How much does your baby feed?

1,350mls yesterday according to my Huckleberry - that’s expressed breast x

Oh wow! Mine has only taken 390ml so far! X

30-45mls per hour is suggested as an average so somewhere between 720ml and 1100ml per day is a reasonable expectation. Pace feeding recommends no more than 120ml per feed. Is baby on the breast too? Or just on expressed milk? Mine was just on expressed milk for a while and was having around 600ml a day at 3-4 weeks, she’s now on the breast a lot so we are gradually reducing the expressed milk and she’s having more from me (still around 375ml of expressed milk a day)

Is your baby gaining weight? Lots of wet/dirty nappies? (6-8 wet nappies and at least one dirty nappy a day?). If weight gain and nappy outputs are ok then baby is getting what is needed.

We've had a bit of a tricky journey with breastfeeding.. no issue with latch what so ever but he was loosing weight. I gave him his first bottle the other night (he would previously refuse a bottle) and now he won't breastfeed and only accepts a bottle. So yesterday was the first full day of feeding expressed milk from a bottle. His feeding and weight gain has been super stressful

That sounds tough. How is pumping going? Do you have enough support with it?

That’s in a 24 hour period, he manages it, doesn’t vomit etc. If he isn’t satisfied he’ll let us know! 🥲

@Emma honestly, last week I would've said yeah (I had a great supply and was pumping on top of feeding).. literally overnight, my supply just dropped, which is why I'm pretty sure he went from feed super well to bring really fussy and refusing to feed. I can just about get enough for each now, and that's pumping every 2 hours 😫

is there a La Leche League meeting near you? Or do you have a local IBCLC that can help. How old is he? Could it be a growth/development leap? That could be another reason for fussiness.

I did actually attend a support group today, and they were great with a lot of really helpful tips, tbf. He is 7 weeks today. It has been a very stressful journey, and I know that hasn't helped at all.. im thinking of introducing formula so I don't need to pump so much and to take some of the stress off and actually start enjoying the baby stage with my LO

if formula is something you need to do then go for it, however, it will likely reduce your supply further as without baby or pumping emptying the breast, it won’t produce signals to produce more milk. Mine is 7 weeks today (13/2) too, I fed my first with no problems until she was a toddler, this one has had weight gain issues, 4 hospital admissions due to feeding/weight and a spell of just expressed milk (none from the breast). If formula is your choice then go for it, bf is a tough job, but if you want to keep going, I’d suggest googling the “top-up trap.” Wouldn’t want you to not have the info available.

P.s. well done for BF for 7 weeks, it can be a tough job

Thank you so much! You have honestly been so helpful! Wow you've had a tough time too, sorry is your LO back to breast now? Breastfeeding is so rewarding, but honestly, sometimes it feels lije the toughest thing too!

I will still keep pumping and feeding until I'm 100% sure and will give getting baby back to breast a good go before using formula.

Thank you for the information too 😊? It feels almost impossible to reverse it atm but I read that people have done it successfully so holding that in mind

We went from 100% bottles of expressed milk to currently about 50% bottles, 50% breast. Aim over the next month or two is to get her back to just breast. It’s hard work but something that’s important to me. If you do want to give formula, if you pump around the same time it can go some way to protecting your supply. The other thing is pace feeding with any bottle (if the baby has to work for milk from a bottle, transitioning back to breast can be simpler. I’m by no means an expert, I trained as a peer supporter about 12 years ago but I’m sure that lots of guidance hasn’t really changed.

Lots of skin to skin and offering the breast at the slightest sign of hunger can help with both supply and baby taking more from you which can be a positive spiral back to more milk and more breastfeeding. I didn’t realise before this baby, how tough bottles and sterilising can be.

Oh wow, well done. I can imagine that was hard work for sure! I really don't want to give formula, so I have decided to continue pumping as much as I can and bottle feed (I also have a stash of frozen milk to help out). I will keep trying with getting him to latch, too, and hope for the best 😊.. it is positive and helps so see other people have been able to successfully go back to breastfeeding. Honestly tho, thank you so much, its been refreshing to talk to someone with the same aim 💗

It really is hard work, anyone that hasn’t tried it can’t know just how tiring it is. I’ve been inspired by stories of adoptive parents inducing lactation and being able to breastfeed, if they can do it without the hormone surges etc then i can