Home Forums Induced Lactation aka Adoptive Breastfeeding Medical Interventions to Induce Lactation/Increase Milk Supply The Goal-- How much does a newborn take per day?

My boys were preemie, and twins, so even though I've "done it before", I really have no idea how much an average newborn takes in a day! Any idea? I feel like I am doing great with my supply. I have been off the bcp's and pumping for 3 weeks yesterday (regular protocol), and I am already up to close to 5oz per day! (with over 50oz in the freezer!!!!)

I would love to try to make enough not to supplement, but I don't know what that is!

Thanks!
Holly

Hi Holly,

Congratulations on your new arrivals and on a fabulous success with the protocol.

A typcial newborn needs very little milk the first 24 to 48 hours but by day three begin to require more. Once a birth mother's milk is in the newborn works his/her way up to about 500 mls in 24 hours which then increases and stabalizes to about 700 mls.

Roughly speaking the rule of thumb is to be sure you have enough breastmilk and/or supplement to provide 2.0 to 2.5 oz per pound of body weight in 24 hours. So if the baby weighs 7 pounds, you would need 14 to 21 oz per 24 hours divided by 12-16 feedings in 24 hours. As time goes on the baby will feed less often, averaging about 8-12 feeds in 24 hours.

Women with smaller capacity breasts would need to feed more often than women with larger capacity breasts. The total amount produced in a 24 hour period would be about the same and is driven by the baby's efficient removal of milk from the breasts.

Hope this helps.

Best,