How much to feed when expressing breastmilk?

[Zodiac]

Just a query for when I start to wean LO at 6 months....

I plan to start expressing for a couple of feeds a day, so that when I go back to work I can still give him breastmilk.... but where can I find guidelines of how much approx he will take per feed based on his age/weight?

Any good links to websites people have used would be appreciated.

Cheers

 

[valentine]

Hi there,

I have found that its just trial and error - I don't feed my LO EBM from a bottle often, but when I do she'll take anything from 3oz to 8oz. I always like there to be more than she'll need and extra in the freezer just in case, so I'll normally ensure there is 9 or 10oz or so available (which has been expressed over a fair few expressing session) if I'm leaving her over a feed time.

One tip I find useful is to freeze EBM in small amounts like 2 or 3oz - then whoever is feeding her can defrost one or two then defrost more (defrosts in just a couple of mins under a hot running tap) if DD wants more, then there is much less waste. EBM waste breaks my heart, its treated like gold dust in my house!

Valentine Xxx

 

[Squiglet]

Hi there,

I have found that its just trial and error - I don't feed my LO EBM from a bottle often, but when I do she'll take anything from 3oz to 8oz. I always like there to be more than she'll need and extra in the freezer just in case, so I'll normally ensure there is 9 or 10oz or so available (which has been expressed over a fair few expressing session) if I'm leaving her over a feed time.

One tip I find useful is to freeze EBM in small amounts like 2 or 3oz - then whoever is feeding her can defrost one or two then defrost more (defrosts in just a couple of mins under a hot running tap) if DD wants more, then there is much less waste. EBM waste breaks my heart, its treated like gold dust in my house!

Valentine Xxx

I freeze my ebm in ice cube trays with lids...one cube is about half oz...and I just defrost a few over night in the fridge... then if more is needed you just defrost more cubes...but like Valentine says.... bm is gold dust in our house too...

 

[andreag]

I used to freeze in 6oz because that was what the freezer bags took, but at 6 months she was more likely to take 8oz so it was bit difficult getting it right - Valentines tip is a good one, only I found the bags quite expensive - about £7 a box I think but I don't know if there is a cheaper alternative. I would she dropped milk feeds quite quickly when she started weaning at 6 months so I would only miss a couple of feeds when at work, which was much less than I thought when I started expressing - I was still thinking she would be feeding very coule of hours.

 

[Nicky_Jones]

I went back to work when Ellie was 5months, and to start with she would only take about 2 oz spread over 2 bottles during the 8hrs she was in nursery. She then made up for it when we were together. Gradually though she started taking the bottle better and would take about 12oz+ over those 2 bottles. Before she started dropping the feeds due to weaning.

If you haven't already started giving your LO a bottle I would suggest starting now I think I left it a bit late .... I had been giving her the occasional bottle when she was very young but as she took it well, I just got lazy and stopped.