How much breast milk?

[JK123]

How much breast milk would you say a 14 week old baby should have? I know that if feeding formula, then its around 30 oz a day. Would it be the same for a breastfed baby then?

I don't know how you'd measure it. Feeding on demand is a good bet.

Well, amounts would probably be similar to that of formula but you can never tell for sure.

As ticky says - feeding on demand is the way to go for b/fed babies.

I think a better phrase is 'responsive feeding' as I don't like the idea of little babies being thought of as 'demanding' when all they are doing is fulfilling normal needs

But if you are talking about expressing and working out how much a baby would need who did not go to the breast at all, then the rough guide for formula fed babies is 2 and a half ounces per pound of body weight over 24 hours, and for metric, it's 150 ml per kilo over 24 hours (I think - the metric one I would need to check to be 100 per cent sure).

Breastfed babies actually take less in terms of volume, or at least they appear to do in studies, probably because the formula fed baby needs more because formula needs more energy to metabolise.

Does this mean you are no longer doing any direct bf, JK?

tiktok - i think, certainly in the case of my son and his screaming fits - it was demand, definitely

Well....I know, sometimes it can feel that way

Thanks Tiktok. DD is a nightmare to feed. I breastfeed her in the morning up until about 9am but after that, every time I offer her the breast, she'll take a suck or 2 and then just scream. So it's not a good experience and is wearing me out. It seems like she can't suck / won't suck during the day and it is just so tiring. So I'm mixed feeding her...it's not ideal and at least hse's still getting some milk from me.