Expressed BM - how many ounces?

[OvenSeeksBun]

I'm am going to pump some milk for my 2 month-old so that I can attend a workshop next week and leave her with DH (for the first time, ahhh!)

Anyways, DH had a good question: how much should we expect her to drink? Obviously when she's at the breast we have no idea how many ounces she is consuming.  I've never dealt with expressed BM before.

[Llyra]

I exclusively pumped for my first DD. Her consumption varied a lot, of course, but a good rule of thumb would be about an ounce to an ounce-and-a-half an hour. So for two hours, between 2 and 3 ounces would probably be enough. For four hours, you'd want about 4 to 6 hours. And so on, amounting to between 24 and 32 ounces a day.

I think kellymom says an ounce an hour. My experience is that it's sometimes more than that.

You may find that a baby who's not used to taking a bottle might take a bit more than that, for a few reasons. Firstly, they have very little experience controlling the flow on a bottle, so it's easy for them to take more than they normally would from the breast. And also, sometimes baby is more anxious in the different situation, and wants to suck longer as a way of soothing. So I think if it was the first time I was trying time away, I would leave as much as two ounces for each hours, just in case. And I would leave a pacifier, so that if baby needs extra soothing, that will be possible.

I hope you enjoy your time away. I always found that a day away, once in a while, really recharged my mama batteries, so to speak. You will of course want to arrange to express milk while you're away, if you'll be gone more than a few hours-- it would really stink to have plugged ducts at the end of the day. I made that mistake just exactly once.

[CheriK]

The general recommendation for bottlefeeding a breastfed baby is 2-4 ounces every 2-3 hours.  Remember that you'll be nursing right before you leave so she won't need to eat right away. 

For a one-time separation, I'd rather err on the side of too much milk, especially so Daddy doesn't worry.  So if possible, I'd leave more than you expect her to need, remind Daddy to only offer a couple of ounces at a time, and freeze anything that isn't needed for later use.  And give Dad a call when you're on your way home, so he doesn't fill baby up with EBM when you're ready to nurse!

My favorite personal overfeeding story - Both my husband and I had to work one morning, so my DD (10-months at the time) stayed with Grandma.  My MIL is a notorious "food pusher" who shows love by feeding us.  I defrosted a 5-ounce bottle (what I'd expect DD to need), plus, knowing Grandma, sent an extra 3 ounces of fresh milk.  When DH arrived to pick DD up, Grandma had fed her the 5 ounces, the extra 3 ounces, plus had defrosted an additional 6 ounces, of which DD had eaten 3.  So we used 14 ounces!!  of milk (3 of which were wasted) when baby really only needed 5.  Needless to say, DD wasn't much interested in nursing that afternoon!

 

[myk]

my 7 week old drinks about 4 oz every 3 hours on average. sometimes a bit more for a few feedings in a row so if you save up 1.5oz per hour you will be away, that should do it.

[PatioGardener]

http://www.kellymom.com/store/freehandouts/bottle_feeding.pdf may be helpful for your DH.