milk production question

huggybugboy wrote: How come when I feed my son a bottle of breast milk he will take up to 6 oz but when I pump I can only get 3? I'm getting worried that this pumping thing isnt going to work much longer because it seems that every time I pump I get less and less milk while ds is eating more and more.

coasterqueen replied: The pump is never a factor of how much milk you produce. A baby is much more efficient in getting the milk out than a pump will ever be.

Also, 6 ounces of ebm is wayyyy to much at this age. Even by the age of one year they should only get 5 to 5.5 ounces at the most.

You can overfeed a breastfed baby a bottle because they have a different suck when doing the two. When they are sucking the bottle they don't give their little brains enough time to tell their tummies that they are full or need to slow down.

Here's some links that you might find helpful:

Cluster Feedings/Fussy Evenings (you had asked about this earlier).

Fussy Baby - Something in my diet causing it? (I think you may had asked about this earlier too, lol).

Common concerns in the early days

How does milk production work?

How Much Does baby need and Milk Calculator

I know, a lot to read but very informative and helpful. Also if you are interested there's a book called So that's What they are for" that is very informative and fun to read.

HTH!

edit to say my 4 month old is getting 3 ounces of ebm at daycare. She was taking in 3.5 oz. because the sitter was overfeeding her so I slowly backed her down to 3 and she never knew the difference.

huggybugboy replied: Wow! thank you so much for all that. so why is he still so small if he is eating too much?? Gosh I have so much to talk to the ped about. Thanks again

huggybugboy replied: ok one more question...would you suggest me slowly moving back down to around 3.5 oz or just all of a sudden dropping back to that. It takes him like 20 minutes to finish a 5-6 oz bottle & he just keeps at it so I figured he was hungry and needed the milk.

amynicole21 replied: I would cut him back immediately to 3oz and if he still seems hungry after, try another 1 oz at a time. Babies "gulp" a bottle because there is a vacuum created by their suck. As soon as they swallow, their mouths are immediately filled with milk again, so they suck down a bottle very fast whether they want to or not. That's why he eats so quickly and so much.

He's probably just a small baby. As long as he's meeting his milestones and growing at a steady pace, he's doing great!

coasterqueen replied:
How small is he? Is he average for his age? You can talk to your PED about it for sure, but I'm going to warn you if you do not have a BF-friendly PED he will more than likely give you the wrong advice. Most PEDS deal with formula fed babies and so 6 ounces of formula at this age is pretty normal from what I've heard.

coasterqueen replied: Hmmm, have you entered in the info into the milk calc I linked to? What is he supposed to get even at the high end? I dont' know his measurements so it's hard to tell but at this age 3.5 ounces is the max unless he's a massive sumo wrestler (like born 14 pounds, lol).

IMO I would back down slowly. I say this because you don't want him to notice you are doing this. It would not only be hard on him, but you as well. I would back down say 1/2 ounce every few days until you get down to 3 to 3.5 ounces. If you back down immediately, especially from 6 to 3 or 3.5, he is going to notice and you are going to have a heck of a time with him. If you do it slowly both of you shouldn't notice the change. Except you may have extra milk from pumping for a bit. Edit to say that doing it this way will give his brain and tummy a bit of time to adjust to the difference as well which is important IMO.

Curious....how many times a day do you pump? How long do you pump? How many bottles does he get? Are you just giving him bottles to prepare him for going back to work or just so you can get out, what? Are you using slow flow bottle nipples? All of these things can be significant when giving advice so it may help a bit more.

huggybugboy replied: Ok in answer to all the questions...Miles was born 7 lbs 3 oz. Last time I went to the ped which was the end of June he weighed 11'10. The doc said hes in the 25% percentile which is fine and he is growing at a steady pace, he just seems so much smaller than other bf babies his age. The high end on the milk calculator is 4.2 oz (avg is 3.5) so I'm feeding him way more than I should. He only gets a couple bottles when I am at work and I'm only working a couple of days a week. This week I think he has had 3 or 4 bottles total. When hes with me he only breastfeeds. But when I go back to school on August 8th he is going to have 2-3 bottles a day for two weeks! So I was panicking trying to figure out how I was going to pump that much milk with only a lunch hour and two ten minute breaks. Right now, at work, I have been pumping on both my fifteen minute breaks and then I go to my moms at lunch and feed him. Or if I only work a half day I pump once, in 15 minutes. I've also been trying to pump as much as possible at home after feedings and in the mornings. I've only been using the medela hand pump, I'm going to try and go rent the beastly electric one from WIC today. We use the playtex naturalatch slow flow nipples, but he seems like he's been kind of getting frustrated with them because they are so slow. He's used to my fast letdown. Im going to go talk to the lactation consultant today as soon as bug wakes up from his nap. Thank you gals!

maestra replied: Just to chime in- one of the things I try to do to build up my freezer supply is this- Giselle sleeps longer periods at night (she will sleep through the night, but hasn't since teething), so I try to get up an hour earlier than I know she will and will pump. At that point, I'm usually pretty full, and can get a decent amount. Then, and hour later, I can nurse her when she gets up. It has helped.

red_deermom replied: yup normal...babys' are way way more effiecent at nursing than a pump is... GL!

Maddy'sMom replied: I was always very frustrated at pumping, because I felt like my milk was going away all the time if I didn't get a good amount! It took me a long time to learn that the amount of milk you pump is not an indicator of how much milk you HAVE in those things!! I sometimes could only pump 3oz TOTAL, and I couldn't keep up! But, when nursing, she always got the right amount.

We aren't made for pumping, these things are made for the little milk machines our babies are! It is MUCH different!

I was told that you should use the rule of 2.5oz per pound to determine the amount of milk each day that your baby needs. If your baby weighs 11 pounds, you should feed 22oz a day, and if you feed less than 4oz, that would be 7 feedings, which is pretty normal. I think at that age, we were feeding 3-4oz in the bottle.

Now that dd has weaned herself, and is 11 months, she still only takes 5-6oz formula in a bottle, so that is WAY too much at that age, I agree!

Good Luck!

Maddy'sMom replied: I forgot to add that I agree with the others- the problem with a breastfed baby taking a bottle is that they LOVE to suck! That is why breastfed babies will comfort nurse, and usually once they have taken their milk, all they are doing is sucking like a pacifier. Well, when they attempt this with a bottle, they automatically get whatever is in the bottle, so they can be overfed VERY easily!

huggybugboy replied: So I went and talked to the LC about this and she told me that it was totally ok for him to be taking this much milk in a bottle for two reasons. 1) He is VERY active and 2) He hasnt gained even a pound in the last month which is slow. She said that he probably just needs those extra calories b/c he's burning them off so quickly. She did tell me to slow the bottle down though by tipping it so that he has to work harder and this should make him stop drinking when he's full. Well I backed him down to 4.5 oz last night and he seemed to adjust just fine. He goes in for his 4 month tomorrow. I can't believe its already been 4 months!!