How often?

[jodesxx]

Baby is 19 days old and I'm exclusively pumping. He is fed on my breast once a day (issues with latch but I'm just trying to keep it up). He is having 3.5-4oz and every 2.5-3 hours. Is that's enough or is it too much?? When is he likely to go longer between feeds? Should I also be feeding on demand or stretching any out?

My EBF baby (now 8 months old) fed that often and had that much milk at that age too. At about 3-8 months old, she wanted to feed every 2 hours which is within normal range but on the higher side 😅 which is perfectly fine. She's only just starting to go longer between feeds even though she's been on foods for 2 months now, but it's normal for the number of feeds to decrease a bit once the baby starts on solids. It's also normal for the baby to go through phases of feeding more frequently (eg cluster feeding), then going back to their usual amount again.

Here are a couple more general facts from the NHS ( www.nhs.uk/conditions/baby/breastfeeding-and-bottle-feeding/breastfeeding/your-questions-answered/ ):

• For BF babies, feeding on demand is best.
• It is not possible to overfeed a baby who is exclusively BF.
• Babies on average feed between every 2-4 hours (need at least 8 feeds in 24 hours, so eg once every 3 hours) and the amount of milk consumed varies per baby

Also I'd just like to say you're doing an amazing job already - wow almost every feed is pumped! That's a lot of work 💐

Congratulations on the new baby @jodesxx

Are you getting any RL support?

The quantity sounds like a lot to me, my baby was on a feeding plan at that point and although feeds were frequent the volume of expressed milk was quite a bit less. That said, every baby is different, but I'd seek help from a breastfeeding group or a lactation consultant.

Among my friends a few have been able to get the baby to latch a bit older than yours is, after previously pumping all feeds, if that is something you'd like to do. Pumping is such a lot of work, I had to do it round the clock when my baby was very small but don't do it very often now.
I wish someone had suggested to me to use a milk collector (haakaa) or similar on the opposite breast when I was pumping (unless you already have a double pump, which maybe you do given how much you are pumping!)

Well done on getting so far.