how much milk for a week old?

[caeleth]

Hi, first post for me here :-)
Have a six day old ds and am trying to get the hang of the whole feedingthing. My nipples are really sore so have had to start expressing while they heal. Been using the medela calma bottle that simulates bf which seems to be working well (ie no nipple confusion yet atleast).

Problem is that he gets the milk so much faster i worry he's drinking too much. If we dont take breaks quite a lot will come back up and he just seems bottomless. Anyone have any idea how much he should be drinking now? ballpark figure... he was 4190g on day 4 weigh in.

Im not sure on how the 'digestibility' of BF compares to FF but hopefully someone more knowledgable than me will be along soon but we Ff'd dd at a week old and she had between 1.5 & 3 oz of formula milk every three hours.

Once she stopped going three hours between feeds we upped the quantity oz
by oz.

As I say though, im not sure how helpful this is as breast milk is obviously different to formula.

caeleth - call your midwife and ask.....this is something that needs to be answered by an HCP who knows you and your situation and your baby's needs. YOu can also call a breastfeeding helpline to discuss your options, and for support in feeding comfortably and without pain :)

When my DD was born (ages ago) there was a formula (haha) for calculating how much milk to give your baby.

It was something like:

take baby's weight in lbs
multiply by 2.5
divide by number of feeds in 24hrs
answer = number of oz to make up (add 1oz in case baby is extra hungry)

So if your baby weighed 8.5lbs, you'd offer 4.5oz 6 times in 24 hours.

Try doing that in a sleep-deprived state

Can't call till mnday unfortunately and i'd go crazy speculating till then :-)

I'm not n the uk, not sure if we have a helpline here...

He supposedly latches on well now (had a lot of help at hospital), but he's fussy and will sometimes scratch the nipple and they just havent had time to heal so kept geting worse. Apparently have mastitis(sp?) in both breasts and just got antibiotics for that today (doc, so no help w bf) which i guess hasn't been helping.
Could he be using food as comfort as well - for the sucking? Is there such a thing as overfeeding?

Daytime he'll feed and sleep pretty reliably in 3hr intervals but nights he'll want every hour (on the breast, haven't had enough expressed to last). He always wakws up crying for food though. He'll start fyssing in his sleep but won't wake up till he reaches the crying stage - should i try waking him when he starts fussing?

Where on earth are you that you cannot get urgent help with feeding a baby aged just a week???

:( :(

Where is it in the world that sends mothers to the flippin' internet to work out the technicalities of milk volumes???

I'm sorry, I shouldn't have posted that - it was meant to be light-hearted - but it was the sort of information I was given years ago. It's not relevant now so please ignore my insensitivity as I can appreciate you must be feeling desperate .

I really didn't mean to upset you OP and I hope you get some help very soon.

www.llli.org/
It shouln't matter where in the world you are you should be able to get more help. Try the link about for the lll they are an international breastfeeding support organization hopefully they will have a branch in your country.