How many ounces? 4mth breastfed. Going through the night?

[KJ]

Hi all,

Asher is 4 months this week and we've started giving him expressed milk at bedtime. At the moment he'll only take 2 ounces from the bottle before screaming and then having to be breastfed as well (where he'll still take both sides).

But when I express in the evenings I only get about 2 ounces per breast. So I've worked out that before we started giving him the EBM aswell, he was only having about 4oz in total for his bedtime feed. (I know you get more milk in the mornings, when I express after getting up I get at least 3oz per breast).

I've read some other threads which talk about babies of a similar age having up to 9oz per feed!! I'm worried that he's just not taking enough.

He goes about 3 hours between feeds during the day, has his last feed at 10pm and can only last till about 4am before needing another feed.

Before christmas he was sleeping from 10 till 7 at least, but since new year he's been waking again.

Do you think my milk isn't enough for him? Or should we try to put him to bed earlier? Or would that just make him wake more in the night? It's sooooo confusing!!

What does everyone else do?

K.xx

 

[mrs_tommo22]

This probably wont be much help as i have a FF baby, but shes on 7-9 oz as well and has a little cereal too and she sleeps all the way through

 

[Snuggle]

This probably wont help much either as my baby is formula fed but Maddison takes 7oz 5 times a day aswell as a little baby rice at teatime, last feed at 7:30pm and she sleeps 8pm-8am

 

[nikkif]

Chalrotte is on anything from 6-9 oz at the minute 3.5/4 hourly but agian she is now bottle fed so probably doesn't help much

 

[kitten1102]

Tim has had 14oz the last 3 nights... I'm trying to get hold of my HV to see if its normal!!!

I was always told that with expressing, you can only pull off what is stored, but when baby feeds, your boobs keep producing while they are feeding. I may be wrong tho.

 

[KJ]

thanks for the replies.

Wow 14oz!! that's amazing! that's nearly a pint!!

Asher never seems hungry after feeding. It's always like he's had enough each time. But I'm sure he doesn't take any more than 4oz.

He's between the 25th and 50th percentile so his weight is good. It's just this night issue at the moment.

We know he can go through the night because he did it for about 3 weeks in a row before christmas. I'm just racking my brains trying to think what's changed.

K.xx

 

[valentine]

KJ, this happened to me too (waking in the night again after sleeping through) and I went round the houses with trying to think about weaning, teething etc - in the end I just rode it out amd am still riding (she now wakes once at 4am) as I was determined not to wean her until 6 months for health benefits and as we wanted to do BLW. She's still fine on breastmilk and isn't a particularly hungry baby (just has a night feed now), but we'll be starting to wean her next week when she's 26 weeks

Would it too difficult to just stick to breastfeeding at night? I do think your milk is enough for him (its made especially for him and he'll produce more if he needs it).

I have no real advice on the expressing issue, but I hope you get it sorted soon. Could you ask your HV for some advice? I know this is so hard but could you not be there (go out or in another room) - therefore if you're not there, he CAN't have a breast feed - I know from experience that this is easier said than done though. Good luck and let us know how you get on.

Love

Valentine Xxx

 

[valentine]

P.S. My daughter doesn't get expressed milk often, but when she does, she only takes about 2-3oz (enough to satisfy the initial hunger or thirst I think) but no more. OH thinks its because a lot of the breastfeeding is about comfort and bonding, not just feeding. I'm certain she takes more than this when she's at the breast - she's on 9th centile but the centiles in the red book are for formula fed babies, so she's on about the 30th or something on the growth chart produced for breastfed babies from the World Health Organisation.

Valentine Xxx

 

[KJ]

Hi valentine,

I'm ok with doing the night feed as he goes straight back to sleep afterwards, so it's not much of a disruption.

I was just starting to wonder what was wrong, as everyone else seems to have babies that a) go to bed a lot earlier and b) sleep through the night.

What time do you put your daughter to bed?

With the bottle, he's improved a lot, as this time last week he wouldn't take anything from it, so I'm hoping this will improve with time.

I really don't think he needs anything else as like I said, he's happy after his feeds.

It helps to know that I'nm not the only one. We'll just keep going with it and see what happens.

K.xx

 

[lisa&alex]

i think a lot of mummys worry if they have enough milk and if they are feeding their babys ok etc..just an idea.. why dont you try expressing after each feed if you can? of after the morning feed if that is when your gettign most milk? and storing till bed time.. give him a go at the breast.. and then finish with the expressed? have faith in yourserlf and your milk.. if you dont think your getting enough off to feed him then perhaps stick to breast feeding him untill he falls asleep?

 

[weenik]

I went through a phase of giving him EBM coz I wanted to see how much he was taking and Dylan would take anything between 2-5 ounces at a time. When he hadn't fed for about 2-3 hours he would take the 5oz so I guess that's roughly how much he takes each time we bf. He goes to sleep about 7pm and sleeps until 7am......he did used to wake up for an extra feed about 5am but stopped that about 6 weeks ago. I know I'm quite lucky!

 

[valentine]

Hi valentine,

What time do you put your daughter to bed?

Between 6.30pm and 7pm.

I was just starting to wonder what was wrong, as everyone else seems to have babies that a) go to bed a lot earlier and b) sleep through the night.

I don't think you are doing anything wrong hon - you are doing a brilliant job. I think it really is the luck of the draw.

I get peed off when I remember all those lovely nights sleep I used to get between 6 weeks and 4 months. Since then, DD has woken once around 4am (apart from a week of sleeping through 13 hours again around 5 months) - but then I think about those poor ladies up 6 times a night and more for the last few months and think that I am really lucky really!

Good luck KJ! For what its worth, I think you are doing a fantastic job.

Valentine Xxx