Pumped milk not filling her up?

[ivysmum17]

I am combo feeding my 11 week old, mainly breast milk I’ve pumped. She is entirely bottle fed and typically only had formula overnight if she wakes, or first thing in the AM if she’s up before I can pump (simply because it’s easier to feed her when she’s slept for ages without needing to warm up refrigerated milk)

anyway - she is ALWAYS hungry. I feel like my breast milk isn’t filling her up at all? With my first she had more formula than breast but this time she is pretty much exclusively breast milk bar 1-2 bottles a day (out of 7-8). She drinks 3.5-4oz at every feed, on both types of milk.

how can I improve the quality of my milk to keep her belly full? I feel like I’m failing because it’s 2 hours and she’s starving. The last 2 nights she’s gone to bed and then woken up and done another 4oz of milk after hysterically crying!

any thoughts :(

Is she able to suckle, a dummy if you're not directly breastfeeding?

Could you pump more to increase your supply? Maybe she needs a little more at each feed

She doesn’t take anymore than 4oz at a time of either type of milk. 4oz and she’s satisfied, anymore and she ends up bringing a lot back up! 😢

You are not failing her. She's coming up to a growth spurt. Keep doing what you're doing and it'll settle. X

Yeah she has a dummy but isn’t massively keen, spits it out quite often and once asleep doesn’t want for it really!

It's unlikely that she's starving or your milk isn't filling - breast milk fed babies typically need about 1oz per hour or 25oz over a 24 hour period (give or take).
If your baby is having 4oz every couple of hours then she is having plenty.

The waking and suckling is much more likely to be about comfort than hunger.

I’m not sure of the ‘shelf life’ of breast milk but is giving her a 4oz feed and then a little top up (say 1oz) 30-60mins later an option?

I think when they get breast milk at source they have to work harder to get it so that may have something to do with it? Also it’s kinder to their little tummies than formula x

https://www2.hse.ie/babies-children/breastfeeding/expressing-pumping/how-much-breast-milk-express/

The typical daily intake of breastmilk for a 1-6 month old is 19-30oz. Have you worked out how much you're giving over 24 hours?

Is putting her on the breast an option?

I think you have unrealistic expectations stemming from formula feeding. Every 1.-5 - 2 hours is exactly right for an EBF baby. Some go longer but mine never did. Even at 6 months he needed feeding every 2-2.5 hours max.

Breastmilk is easily digested (which is a good thing).

That being said, pumping is horrible. I did a brief stint of pumping for 2 months when I went back to work and it was hands down the worst thing I have ever done. You get NONE of the benefits of breastfeeding and 10x more work than formula. Just go on formula.

It's totally normal. Babies digest breast milk faater than formula because it's what they're designed to digest. At that age it's totally normal for a breastfed baby to feed every two hours or more.

Wish I heard this advice years ago. Formula is designed to fill them up for a few hours which breast milk isn’t. I never knew this and I wish I had.

Have you looked into the possibility of reflux? Reflux can be silent rather than actual vomiting.

Just asking because I'm on baby number 4 and all of them have seemed ravenous at around a month or 2 but it was eating for comfort rather than genuine hunger because they were in pain or uncomfortable. They all ended up on liquid omeprazole because baby Gaviscon or similar was useless. They also all had cow's milk protein allergy and needed prescription formula.

It’s very normal OP, please stop giving yourself a hard time. All 3 of mine fed a lot of, growth spurts mean a lot more feeding at certain times (and they seem never ending!) and breast fed babies DO feed a lot. Also one of mine was a big feeder. He still costs me a fortune in food at 20! It’s all very normal, particularly for such a wee one.

Thanks for everyone’s inputs, I’ve decided to up pumped milk intake to 4oz, and am topping up with formula where I need to. The plan is to pump until after her 12 week jabs and then I’ll be going entirely to formula so will just keep at it until then and roll with the punches!!