5min boob but 20 min bottle? 9 week

[kaynay]

my LO will do 5 min on the boob one side sometimes 6 mins except for his first night feed he can go up to 8 mins on that one and easily go 3 hours til next feed during day...has been since birth a fast eater...but when he gets a bottle we use the breastflow slow release nipple bottle to get 5 oz takes him almost 15 min to eat? is he ready for a fast flow nipple? I would like to feed a bottle for his first night feed but when I do he takes maybe 2.5 oz and I am sure he gets more when he bfs.

also...when I pump (depending on time of day) i get anywhere from 4-10 oz total...ranging from 2-5 oz per breast with end of day pump around 7 being the lowest at 4-5 oz total...so when he bfeeds if he only takes one side and needs 5 oz in a bottle does this mean he only gets what one breast lets out which as the days goes is not 5 oz?

I give him a bottle before bed (and do his nightime routine after his bottle so he goes down awake) to make sure he gets a good feed.

I am wondering about the amount he gets as I want to be sure also sometimes when he wakes early from a nap and he has to eat closer to 2.5 hours depending on how tired he is I will give him a bottle of ebm to make sure he gets it and his next nap is always a good length ...but when I give breast when he is tired like this usually the nap isnt as good does this mean he gets more from bottle than breast?.

I dont want to rely on bottles to ensure he eats and sleeps good but if I get the above questions answered that might put me at ease...

I do for sure one bottle a day for bedtime 7ish and usually the feeding before that around 330/4 cuz that is my way of :tanking him up: before bed. Does this sound right are bottles of ebm a way of tanking up since all the hindmilk is there??

routine something like this

awake 615/630
eat 7 (as he ate at 5 am prior) bf am wondering here if the feed is a lot of foremilk cuz he just ate at 5 am and when he eats here it isnt much and the breasts are full in the am so he gets the one that has been used since 1 am...maybe not getting hindmilk here is why he never takes a long am nap? but I dont want to pump each and every morning?

sleep 720/730 usually 45 mins  hour this is where our day gets wacky cuz I have to feed early next feed for next nap

eat 930 bf

sleep 10-12 (usually 1 hr half or even 2 hours) especially with a bottle with a bf prior we usually get a wake up and have to help him go back down

eat 1230 bf

sleep 130-230 (if lucky til 3)

eat 330 ebm 5 oz

sleep 430-530 or 545

eat 710 5 oz ebm

eat around 1 am bf almost 8 min sometimes could be biggest feed yet

eat 5 am bf a tad shorter than an average day feed about 4 min he is still full from nightfeed I think

etc

[Canwi]

Question first and then there's a few things here to touch on.
How old is your LO?

Firstly, pumps are a very bad indicator of how well or otherwise our breasts work at making milk.  Babies are much more efficient at draining a breast.  There has been some documentation to say that a baby can take a full ounce or more from the breast than a pump can.  I have a friend who is BFing twins and she said she can stay attached to a pump for 30 minutes and only ever get a couple of ounces each side.  Her girls are growing way too well for her breasts to be producing only 2 oz each!
Your breasts will produce less as the day goes on.  However, the fat content in the milk goes up as the day goes on.  So although the volume is less, the calories contained is much more. 
Have faith in your breasts ability to sustain your LO.  If you use the bottle too much, he will develop a flow preference and stop BFing all together.  I would stay away from a fast flow nipple for a long time.  I used a faster flow nipple on bottles with my boys when they were at least 6 months old and BFing was well established.

Your LO waking from naps "early" may be an indicator of a growth spurt.  Without knowing how old he is, I'm only guessing.

"Tanking up" a baby when BFing is more about what is now termed "cluster feeding" IMHO.  Lots of little feeds to slowly give them a larger volume of fatty filled milk.  Tanking up is usually started later in the afternoon and early evening.

I'm also wondering if it would make it easier on you and your LO if you followed the EASY pattern more closely.  So BF closer to wake up time so that your LO has an idea of the pattern/routine and maybe he'll settle his sleeping and eating patterns better.

Hopefully there's something here that's helpful

[marilyn73]

I don't think that EBM has more hindmilk than just BF'ing does it?  Since the baby drains the breast more effectively than the pump, I thought that if anything, it would be the other way around.
To tank up, we'd do the regular feed at 3:30pm or so, after nap, then a feed after the catnap, and another right before bed.
If I pump because I'm going out or something, that is really the only time to know how much dd is getting.  Otherwise I trust that she's taking what she needs - and the odd feed is really small - only for the next to be huge, so things do vary.
We used the Born Free nipples/bottles - the first size - and she takes about the same time to BF or take a bottle.  I

[kaynay]

thank you all...we are at 10 weeks now...I give the last 2 feeds of the day as a bottle cuz my production is less...so he gets 5 feeds a day breast and 2 bottles maybe it isnt the right way but makes me feel better as I know my breast make less than the day goes on and at 4 and 7 that is when they are the lowest so I will pump out 4-5 oz for him to get he barely finishes both bottles so I know if he needed more he would have taken it prior in the day...the trick with the EASY although we do follow it is that he wakes at 6am to eat and now is sleeping in closer to 7-715 and he goes goes to bed at 730/745 so he is doing better with almost a 12 hour sleep phase...we have 4 naps and most are 45 mins but for sure one nap a day is 2-2.5 hours ...and the last 2 naps of the day he is the most alert and not as tired its really getting that am nap longer that is a killer for me and I am working hard on that now.
thanks for all the breastfeeding info vs pump its fascinating and good to know breastfeeding is in part a science man! so at 10 weeks we look like this does this seem right to you any holes? I know the morning nap is short but we keep trying to extend...the last 2 naps of the day he seems fine really even though short I do keep trying to extend the 3rd nap and wont give up wink---he seems to take more in a bottle now closer to 4-5oz whereas before it was closer to 3 so we will stay with the slow flow nipple thanks for that point!:

awake 7/715
bf eat 730 since he just at at 545 or 6am but I consider this the first feed of the day
sleep 815/830 usually no more than an hour mostly 45 mins)
bf eat 1030
sleep 1115 (usually 2 hours or 2.5 hours)
bf eat 130
sleep 215/230 (usually no more than an hour)
ebm eat 415 4-5oz
sleep 515-600ish
ebm eat 715 4-5 oz
bf eat between 2-3am
bf eat between 530/600am

[kaynay]

5 day feeds, one late night feed and one very early morning feed aka 5 day feeds and 2 others with a total of 7 feeds ...not 5 total feeds that isnt for a month or so...hopefully he will loose that 6 am feed and that 3 am feed will move to 5 and we will be at 6 total feeds by 3 monthish is the goal!

[marilyn73]

I guess one other suggestion might be to try a dreamfeed sometime between 10 and 11pm - might push the 3am feed a touch later, and eliminate the 6am feed naturally?  Wouldn't want to pump for that one though because if lo's not interested, you'd have pumped the milk instead of stocking up for the night feed.