How much to feed

whitelightrider

Folks,

We're just home with out little bundle of joy. Its been a wild 2 days but so worth it.
Just 1 quick question for the experts. With the small bottles of Aptamil, how much do we feed her? She's only 6lbs 8.5ozs so we dont want to over feed her!

My wife is breast feeding but this is just in case.

wmpdd3

If you're breastfeeding, it would pobably be on demand, so if you have to change to bottles, you just feed what that baby will take. the baby will have a small tummy due to only being fed colustrum so id doubt the baby could manage more than 1oz at a time.

January

Are you combination feeding? I see from your other thread that babs is also breastfeeding, the best way to establish a great supply is to breastfeed exclusively. Your partners milk probably hasn't even come through yet, so there's no need for top ups, the baby is getting colustrum which is all they need for the first few days.

How Strange

There's no need for formula as she isn't hungry as such right now. Shes getting the colostrum from the breast which is the most amazing nutrition possible for a newborn full of your wife's antibodies to help her immune system develop. It's not called liquid gold for nothing!

Your wife's milk will come in around day 3 but could be day 4 or 5 and she'll be engorged and very sore but it only lasts a few days. Your baby will probably start cluster feeding ie feeding more at night so you'll think there isn't enough milk, your baby is starving and you need to give her a bottle. This is the hardest part especially for first time parents. The cluster feeding which can go on for hours is actually your baby telling your wife's body to start making milk. It's all natural and normal. Unfortunately it requires an immense leap of faith for the parents. You need to trust that there is a process at work and go with it. The more your baby feeds from the breast the more milk your wife will produce. If you supplement with formula you interrupt that process and your wife's body gets the message that milk isn't needed.

I'd recommend your wife nurses your baby in bed as much as possible for the next week or so. You can help by bringing her food, tea and water. You can take your daughter between feeds do your wife can sleep and you can do skin to skin so your baby gets to know her daddy and vice versa.

Remember you're covered in the hospital for 6 weeks and that includes lactation consultants so if you've any queries ring them or even make an appointment to call in. The la Leche league and ciudiu are also great free resources.

Congrats again and good luck!

NextSteps

What HowStrange said. If you're planning to breastfeed, I'd throw out the bottles. You really do need to trust that it will work.