Roughly how much milk in an expressed feed for my 4 week old?

Question

In hospital we were told 4oz as a guide (he was born 9lb 3oz and was poorly in hospital for 8 days)

He was 9lb 8.5 oz last weigh in and is now 4 and a half weeks old, I'm guessing roughly 5 oz would be ok for the *odd* occasion I want/ need to give him a bottle (e.g. next week we are vistiting my workplace)

I will take more with me in case this is not enough but does anyone have any rough guides for feeding amounts?

(I don't want any advice about the rights and wrongs of expressing to feed my baby vs breastfeeding thanks)

Answer 1

5oz sounds about right (if I were you I would wear something which, in an emergency, you can feed him in relatively easily - even if you don't plan to. You never know when you will get stuck in an awful traffic jam or break down...)

Answer 2

Honestly, you can't know. He's breastfeeding so he takes what he wants as and when, it wont be a set amount each time, even bottle fed babies don't take the same amount each feed.

When Caleb was born he was 9lb 8, and never lost, and at 4 weeks he would still only take about 4 oz. Now he's huge (I dont know how much lol) and he only takes about 6 because he's weaning. I would take 2 bottles of about 4oz, if he only takes one then bonus, if he wants more, it's there.

Answer 3

Formula intake is based on weight, not breastmilk.  Breastmilk intake remains almost the same because the milk changes as the baby gets older.

Also because there is no way to "encourage" a breastfed baby to finish a bottle they tend to eat less than formula fed babies.  A baby's stomach *should* be the size of their fist.

http://www.kellymom.com/bf/pumping/milkc...

The research tells us that exclusively breastfed babies take in an average of 25 oz (750 mL) per day between the ages of 1 month and 6 months. Different babies take in different amounts of milk; a typical range of milk intakes is 19-30 oz per day (570-900 mL per day).

We can use this information to estimate the average amount of milk baby will need at a feeding:

    * Estimate the number of times that baby nurses per day (24 hours).

    * Then divide 25 oz by the number of nursings.

    * This gives you a "ballpark" figure for the amount of expressed milk your exclusively breastfed baby will need at one feeding.

Example: If baby usually nurses around 8 times per day, you can guess that baby might need around 3 ounces per feeding when mom is away. (25/8=3.1).

Answer 4

I think your right 5 oz is ok . Every baby is different some come out eating 5oz some 2oz . All three of mine were big eaters.but 5oz sound good

just remember breastfeeding is supply and demand so don't pump too much youll be hurting (feel like just got a boob job!)

Good Luck

Answer 5

In general, a baby needs 2 to 3 oz per lb of weight per day.  So you're talking around 20 oz -30 oz formula a day.  Assuming you're feeding about 6 times a day.  I'd plan 5 oz to be safe.

Answer 6

give baby one half gallon of whoke milk a day. Rubber nipples are better