measuring breastmilk
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Topic: measuring breastmilk
Posted By: Andie
Subject: measuring breastmilk
Date Posted: 07 November 2006 at 10:25pm
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I'm doing a wee experiment tomorrow (well, starting with tonight's night-time feed/s) to see how much milk Ella is really drinking. This might help me sort out some of her feeding (or is it all feeding? Methinks the girl just likes to suck loooong after she's done with dinner!). So I'm expressing breastmilk so that I can measure how much she's drinking. Only thing is, I have no idea how many mls of breastmilk a baby needs or typically has - anyone know? ------------- Andie |
Replies:
Posted By: nikkitheknitter
Date Posted: 07 November 2006 at 10:33pm
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Mmmm no idea. But a friend told me that a babe gets 90% of its feed in the first 5 minutes.
Han's feeds used to last about an hour. Sometimes longer. I had to resign myself to spending the first 3 months of Han's life on the couch. Luckily they got shorter as she got older and a more efficient feeder. |
Posted By: caraMel
Date Posted: 08 November 2006 at 6:30am
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Call Plunketline or your Midwife/Plunket nurse should be able to estimate for you.
At 6 weeks my midwife reccomended expressing 160mls for a big last feed before bed to try and get him sleeping longer. So I'd think yours should be able to tell you what a regular feed would be. ------------- Mel, Mummy to E: 6, B: 4 and: 
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Posted By: luna
Date Posted: 08 November 2006 at 9:03am
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Andie ... I thought that of Amelia too, as I had to top her up with formula at the start. Anyway, she will still take up to an hour to feed (and yet she'll guzzle a bottle). Just in the past few days she seems to be getting faster .. so thanks Nikki for the 5min clue - makes me feel better.
Sorry for the wee hijack ... I don't know how much BM bubs should be getting at this point. ------------- Selina http://lilypie.com"> 
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Posted By: emmaohara
Date Posted: 08 November 2006 at 9:06am
My midwife told me that no matter how much you express the baby will get at least another 10-20ml just from sucking alone so remember to add that on!!
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Posted By: KH25
Date Posted: 08 November 2006 at 9:17am
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We had a formula we used for when Ashleigh was in hospital. She was being tube fed so they had to work out how much to feed her by body weight and it is still a good indication now of how much she should be having. You work it out by 180ml per kg per day. So at her last weigh Ash was 4.28kg so times that by 180 = 770ml per day. Then divide by number of feeds per day - 6 so she should be having approx 128ml per feed. We give her around 140ml in a bottle and she doesn't always finish it so it is about right. Hope I haven't confused you too much!!! ------------- Kelly, mum to DD, 19Jun06 (26wks 1lb15oz) DS1, 24Oct10 (32wks 4lb11oz) and DS2, 31Dec11 (32wks, 4lb11) http://lilypie.com"> 
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Posted By: Maya
Date Posted: 08 November 2006 at 10:48am
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My two are a couple of days younger than Ella and taking 120mls roughly each at a feed of expressed milk. When I give Mercedes formula I only give her 90ml as formula takes longer to digest and fills them up faster/more. -------------  Maya Grace (28/02/03)
 (02/01/06)
The Gremlins:Sienna Marie & Mercedes Kailah (14/10/06)
Lil miss:Chiara Louise Chloe (09/07/08)
Her ladyship:Rosalia Sophie Anais (18/06/12)
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Posted By: busymum
Date Posted: 08 November 2006 at 12:16pm
Andie, she may drink more/less depending on how she takes to the bottle: if she likes it, finds the flow easy, etc, she will probably have more than usual. If she doesn't like it, it's not mum etc etc (you'll know if that happens!  ) then she will probably hardly touch it.
Hope it works for ya though ------------- |
Posted By: Andie
Date Posted: 08 November 2006 at 12:38pm
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Well, I gave Ella 3 bottle-meals. The first was 110mls and the second 2 were 80mls (as that's all that I had been able to express for each one - crazy because that was 80mls from both sides, but the 110ml feed came from just the one side). She spewed near the end of the first feed, so I'd say that was a bit much for her, but after each feed still went on the breast for a little while. So while I still don't know how many mls she'd need for a decent feed, it doesn't matter so much as I can't measure the breastmilk she takes during normal feeds anyway. I just needed the reassurance that she was getting ENOUGH and that I was producing enough milk for her. Plunket advised a feed for 10 mins on one side - 10 mins the next side, change her, and if she's still hungry, 10 mins on each side again and that's it! Worked really well for her last feed. They had good advice on recognising when she doesn't really want more milk too - Ella's a little sucker and seems to want to suckle but not always feed. And the bonus is, now I have a decent meal's worth of milk in the freezer... guess who'se gonna leave baby with daddy for an hour or 2 some time in the weekend! ------------- Andie |
Posted By: Maya
Date Posted: 08 November 2006 at 1:10pm
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Yay for getting away on the weekend for a while! I must admit that even tho expressing is a pain in the butt, it does give me a bit of freedom.
I remember the first time I expressed being excited to get 100ml each side, now I'm getting 200-220ml each side each time! ------------- Maya Grace (28/02/03)
(02/01/06)
The Gremlins:Sienna Marie & Mercedes Kailah (14/10/06)
Lil miss:Chiara Louise Chloe (09/07/08)
Her ladyship:Rosalia Sophie Anais (18/06/12)
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Posted By: mum2paris
Date Posted: 08 November 2006 at 5:35pm
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lolol.. ahhh, here's the prob andie.. pumps do not stimulate the breast as well as a baby drinking does.. therefore chances are the amount you get will be different to what she actually gets, babies are more effective usually, plus it depends if you are used to using the pump.. if you use it very infrequently then you may find you have trouble letting down etc.
depends on baby also. lol. The main thing to look for with ella, if you think she may be sucking for long after she needs it, is to look for the suck swallow pattern, usually they start with the fast sucks, then once you let down its the long drawn out ones, and they suck and swallow frequently.. as there gets less milk they will suck suck suck suck and swallow occassionally.. so if you notice that she is all suck and no swallow.. that's the time to change over, but the main thing with that is usually they'll remove themselves from the breast once they are done.. hard to gage. lol The other thing with ella spewing after a bottle feed, is that some babies do spill and mum thinks, ooh too much, sometimes if they have wind trapped, it comes up and brings up whatevers in it's way, then hello, baby is comfy again and is more than happy to take more. but yeah, all the main things.. plenty of wet naps, good weight gains, settled after feeds (not necessarily asleep.. and no necessarily quiet cos there is a difference between pain cry and hungry cry.. but you get the drift) lol ------------- Janine and her 2 cool chicks, Paris & Ayja 
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Posted By: Kelpa
Date Posted: 08 November 2006 at 9:06pm
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Holy heck...I have only ben able to express about 60ml at a time. Blake seems to get his feeds over in 5mins - 7mins.
Just a thought..On the back of the Formula tins they have how much formula babies should be drinking for certain ages I think (not too sure as never used Formula but Im sure it will be) Could get a guidline from that maybe??? -------------  
 
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Posted By: mum2paris
Date Posted: 09 November 2006 at 12:43pm
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How often are you expressing Kelly? and also when? If in between or after feeds then it would definately be less than what Blake gets. And some babies do get all their feed in a short amount of time if they are effective feeders.. funny how much it differs. ------------- Janine and her 2 cool chicks, Paris & Ayja
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Posted By: Peace
Date Posted: 09 November 2006 at 3:46pm
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They used to figure out how much a baby had each week by weighing before and after a feed (mind you that is 30 years old), I have no idea why they don't do it anymore! ------------- DD1 May 2006 DD2 March 2011 DD3 August 2012 |