Expressing amounts for 3 week old

[Rosduk]

I am BF but have started expressing aswell. I was wondering how much the average 3 week old may need in one sitting. I know it's a bit of a generalisation but I have given her 2 bottles so far and she drank 80ml each time but she still wanted more so she went on the boob too.

Just interested in other peoples experiences!

Thanks!

Hello, I have expressed from birth for ds who is now 5 weeks. He has always been very very hungry and now takes an average of 6oz 6 times a day ( not sure but think thats around 200 ml). He has 3-4 ebm feeds per day and the rest in formula (i simply couldnt keep up with him!). At 3 weeks I think he was taking around 4oz at each feed. But every baby is different so its a bit of trial and error. They will take what they need and refuse anymore or throw it right back at you!

From 1 month to 6 months old breastfed babies milk intake remains stable at around 25oz a day, so if you divide that by how many feeds she has you should get an idea (eg - 8 feeds a day means around 3oz a feed).

It's easy to accidentally overfeed breastfed babies with a bottle as they can't control the flow of milk from a bottle like they can with a breast, so will often chug the whole lot regardless. Try giving 3 or so oz and then offering a dummy as she might want to comfort suck.

Hi RitaMorgan

I'm interested by what you mean by "overfeed"? Everything I've read, plus what the HV and Midwife told me is that you cannot "overfeed" and that baby will take whatever he wants to take and he will let me know when he's had enough. This seems to be the case so far, ds will simply refuse anymore when he's had enough and is content. He is absolutely thriving (according to the HV).

You can't overfeed a breastfed baby, but there is a risk of overfeeding with botte fed babies whether it is breastmilk or formula they are taking. That's one of the reasons that bottle feeding carries a higher risk of obesity later.