to 90mls for the first two weeks. Good luck, congratulations and rest now!!!!

When my DD was in SCBU for jaundice at 5-8 days old, the nurses were drip feeding her 50ml EBF every 3 hours. Have a look at www.kellymom.com/bf/pumping/milkcalc.html. At one week, the baby only has a stomach of between 45-60ml!

Just feed on demand. And when was the last time that you went 4 hours without a drink or something to eat...... so why should the baby? And a baby has a much smaller stomach, and needs the food to grow, not just for energy like us.

Thank you for your messages, i'm just finding it all a bit hard at the moment (constantly in tears etc etc) my midwife is crap and for the first 2 days when I had no supply at all she was very much against me using formula as well as persisting with the breast feeding. She put on my notes that my baby was very distressed when she arrived and that she was so hungry. I had been BF her but there was nothing for her. So I gave her some small amounts of formula to ensure she was fed.

I then decided to buy a breast pump and used this to start up my supply, managed to start the collustrum coming through which really started to kick things off.

Milk is in now properly, however, I do express too so that I can take her out (only had first outing yesterday) also have done once or twice to feed at night as am so mentally and physically exhausted (had 3 days labour with no sleep prior to baby arriving) also suffering slightly with baby blues, so decided that to save my sanity I would express to feed at night and that way I may get a few hours of much needed rest.

I do feed her myself a number of times during the day, especially first thing in the morning as we like lying in the bed together feeding and cuddling.

lilham thank you for your info re 50ml every 3 hours.

I'm just so new to all of this (30 something professional - I should know something surely! ). And I don't feel I have anyone I can ask for advice, my midwife is about 12, very gobby and I just dont click with her, and yes she did upset me with her comments.

Sorry for the marathon post x

Mumsnet is a good place for advice. Things will get better. It's so hard with a newborn, and the little buggers darlings don't come with a manual! Do you have any friends with children? If so, they can be an invaluable source of help. You will sleep again, I promise.

Hi, my milk was slow to come in so I was doing the same as you for a few days. Its not fun!!

Anyway my goal was to get back to b/f exclusively - not sure where you want to end up. At the start I would f/f the correct amount (advised by the midwife based on weight, at four days old it was 60ml three hourly). Then I'd express and give this small amount as extra. As my milk gradually came in, I'd save up the expressed milk so I had enough for one feed (60mls). Then when I was expressing enough at each session for a full feed, I started to replace some feeds with breast feeds, and also express after to make sure he'd got enough. Then when I was ready, I replaced all feeds with breastfeeds.

I did have a few days of no b/f due to badly damaged nipples and I needed to let them heal before I started again, so probably did things slightly differently to what you may do. I was advised to feed three hourly, but it seems to suit DS too as he most often feeds three hourly now (although sometimes a lot less!).

I understand what I did probably sounds very complicated, but it only took about a week to get from f/f with expressed topups back to full breastfeeding. The midwives were coming every three or four days at that stage, so I could keep an eye on his weight.

I know people will probably say that when breastfeeding, its not good to be hung up on either the baby's weight or how much she/he is being fed by volume, but after a traumatic start to b/f its very hard not to (well it was for me). I felt awfully guilty about not having enough milk - obviously it wasn't my fault but I couldn't bear the thought of him trying so hard to get the milk and being so desperate for it, and me not providing what he needed.

Hope things settle a bit for you soon and you get some much needed rest.

Natzer, your midwife should have explained to you that it's normal for you not to have much in the first few days... in that time you will have been producing colostrum in very small amounts, a newborn baby has a tummy about the size of a marble... so it doesn't need much!

all 3 of mine were very agitated by day 4/5 when my milk finally came in and were feeding literally every 15-20 mins... but that's normal!

tbh, if i were you i would just ditch the expressing and the formula and just feed on demand. As I mentioned before, any supplementing at this stage can really affect your milk supply, not just now but long-term, and if you want to breastfeed then you need to do all you can to ensure a good supply.
some people DO manage combining feeding methods, but a lot more find themselves on a slippery slope to full time formula feeding.
In the early days milk is made on a supply and demand basis... so if you have long gaps without actually feeding the baby then your body thinks that you don't need to make so much milk. expressing can help, but a pump is not as effective as ababy, and you would need to pump in place of a feed, so not really going to help with sleep etc iyswim

I'd strongly advise seeing if you have a local breaastfeeding group, La Leche League or similar and getting some advice from a qualified breastfeeding counsellor who can have a proper chat with you about your needs as well as how to keep on breastfeeding (it can be hard online, with time delays between posts and not knowing full story etc!)