How much should I express?

[AliEightMaidsAMilking]

I'm going back to work full-time in late January, and DS (currently 4.5 months) is exclusively breastfed on demand and doesn't really have a routine. Today for example, he woke up at 9.15am, fed, had a nap, fed again at 11am, again at 2pm, 5.30pm and a monster feed from 8pm-9.30pm and 10pm to 11pm when he lapsed into a milk coma! Other days he wakes up at 7am and gets an extra feed then. Or he'll cluster feed all afternoon from 1pm to 5pm. He will happily take a bottle of ebm from just about anybody, and the nursery he's going to will be feeding him my expressed milk.

The problem is, I have no idea how much milk he needs for a feed. I asked my HV who suggested feeding him until he stopped...14 oz later he still latched on for a few minutes at the boob! He will also quite happily feed for hours at the breast, and during the day will often only go 2-3 hours between feeds (which is fine).

So I'm not quite sure a) how many bottles to send with him and b) how much should be in them. Anyone have any ideas for working out how much he needs?

It all depends on your babies weight to determine how much he needs. I exclusively give my baby (5 months) ebm, around 8 oz per bottle, every 3 ish hours, so around 7, 10, 1, 4 and 7p.m. I have found that sometimes he drinks less, but not more, unless he is having a growth spurt.

I will be giving him some solids soon, then will get him down to 4 bottles a day, and put 9 oz in each bottle.

It's probably better to just calculate slightly more than you need, and express accordingly, rather have too much than too little. You will, in time see from his bottles how much he takes in one feed.

I looked on a back of a friends formula tin to see how much milk a baby needs ad at what age, but I also know that breastmilk will fill your baby up differently to formula, so he may need much less, so its best to just fill a bottle up, and see how much of it he takes, and when he wants more.

Remember that when he wants your breast, its not always about hunger, so at nursery, he will probably not want to feed every hour, as his tummy will be full with milk, and clearly, your boobs will not be there

Let us know how you get on. xx

I went back to work ft when DS was 4.5 months, and he had 3, 120ml bottles a day.

We'd get up around 6.30-7, feed, then go to nursery at 8, and I'd pick him up at 5.15 and usually feed as soon as we got home and then through the evening and night.

I expressed 3 times a day at work (10, 1 and 3 ish) until he dropped a feed.

In the beginning I left them an extra bottle on the Monday and then rotated it so that they had something to fall back on, and also was able to leave them frozen milk jic

Best to leave lots of small bottles that they can use as necessary, than big ones that will end up wasted.

Remember that he'll need a newborn teat to stop him guzzling it down before the full feeling comes

I think Kellymom has a calculator for EBM, but its really trial and error.

Good luck - I exclusively fed for 6 months, expressed at work for a year (so DS was 14 months when he finally dropped his day feeds) and carried on bfing till he was nearly 2

cmotdibbler, wow, I'm so impressed. So you managed to pump for a whole year? Did you find that sometimes you didnt have enough milk?

Does it get easier, like as they get older, do you need to pump less.

Yep - actually it made a nice break in my day as its a bit of time where you have to actually sit down on your own, relax and chill out. I missed it when I stopped.

I didn't have any problems with supply - but I pumped as many times as he would have fed (apart from days when I was out of the office, but even then I'd nip off to the loo and hand express as much as I could each time). I did double pump with a really good pump and hand express at the end, following some breast compressions whilst pumping. This really maximised the amount I was removing

As he dropped feeds, then I dropped pumping sessions, so it went to two then one. I kept the times up for a bit after he was dropping the feed to up my freezer stock as I could be away for up to a week on business.

I am getting out just enough for feeds, but would like to be a bit ahead ifkwim? I am trying desperately to increase supply by pumping more, but the milk supply stays the same whether I pump 5 times a day or twice.

I also quite enjoy "my time" with pumping. He is unusually hungry at the moment, so I am wondering if weaning will mean he wants less milk.

Please tell me what breast compressions are, would love to try.

A friend of mine lent me her double pump to try, but I just couldn't master it. Do you mind me asking what pump you used?

Sorry for thread hijack alieight

If you google Jack Newman, theres info about breast compression, but basically its just squeezing the back of your breast to help move the milk forward.

I had an Ameda Lactaline - bought it second hand on Ebay and it was fab

Thanks everyone for all the advice and help! Hopefully all will go well, and sending an extra bottle is a great idea!