Discovery Home & Health

I have started expressing for my 6 week old daughter.I am not too obsessed with how much she is having but I wondered how much other babies were having. And how often they are feeding. I feel better now I can see the milk but am I giving her enough?

I also expressed milk for the same reason, I wanted to see how much Libby was taking! What a nightmare, despite my efforts, it usually took two "expresses" to get a five ounce bottle. Libby is 10 weeks old now and I tried to express the other day and didn't even get 1/2 an ounce. It is reassuring to see how much baby is taking, I was forever saying to the Health Visitor that I didn't think she was getting enough, but she assured me that as long as baby was gaining weight then she was getting her full quota! In the end I have given up trying to express, and now combine formula and breast!

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Originally posted by joanne
[br]I have started expressing for my 6 week old daughter.I am not too obsessed with how much she is having but I wondered how much other babies were having. And how often they are feeding. I feel better now I can see the milk but am I giving her enough?

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I also expressed for a while and discussed it with a breastfeeding counciler at the NCT as I could only express a little milk. The reassured me that babies are much more efficient than a pump and probably get about twice as much as you would manage to express.
With regards to how much they should eat at a certain age: I would check that with the health visitor or check Tracy Hoggs book where she provides a guideline. I seem to recall its around 4-6 oz every 2.5-3 hours but please dont quote me on this.
It also really depends on your baby some are just hungrier than others.

I think im doing o.k then. Thankfully im am having no trouble expressing as I can get between 3 and 7oz at an express,and my daughter is having about 3-4oz each feed, thankyou for your comments Julia and Libbysmum it is so reasuring to think im doing the right things.