What volume of expressed breast milk should a 12 day old baby drink per feed?

[Eaglebird]

Hi.
My little boy is 12 days old and, after some initial problems, is now breastfeeding approx every 3 to 4 hours, and is now putting on weight.
Usually after his 5am-ish & 8am-ish feed, and at some other point in the day, I use my breast pump to express some milk, which I store in the fridge. My DP then gives this to our son about 11pm at night so that I can get a bit of extra sleep.
I'm managing to express about 45ml in total throughout the day, but this doesn't seem to be enough as my little boy is still hungry after my DP has given him his expressed feed.
What volume of expressed milk should he be getting for this night feed, and how can I increase the amount I'm expressing so that he gets enough to drink?
Any help would be welcome. Thanx in advance.

My word you're committed - well done. Especially expressing after 5am feed! I find warming up the pump is good, in the steriliser usually.

Think our daughter has around 6 oz per feed.

Good luck!

Kelly mom milk calculator
This might be useful I guess it somewhere between 2 and 6 ounces, but his tummy wont get any bigger than during a day feed.

With regards to volumes I think you have to be guided by him - if he's still hungry then he obviously wants a bit more. My ds wouldn't have taken anywhere near 6 oz at 12 days old though.

As for expressing more, trial and error is the way forward. Try expressing at different times of the day, while he is feeding off the other side, or with a different type of pump.

Some people find that whatever they try, expressing never really yields that much, and you may decide it's not worth the hassle - it may be easier just to feed him, or perhaps give one bottle of formula a day if your DH wants to be involved.

It's worth persevering for a bit though, as it's still very early days.

Best of luck

my baby is greedy, and unless i give her an extremely enormous amount, she will put on a fuss at the end of a bottle. i found that giving the dummy calms her down (but you may not want to use a dummy, maybe some sort of other distraction your DP could try?). and if she is still hungry, she will definitely let me know. but most of the time she is just sad that the bottle is over, i think.

Eaglebird, there's no 'should' about amounts per feed, and it might be that you give your little boy more EBM and he still prefers to settle next to you with a breastfeed 'at source'....normal newborn behaviour!

One drawback of expressing to replace a direct breastfeed in these very early days is that it can depress supply - this may not be happening with you, but long gaps between breastfeeds are not good for breastfeeding, and as he is already going quite a long time routinely (3-4 hours is quit long for a 12-day old) you might want to discuss with the midwife or a breastfeeding counsellor about whether the expressing is such a good idea....if it works for you, then that's great, of course, but I am giving you the longer-term outlook!

Personally I wouldn't bother, I found expressing with DS1 quite a hassle. Its very common that you cant get as much milk from expressing as you would just feeding your baby (also there is all the faff with sterilising/putting the pump together etc etc).
This time round with DS2 I didnt express at all, just had him in bed with me at night and rolled over to feed him and then we could both go back to sleep without too much disturbance. Got DH to help in other ways - changing DS in the night/winding him, getting up with him inthe morning after an early feed, plus cooking/cleaning etc. Oh and we used a dummy too to settle DS. HTH

Well done for persevering, I had problems at the beginning too. I always offered 6oz, our wee one usually took between 3oz and 5oz at that age...I found expressing in the morning best but waited till after 7am, when i was properly awake! Well done, and good luck

Oh and a warm flannel, usually helps too

I've managed to express 55ml so far today from 3 expressing sessions. Hopefully I'll be able to express a bit more later this evening, hopefully making a total of 65 or 70ml. I'll see if this extra amount makes any difference when DP gives our son his late feed tonight.
DP is keen to give him this night feed, and I'm glad for him to do this as it allows me a couple of hours more sleep per day, which I desperately need.
I don't really want to give him formula, so I guess I'll just have to experiment with using my pump at different times / using it more often during the day.
DP has tried giving our son a dummy after the feed, but he is still genuinely hungry, so 45ml is definitely not enough.
I use my pump fresh from being sterilised, so it is nice and warm. I've also started massaging the breast while I express, and this improves the amount of milk coming out.
Thanks for your replies.

i think at this age, a baby is far more efficient at getting milk from the breast than a pump is

also, you produce more prolactin at night IIRC, which increases and maintains milk supply, so it might be worth not expressing for DH to give him a night feed until he is a little older especially if he is still hungry after his bottle.

Agree with lulumama, and it sounds like an awful lot of hassle for you to get enough milk just so your DH can do this one feed which may well be having a bad effect on your milk supply.
Also am pretty sure that the usual recommendation is not to express until your supply has settled a bit more at around 6 weeks.
Perhaps not the easiest way to give yourself a break?!
Can you try to sleep in the day when the baby sleeps instead?