Never BF My Kids and Have Questions

[Cradle2crayons]

Baby ate 4oz at 10:00am today and was screaming her head off for 20min when her mom finally got here at 12:30 today.

I have asked mom for bigger bottles but she won't bring them. The bottle I have for this afternoon is actually only 2oz!

Baby is on the small side. BF right before drop off at 8:00, 3oz bottle mid-morn, BF at 12:30, then another bottle around 3:00.

Yesterday 1mo baby ate 20oz here! Granted he had a bottle right after he got here and right before he left but 6oz vs 20oz?

This is where you don't allow mom to refuse.

"I'm sorry mom, but I'm not allowed to refuse a baby nutrition. I'm required by law to feed babies ON DEMAND. Which means as often as they want as well as enough to satisfy hem at each feeding. I'm going to either have to insist that you provide me more bm or that you agree to allow me to supplement your baby with formula. Those are the only two options here"

The frequency in feedings you are describing sounds great but the amount isn't satisfying baby.

I refuse to starve a child because the parents refuse to send more milk. End of story.

[Leigh]

This is where you don't allow mom to refuse.

"I'm sorry mom, but I'm not allowed to refuse a baby nutrition. I'm required by law to feed babies ON DEMAND. Which means as often as they want as well as enough to satisfy hem at each feeding. I'm going to either have to insist that you provide me more bm or that you agree to allow me to supplement your baby with formula. Those are the only two options here"

The frequency in feedings you are describing sounds great but the amount isn't satisfying baby.

I refuse to starve a child because the parents refuse to send more milk. End of story.

[TheGoodLife]

This is where you don't allow mom to refuse.

"I'm sorry mom, but I'm not allowed to refuse a baby nutrition. I'm required by law to feed babies ON DEMAND. Which means as often as they want as well as enough to satisfy hem at each feeding. I'm going to either have to insist that you provide me more bm or that you agree to allow me to supplement your baby with formula. Those are the only two options here"

The frequency in feedings you are describing sounds great but the amount isn't satisfying baby.

I refuse to starve a child because the parents refuse to send more milk. End of story.

I agree. I BFed and had to pump for my first 2 while I worked. You need to insist that she bring extra milk (fresh or frozen bags for storeage) and explain like the PP did. Let her know effective immediately you will not be able keep the baby hungry and will have to refuse care if adequate BM is not provided each day. Let her know you won't always necessarily give the milk, but that you cannot allow her to cry from hunger anymore. Or mom can provide formula for cases the baby needs more than the BM provided. But I would definitely refuse to care for her screaming child- if she can't be there to nurse on demand she needs to have more milk to tide the baby over. Poor thing!

[TwinKristi]

I have a new baby here who's BFed and she takes (4) 2.5-3oz bottles a day plus solids twice a day here. Mom brings that much fresh plus I have several bags of frozen milk in case she needs it and back up formula in a dire emergency.

I had a baby the same age 2yrs ago who drank (3) 6oz bottles a day plus solids.

[MarinaVanessa]

My 7mo DCB drinks 3 8oz bottles plus food between 8am-5pm.

[SignMeUp]

I have a 5-6mo baby who is breastfed. Her mom brings me two 3 ounce bottles because that is what she pumps when she is at work. She comes at lunch to feed also.

The 3 ounce bottles are not enough and I have mentioned this to dcm. She thinks that since that is what she pumps then that is what baby needs. Is that right?

So between 8:00am - 5:15 I give this baby only 6 ounces of milk, no food.
I have a 1mo that is eating 4oz every 2-3 hours!

I added an ounce or two of formula to a baby bottle to test it and she gulped it all down. She IS a happy baby and is on the small side.

Are you on the food program? If so, for that age you are required to provide 4-8 oz for breakfast, lunch or supper, and 4-6 oz for each snack.

And also, beginning at 8 months, if not sooner, you are required to serve cereal and vegetables/fruits. If you make the cereal with BM, that requires a bit more to be provided also.

Can you use that to back up your request/demand for more milk?

[lpperry]

I would expect a 5 month old to be eating between 3 and 4 oz every 4+ hours. Eating three times a day at daycare sounds right. 6 oz, plus another 3-4 that she is getting from mom sounds right.

[lpperry]

Is that 1 month old eating formula? That sounds like way to much for a bf baby. Formula is so different than bf. My bf babies never ate more than 5 oz of bf at a time even when they were close to a year old. The breastmilk changes as baby gets older, so you don't really have to add more ounces, like you do with formula.

Unless the baby is super cranky and you know for sure the baby is cranky because of being hungry, I would give the three oz bottles.

[pandamom]

that doesn't sound like much- especially if baby is crying for more.

I exclusive pumped for my twins. At that age, they wanted 3-5 ounces every 3-4 hours. If I couldn't pump enough , they got formula.- usually 1-2 bottles/day. I wasn't going to deny them food because I couldn't pump enough.

[Margarete]

I would suggest having her do pumping session in the evening. For my first child I was a little low on the supply side, but when I pumped in the evening (I did it during her longest sleeping stretch), it helped me maintain my supply during the day... If I didn't pump at night I would need to use my reserves. It also may be easier to pump relaxed at home vs a higher stress work environment. I was amazed the difference in pumping relaxed (and thinking about baby) vs stressed, rushed, or distracted made... it was a wake up call to how I nursed too.

You need some reserves and/or to be able to supplement if/when needed.