Stupid q re FF & amount in bottle

[daisylulu]

Hello. I have a bit of a stupid question which I think I know the answer to but wanted to foible check.... My LO has reflux and CMPI so we are closely having to monitor milk intake.

When I make up her formula the instructions say to add powder to water. So if I make up say 6 oz of water and then 6 scoops of powder there is actually 7 oz of milk in the bottle when shaken. Do I count the bottle as having 6 or 7 oz in it?!

It doesn't sound like it makes much of a difference but over the course of the day it makes a difference if about an additional 5 oz- which is actually critical for my LO who doesn't have enough milk intake.

Thanks!

Apologies for typos. Stupid iPhone. Should be double not foible!

I would count it as having 7oz.

Sorry disagree, only ever counted the number of water. My DD had reflux, I understand your concerns. But also believe in your gut instinct, do they look full up? Dopey dreamy smiley face? apart from then burping it back all over you!!
Reflux is really tough to deal with so sending a hug

If there is worries about the amount of calories your DD is taking in then the volume of milk actually drunk is the important factor i.e. if the 6oz of water & 6 scoops of powder make 7oz and she drinks 3.5oz/6.5oz of the bottle then note down 3.5oz/6.5oz as the calorie amounts on the packs are for feeds made up as directed not vol. of water.

Has anyone talked to you about giving smaller feeds more frequently? So instead of 5 x 7oz bottles (35oz a day) you offer 7 bottles of 5ozs (so 4oz water/4scoops) or even perhaps 9 x 3oz water/3scoops (making 3.5ozish) as large feeds can exacerbate reflux by over stretching the stomach. Just an idea

Count the 7oz.

Thanks everyone. I've tried to give more frequent feeds but it doesn't seem to make much of a difference in terms of comfort, vomiting (hers is more silent) or intake.

I will count it as 7oz then rather than say 6oz. Doing it that way means she had 28 oz yesterday rather than 23 oz - which is on the lower but acceptable scale for her weight of 14 pounds. But I think the key thing is whether she is putting on weight - which she is. At times it's so hard not to get hung up on the numbers!

Sorry, I'm going to disagree. It's a 6oz bottle because you added 6 oz of water and 6 scoops. That doesn't make a 7. it just looks like more because powder adds volume too, so when you're getting into bigger amounts it looks more. It's stil 6oz of water and 6 scoops. There was a thread on here a while ago about a similar thing and the OP got hopelessly confused about how to make up a bottle. Always 1 scoop to 1 ounce. So no Truthsweet - 4oz/4 scoops does not make a 5oz bottle.

Try not to get too hung up on the amounts. I wrote down what DD had for the first 10 weeks, before stopping. I had to do this initially because of problems BFing / topping up with EBM and formula and it became an obsession/worry.

You're right - the key thing is that she is putting on weight. Remember that babies (like us) will be hungrier / less hungry at different meals, so don't get stressed if she has 5oz at one feed, say, and 4oz at the next. Over the course of a day she should make up for it. But yes, it's worth trying more frequent feeds - maybe her tummy is just small (they are) and little and often will work better.

Of course the powder adds volume...and the baby is drinking that volume too.

When my dtds were on measured feeds in hospital they put 25ml (for example) and recorded that as 25ml...they didn't say oh that's only 23ml because 2ml of the volume is the 'powder'.

I imagine that was pre-made formula, though haunted - ? They don't tend to use powdered stuff in hospital.

But do you see my point - 6 oz of water is still 6oz of water, even if the added powder makes it look bigger.

Yes it was pre-made...but will still have been made from powder at source. (Not strictly true I know but the principle is)

Op is not talking about measuring the amount of water...she is measuring the amount of feed. If she was measuring amount of water I would agree with you.

But if 6oz is 'really a 7', what do you do when you make a 7 - really count it as 8??

Sorry, we might have to agree to disagree.

But as I said before, OP, don't get obsessed with exact mls when working out what your baby has had! Don't get stressed :)

I agree that most important thing is the outward health and contentment.

What I do (did) is this:

Make up whatever size bottle required.
At start of feed note the actual volume.
At end of feed note actual volume left (cos they rarely drink the whole bottle IME). Difference between the 2 is the amount drunk.

I actually measured in mls even though.made up in oz...cos the 'prescribed' amounts they should have been making were in metric...and oz didn't equate easily to ml.

So if i was measuring actual volume drunk I measure actual volume drunk as above.

If I was being more general I would she had 5 5oz bottles today and that would relate to 5oz water and 5 scoops of powder.

We may be getting cross wires over whether op is being specific in the amount or general.

And incidently the guidelines on the side of a pot of formula are vast over estimates for most babies of average weight.

Thanks everyone! It's helpful and comforting to hear everyones views. I was being specific as it seems to make quite a difference (volume of just water v volume of made up formula) with the milk she is on (nutramigen).

For what it's worth (and being the anally retentive person I am ) I just worked out the following which I think suggests that, with nutramigen at least, you take into account the made up milk volume rather than original volume of water. The reason why is this.....

One scoop = 4.5g powder. packet says add one scoop to 30ml of water. Therefore 15g of powder to 100ml of water.

The tin states 100ml reconstituted equates to only 13.6g of powder and has 68 calories. Therefore I think it's the volume of made milk that's key not the original water otherwise the tin would state 100ml equals 15g of powder (tho correct me if you think im wrong- not that I mean to start a big debate!). Out of interest a ready made carton of aptamil had 66 calories per 100ml.

I totally agree at the end of the day what's key is whether she is thriving. It's only because I need to make a note of intake that I originally started wondering.

Thanks again

Oops sorry I've not made a bottle up for a long time and I thought that I remembered that 4oz of water plus 4 scoops made a 5oz bottle I'm really sorry if I confused anyone (including myself!)