how do I weigh LO to determine milk volume?

[LilaQ]

I need to know how much milk my baby is getting in a feeding. How do I weigh him to figure this out?

[PatioGardener]

Each feeding will be different - some will be equivalent to a full course meal, and others will be a quick thirst quench or a snack. Often to see if baby is getting enough milk, a 24 hour weight test is recommended (weigh baby at the same time, a day apart - most accurate if baby is naked at the time.)

To see what baby takes in a feed, weigh baby naked before a feed, and again after a feed. Subtract the 2 weights and you'll get the difference, which is how much baby took in.

You'll need a good scale for this, and I recommend weighing in grams, as the divisions are smaller than ounces.

ETA: Do you mind sharing why you need to see how much baby is taking in a feed?

[ladyleah]

If there is an issue you can rent a Medela feeding scale to assess the volume of each feed. It was a lifesaver for us...and enabled us to stop supplementing (and guessing about my milk supply) I rented locally, but you can also do it online. That is extreme though...so you may not need/want that.

[MamaPhD]

Do you need to monitor frequently? We weighed DD at the peds office a couple of times (before and after feeding) to check she is sucking in milk properly during the first week of her life. You would need a pretty accurate scale for doing that as you are measuring a few ounces difference. Other than that, we just got a regular baby scale ($30?) and weighed her weight every week or two to monitor her weight gain overall. For that you don't need that accurate a scale.

[LilaQ]

thanks for your responses! I hope this isn't a dumb question but the number of ounces in weight equals volume ounces? So if he weighs four ounces more after a feeding, he took in 4 oz?