How much bm to feed a 6 month old in bottle when pumping

[Pitstop1986]

I've had a hard time with breastfeeding right from the start. DD eats very frequently, every hour, but more often in the evening. It's not a supply issue, I can pump more milk out of my breasts after she's finished feeding. It's just her. I suppose she's just a lazy feeder and CBA sucking! Anyway, since she turned 6 months, maybe a bit before she's become increasingly fussy on the breast. She switches from one to the other, winges, gets distracted, etc. It's frustrating and demoralising. However, she will take a bottle no problem. She downs a 5 ounce bottle in a matter of minutes, no fussing, then isn't hungry for another 2 or 3 hours.

In desperation, I've started feeding her boob for the first feed, then piping for the rest of the day and giving her bottles. It's just easier!

I give her a 5 ounce/150ml bottle and she goes just short of 3 hours before she's hungry again. She always finishes the bottle. I give her that much because that's the size of the bottles that we have.

I have no idea how much I should give her or how frequently. Is 150ml roughly every 3 hours enough?

She still wakes in the night for one or two feeds and is doing BLW but not actually ingesting much (only a few little scraps come through in her nappy)

Any advice would be welcome. I've just ebf on demand before now, ftm and haven't a clue bottle feeding. She's 29 weeks

Ps, the pumping and washing/sterilising equipment is no bother to me, much less hassle than her fussing at the boob for 20 minutes every hour when trying to bf

Sorry for the long post!

At 6 months, I did three solid feeds and probably three milk feeds, but probably 200ml at a time, sometimes more depending on what they ate. Mine slept through the night and had done for a while by then so it might be a bit different. I was the same as you, the bottle washing didn’t bother me at all, just did it with the washing up at night (well my husband did!), and just pumped in the evening in front of the tv!

DD used to sleep through the night, but we got Covid about 4 weeks ago and it completely messed up her sleep schedule, she started going to bed earlier, around 8 and waking up between 11 and 12 for a feed and sometimes an additional one at 3, then up for the day just before 6.

Thanks for the post. 600ml doesn't seem like much, but I guess if they are eating (and actually swallowing food) they won't need that much.

DD has drank 750ml so far today on top of a morning boob feed, but I'm expecting her to have another feed later on (I usually just breastfeed for that one as she's quite sleepy so doesn't fuss, plus I'm in bed next to her so I don't have to get up to get a bottle)

@Blankbias when you say you just pumped in the evening, did you pump the whole 600ml out in the evening? How long did that take?
I always thought that you had to pump every 3-4 hours to keep up your supply?!