How much milk to express??

[Marlene]

I am breastfeeding my beautiful boy and was just wondering, if I want to express some milk for DH to have a go at feeding or if I need to for any other reason, how do I know how much to express? It's not like I can see how much he is drinking when I BF. I did BF and express with my last son, but that I was 8 years ago and I can't remember, LOL.

[LimeSlice]

Hi Marlene!
It is really hard to figure out what they are going to eat at any given time isnt it!
Has he taken a bottle before? I think the best thing I found was to do small batches at a time. They may not drink as much on the bottle as the would on teh breast, Charlotte doesnt.
Are you going to express to feed fresh, or freeze it? I didnt feed DD from a bottle until she was about4 weeks, and then not very often cos she (still) doesnt ike them, but if its fresh it is much easier than if the BM has ben rozen. It hink freezing it can change the taste

Anyway I digress! lol Usually I expressed only about 60-80ml (per feed) when I left DD with my mum (she was about 2 months) and she would drink all but the last 10 mls
I think it is about trial and error though. But small batches in the bottle at a time will allow you to not waste as much

Hope that was of some help
GL

[Marlene]

Thanks, Limeslice. I have expressed one bottle when my milk came in and my boobs were just about to burst, LOL. I got about 60mls. I have frozen that so it is there if I need it. I probably won't need to express very often, was just wondering just in case.
By the way, I haven't tried him with a bottle yet.

[LimeSlice]

you may find you need to try a few different bottles/teats to find one he is happy with...Some babies love certain brands, others hate them, so if he doesnt like the bottle straight away, just try another shaped teat
Alo he may ffed better from the bottle if you dont give it to him, as they can often smell your milk and they arent easily fooled by the bottle! lol

[Ezz]

Hi Marlene, I think it's recommended to wait until they are 6-8 weeks before trying a bottle - to make sure that breast-feeding is well established first. Also, some are more similar to breast than others (eg. the Tommee Tippee "Closer to Nature" range has a wide teat).

As for how much, I know there is a formula to work it out. I think it's 150ml x their weight (in kg) divided by number of feeds per day. (eg. DS is 9.5kg x 150ml / 6 feeds per day = about 240ml). I'm not certain about that though - maybe someone else will correct me?

[MantaRay]

Actually, it isn't related to weight at all. Surprisingly the amount of bm drunk at different ages doesn't vary a lot, but the content does. 750ml is an average intake over 24 hours, so the best way to get an estimate is to divide 750mls by the number of feeds in 24 hours. It is not exact, as of course they don't drink the same amount at each feed. But they do also tend to drink less from a bottle, so it will leave you with enough EBM.

I always stored EBM in 40 - 60 mls lots to avoid wastage. Often a baby won't drink all (or any!!) of the bottle and it's heartbreaking to throw the EBM out. And of course, once it's warmed, you need to discard at the end of the feed.

[Marlene]

Thanks so much for all the info girls, it really has helped. i think I will just stick to expressing around 60ml at a time. I have a heap of TT bottles and teats, but only have one with a storage lid and I dont have any storage bags or anything yet. I dont plan on using EBM for a while anyway, am just trying to get as much info as I can before I do try.

[MantaRay]

Marlene, after spending a fortune on EBM bags, I eventually tried using the Avent storage cups. I have to say they were just fine, and as you can reuse them several times they are much better value than the bags. They do take up a bit more room in your freezer, but if that's an issue maybe you can compromise and use some of each.