How Many Oz Does Your Infant Eat? Breastmilk Or Formula..?
I’m breastfeeding my son who is 11 wks old and he weights 14.5 pds. I gave him breastmilk in a bottle once and he drank about 5.5 ounces… i;ve been reading that babies should only eat about 3-4 oz per feeding… i’m going to work soon and worried i wont be able to pump enough 
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I had the SAME problem with breastfeeding. When I went back to work my daughter was taking darn near 7oz per feeding!
I had to learn, through the help of http://www.kellymom.com, that babies who are breastfed can get confused with the way a bottle works and therefore we should learn to properly feed our baby from the bottle. The mechanics are way different as a baby can control milk flow from the breast, but is practically forced to guzzle a bottle since they are unable to control the flow from the nipple. Actually, I think all babies whether formula or breast milk should be bottle fed in a “breastfeeding supportive manner”…
These tips significantly decreased the amount my daughter takes and now she takes 4oz feedings every 3-4hrs. She usually take 3-4 bottles per evening while I am at work. Remember, their intake has a lot to do with whether they sleep through the night, adn the typical number of times they nurse in a 24hr period. http://www.kellymom.com/bf/pumping/bottl…
“Babies should be bottle-fed:
1. When their cues indicate hunger, rather than on a schedule.
2. Held in an upright position; it is especially important to avoid letting the baby drink from a bottle when lying down. Such a position is associated with bottle caries and an increased frequency of ear infections. Note also that babies should be held often at times when they are not being fed, to avoid the baby being trained to eat in order to be held.
3. With a switch from one side to the other side midway through a feed; this provides for eye stimulation and development, and thwarts the development of a side preference which could impact the breastfeeding mother.
4. For 10-20 minutes at a time, to mimic the usual breastfeeding experience. Care providers should be encouraged to make appropriate quantities last the average length of a feeding, rather than trying to feed as much as they can in as short a time as possible. This time element is significant because the infant’s system needs time to recognize satiety, long before the stomach has a chance to get over-filled.
5. Gently, allowing the infant to draw nipple into mouth rather than pushing the nipple into the infant’s mouth, so that baby controls when the feed begins. Stroke baby’s lips from top to bottom with the nipple to illicit a rooting response of a wide open mouth, and then allow the baby to “accept” the nipple rather than poking it in.
6. Consistent with a breastfed rhythm; the caregiver should encourage frequent pauses while the baby drinks from the bottle to mimic the breastfeeding mother’s let-down patterns. This discourages the baby from guzzling the bottle and can mitigate nipple confusion or preference.
7. To satiation, so that baby is not aggressively encouraged to finish the last bit of milk in the bottle by such measures as forcing the nipple into the mouth, massaging the infant’s jaw or throat, or rattling the nipple around in the infant’s mouth. If baby is drowsing off and releasing the bottle nipple before the bottle is empty that means baby is done; don’t reawaken the baby to “finish.” See Bottlefeeding tips from AskDrSears.com.
The benefits of bottle-feeding in this manner:
1. The infant will consume a volume appropriate to their size and age, rather than over- or under-eating. This can support the working and pumping mom who then has an increased likelihood of pumping a daily volume equivalent to the baby’s demand.
2. This can minimize colic-like symptoms in the baby whose stomach is distended or over-fed.
3. It supports the breastfeeding relationship, hopefully leading to longer durations and increased success at breastfeeding particularly for mothers who are separated from their nurslings either intermittently or recurrently.
Milk calculator: How much expressed milk will baby need…http://www.kellymom.com/bf/pumping/milkc…
A forum post in that site about over-feeding… Paula, about 5 posts down, is the expert and she outline VERY wonderfully about the difference between breast and bottle! DO read it!http://forum.kellymom.net/showthread.php…
***I am not saying the “Mommy to 2 angels” is wrong, but my daughter is an exception tot he rule that she has not necessarily lowered her milk intake since I have been back to work. It’s been 3 1/2 months and she still consumes the same 3-4 4oz bottles per night. This is her most wakeful period of the day since I work a later shift and we sleep in during the morning. She is just sure to wake up and nurse as soon as I get home lol
If you are able to follow the above tips (super easy to get the hang of) you should be able to pump enough for your baby and not need to switch to formula. Just be sure you do not offer bottles while you are home and get as much baby-to-breast as possible to maintain your supply
If the baby feeds off of you directly that’s more personal stimulation and will produce more than having it sucked out by a device made for that. However, if you do it both ways then you’ll be stimulated enough to produce more milk. If you start having issues with producing enough, try a hot shower once/twice a day to stimulate the milk production by facing it. This is what I had to do till I couldn’t keep up with the production enough then at 4 months old I had to switch the baby over to formula after halfing the bottle with formula and breast milk a few times for a couple of days.
Well I have a 10 week old who is 10.5lbs and she does drink between 3-4 oz per feeding but don’t let a book tell you how much your baby should drink because every baby is different and because your baby weighs 14.5lbs he should be drinking about 5.8 because you take the weight and divide it by 2.5 so 14.5/2.5=5.8ozs. So I think your baby is eating just fine, 5.5oz is good!
Your breastfed baby will learn not eat so much while you are gone away to work…my baby only would go through around 12oz of milk for the 9 hours I was gone…and then she would nurse like crazy in the afternoon and evening when I was home with her…they learn to wait for mommy….
my daughter is 4.5 months and drinks about 6 oz each feeding. should be 2-3 oz per pound per day. so if he’s 14.5 pounds thats about 29-43 oz a day.
my son at that age ate about 4 oz (formula though) the 1st person who answered had good advice…