How long to drink 4 oz of expressed breast milk?

[abigail_b]

Hi All,
As of yesterday my maternity leave is over and I am away from my 3 month old baby two times a week. I pump and she gets the milk from a playtex nurser slow flow silicone nipple. That is the bottle that we used with my son when I went back to work and since it worked for him I just stuck with it.

We have been giving my daughter bottles of EBM periodically since she was 3 weeks old in order to keep her used to it. She doesn't love it, but will always drink it when she is truly hungry. However, it seems to take her a long time- like 20-30 minutes, to drink 4 oz. She NEVER nurses that long. I have a very forceful letdown (has been an issue with us- she still rarely comfort nurses, hoping that will change soon)...so I am wondering if I should change to a fast flow nipple? She also seems kind of awkward on the nipple...she loves her advent pacifier...I was thinking about switching to advent bottles...?
Any advice is very welcome!

[HoosierDiaperinMama]

I think a fast flow nipple at this point would only make her choke and like the bottle even less. We use Avent bottles for when I have to pump and leave DS and he does great with that bottle and a slow flow nipple.

Good luck!

[CalaRei]

20-30 minutes is probably just fine. One of my sons shot up to taking 4 oz in like 10 minutes, and the other would take sometimes 40 or 50, so I think it's just an individual thing.

[sunshynbaby]

It might be too much milk. 4 ounces of BM is the very most you should give a baby at once. The general rule is about an ounce per hour that you are apart. That said, the time thing is good because you want her bottle feedings to be paced like breastfeeding.

[hotharmony]

I agree that is A LOT of milk to give a baby at one time, my 12 month old only takes 3 oz at a time ever.

[adoremybabe]

I think that because of letdown, forceful or not, a child's eating time will differ with a bottle. As long as your baby is content, I think that she will be fine. It certainly wouldn't hurt to try the bottle that you mentioned.

As for thee amount of pumped milk a baby should have. Won't a baby's cues let you know if he or she has had enough? I have been away from my babe on occasion and he has never had less than 4 oz. of milk at one sitting. Once DH even had to thaw another bottle and he drank 7 ounces that time.

[cristeen]

I don't think it's too much. My little guy (3 mo) gets 4 oz at a time, and usually he'll eat the full 4 oz. I do let him be finished early though, if he wants too. And occasionally he'll finish all 4 oz and still need more - although that's only a few times a week.

We use a Born Free bottle with a newborn nipple and it takes him about 20 minutes to eat 4 oz. If I'm using the Lact-Aid, it still takes about 15-20 minutes, because he still has to work for it, since there's no let-down.

[odoole]

Originally Posted by adoremybabe

As for thee amount of pumped milk a baby should have. Won't a baby's cues let you know if he or she has had enough? I have been away from my babe on occasion and he has never had less than 4 oz. of milk at one sitting. Once DH even had to thaw another bottle and he drank 7 ounces that time.

Glad you wrote this, because I was starting to feel nervous about my chunky 5 mo DS who could EASILY eat 4-7 oz at a time! He normally doesn't take a bottle, so I don't know how much he actually eats generally, but let's just say that he's gone from <5 percentile at birth (34 weeks) to now the 90th% in weight. All from my delicious milk.

Is there such thing as overfeeding a baby at the breast? I don't force it on him, and he doesn't comfort nurse really. But he does eat a lot very quickly at a single sitting.

[kdtmom2be]

My DS (8months now) has been taking expressed BM in a bottle since he was about 6 weeks old as I work part time. He will eat anywhere from 2-9 ounces at a time depending on how hungry he is. Somewhere, I forget where though! they say that you should use the slowest flow nipple possible to prevent baby from overfeeding. We are still using a number 2 Avent nipple and though I own number 3 nipples, haven't changed him over because he doesn't seem frustrated at all by the 2s.

If your DD is truly having trouble with the nipples you could always try cup feeding her. But really, like everyone else says, 20-30 min is not too long, so you may want to just leave her be for a bit. As she gets more experienced in the different sucking technique she will probably get faster. And, FWIW, we also use Avent pacifiers and they are not shaped anything like the bottle nipples, so that probably isn't the answer anyways.

[sunshynbaby]

Be careful, I have read that drinking large amounts of BM can stretch their stomachs and lead to obesity later in life. Check out this milk calculator to get an idea of how much your baby needs:

http://www.kellymom.com/bf/pumping/milkcalc.html