# Who gets more milk out: the pump or the baby?



## NaturallyPeachey (Jan 23, 2008)

I'm trying to figure out how much to bottle feed my LO. He gets one bottle a day. My ped. said up to 3 ounces but he's almost 11 lbs. and 6 weeks and chows down 3 ounces in no time at all. So, I usually pump about 3 ounces in 10-15 mins. on each side. He usually eats 20 minutes on each side when he nurses.....so who's getting more milk out him or the pump? last night we gave him 5 ounces and he had the biggest blow out yet - yuck! how many ounces should he be getting? i hate to waste my milk!


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## KristyDi (Jun 5, 2007)

I can't help with how many oz you should be giving as I have no experience with bottles, but the general rule is that the baby is more efficient than the pump.

Good luck.


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## Carita (Mar 3, 2008)

Each baby is different. I might try giving him 3 oz, then waiting a few min and see if he wants another oz. - separate the bottles into little 1 or 1.5 oz increments, so you only waste a little if he doesn't take it. My boy drank 3 oz out of a bottle at around 1 month, and 4-5 oz out of a bottle by 2 months... some growth spurts he had a few 7 oz bottles! But a friend of mine's baby takes 6-8 oz, at each feeding and he's skinny! So its hard to give advice.


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## GooeyRN (Apr 24, 2006)

My pump is more efficient than the baby. I usually get 3 oz out after he is full. I don't think a blow out means he is getting too much. Try giving him 3 oz then stopping. If he cries for more, have a 1 oz bottle ready. If he doesn't cry, I wouldn't give him more. You dont want to tank him up so much that he isnt hungry for his next normal feeding. You don't want your supply to drop from not emptying often enough.


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## katie9143 (Oct 3, 2006)

i dont think you can ever really know for sure. i am pretty sure my baby was way better at getting the milk out, cuz if not she woulda starved, since it would take forever for me to get 4 oz - like maybe a whole day - pumping for a half hr 3-4 times....

maybe if you are feeding the babe the bottle they are confused as to why they dont get the breast and then still might act hungry cuz they didnt really get what they want/expect?

not sure...


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## PaigeAnThem (May 31, 2008)

A pump is not a good indicator of how much milk you are producing because the baby will always be better at removing milk from the breast than a pump.

The reason he eats faster from a bottle is probably because it is a constant flow, rather than the natural starting and stopping that comes from your breast. When he is nursing from your breast he stops sucking to swallow, but he can't do that with a bottle because the milk flows whether he is sucking or not.

If you think baby is eating his bottles too fast, you might check to be sure you are using slow flow nipples and that they aren't worn out (sometimes the holes will get bigger as they are used).

I agree with pps that different babies will take different amounts so it is hard to say how much your baby should be taking.


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## patchynurse (Sep 15, 2006)

I was given this lin and found it quite helpful as I pump for the 40+ hrs a week I work
http://www.kellymom.com/bf/pumping/milkcalc.html


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## AutumnAir (Jun 10, 2008)

A baby should have about 1oz for every hour that you're away or before the feed. Babies on average take in 25oz a day, but anywhere between 20-30oz a day is normal. So if baby has his bottle 3 hours after the last time you fed him he should get about 3 oz - on average. You know your own baby best so you can better judge what he really needs. However, be careful with bottles - the mechanism of drinking from a bottle is completely different to drinking from the breast and can cause babies to take in a lot of milk very quickly whether they really want it or not. Try stopping after each oz to burp him and see if he still seems hungry. The other possibility is that he's not hungry after the bottle, but wants to finish the cycle with comfort sucking, which BF babies do naturally. Of course you can't comfort suck on a bottle. You could try giving him a finger or pacifier to suck after the bottle to see if that satisfies him. Good luck. HTH


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## tbone_kneegrabber (Oct 16, 2007)

The baby is more efficent.... My baby is almost exclusively bf and is over 25lbs, but when I pump i'm lucky to get 2oz combined from both breasts!!!

You can try weighing him before a feeding at the breast and then after and that will give you an idea of how much he's getting at a typical feeding


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## harrietsmama (Dec 10, 2001)

Gosh, I'm not sure. I had more luck 'pumping' by just catching my flow from side B while baby nursed on side A. I could fill about 3 oz that way. With my Avent hand pump, I just had to pump once and I would spray about 8 oz in 3 minutes. My kids were CHUBBS!
That being said, I was constantly wet all the time no matter what for about the first 4 months both times.


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## Llyra (Jan 16, 2005)

Well, for me, it must be the babies that are more efficient. Because if they had to live on what I can pump, they'd have starved to death.


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## jaxxy (Apr 24, 2007)

I'm going to say baby is more efficient. He takes only what he needs. Try storing only 2 oz at a time that way you can let him decide how many ounces he wants from the bottle. It should change depending on his needs that day. I never rationed BM to DS he just had as much as he wanted from a 4 or 5 oz bottle and if he seemed to still want more whoever was watching him offered a little more. It wasn't really wasting cuz it's only 2 oz and if he doesn't want it you can use it for something else like mac and cheese or liquid for cereal (once the babe's eating foods that is). HTH.


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## veganone (May 10, 2007)

Baby is generally more efficient. I think the only exceptions are babies with a weak suck or a poor latch.

I do think 3 oz is sufficient for a baby that young. DD still only gets 3-4 ounces in a bottle and she's 9 months. 5 ounces is a big meal for a tiny stomach...

Babies are much more likely to take more than they need from a bottle, whereas bfing they stop really eating when they're full and can switch to sucking for comfort. If you'd like to know how much you baby gets when he nurses, you can weigh him on VERY sensitive scale (you can rent them from a hospital or any LC will have one) before and after a feeding. We did that a lot with DD since she was pre-term and we were very concerned with weight gain.


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