Do babies need less ebm than formula? How much ebm/formula does your baby take in one feed?

[Chocolocolate]

Currently exclusively expressing for dd as, after 4 months of trying everything including paying a private lactation consultant, dd has never successfully breastfed :-(

Currently, dd will take up to 3 ounces in a feed (much better than what she did before Gaviscon) and between 15 and 20 ounces in 24hrs. Dd manages up to three hours between feeds on a night.

At a baby group today, I was sat between two other 4mo babies. Each of them takes between 6 and 8 ounces per feed and sleeps between 6 and 8 hours at night in one stretch.

Is dd normal? Her weight gain is on the 50th centile, but she's been a little constipated with the Gaviscon.

Are then any tips to encourage her to eat more in a sitting that don't include force-feeding (as I've heard this is a big no-no)?

I don't know if you seen this lot's of good info for mum's who are exculisvely pumping
www.kellymom.com/bf/pumping/index.html

What is really intersting about a baby being fed expressed breast milk is that the volume of milk they take after the first month seem's to stay constant and not increase like formula. Babys still thrive on this so it must be prefectly normal. Your DD is taking a little less then the average but then that's just an average and as long as she's still gaining weight well there is no need to try and get her to take more milk.

Don't forget BM is a different compersition to formula and isn't digested the same. It also changes as a baby get's older where as formula stays the same.

It'a also normal for 4 month old's to still feed that often at night, she could also have hit the four month sleep regresion phase as well.

I think your doing a fab job to still be giving your little one BM, well done.

Hi there
Wow, its very committed to continue to express for your little one, well done!

I have 4 mo twins. They are mix fed, Bf during the day, and ff at 7pm and 1030pm. For the formula feeds DTD has 5oz, DTS has 7oz (he weighs 15lb, she weighs 12lb). They then sleep till 7am.

Obviously I don't know how many Oz they get when they bf, but based on the quantiites I express I think it is less than this.

Hi there,

I exclusively express for my 5 month old. She takes approx 3oz every 3 hours or so. With breast milk my understanding is that their consumption levels out at 3 months, then gradually decreases from 6 months as solids are introduced. I was told not to follow the formula guidelines as the absorption is different. Take a look at this forum - its a really good support network and a great source of info. It's kept me sane, when I've wanted to throw my horns out the window! Helps me to remember why I'm doing this.

forums.ivillage.com/t5/Exclusively-Pumping/ct-p/iv-ppexcluspump

There's a great 'beginners guide to EPing' on there, and it talks about the average quantities we should be feeding our little ones.

Hope that helps x

I only give one bottle of expressed milk to my 4 month old and have done since two months old... I never change the amount which is 4.5 oz.
Mainly because that is how much I pump.
it seems to suit her fine.
if your baby is growing fine then just stick to what you are doing.

on the rare occasion i've given ebm it's been between 3-4 ounces

i read on,kellymom that about 20-25 oz f ebm is normal and remains constant.

sleep i can't help you with (sadly....)

Hi - we were told today by the hospital feeding advisor (am mixed feeding as not enough milk to ebf) a baby needs 150ml per kg of weight and then divide that number by how many feeds I do a day. Obviously I don't know how much ds takes from me, but gives me an idea of maximum formula to offer each time.

Well done for being so committed to expressing

DS is 8 months and I work every other day, he is currently having between 3 and 4 oz for the feeds I am away for as that's how much I can express.

I expressed until my LO was a couple months old and never managed to BF. It was incredibly knackering, you're doing so well having expressed for so long.
I found that I had to use formula as well as I just couldn't produce enough to keep up with her needs otherwise. Anyhow, I read (and I can't remember where) that if you do use formula as well as EBM then best to mix it together, as the enzymes in BM will help digestion of the formula. My LO was much much less sicky/refluxy when I did this.