In a message dated 97-02-17 15:04:00 EST, you write:

<< I highly recommend Kittie's feeding charts; they are pocket sized
laminated
 charts based on 108 kcal/oz  (term babies) and 120 kcal/oz (premies)  >>

Mary Kay,

I'm not sure I understand.  What is 108 kcal/oz?  Or 120 kcal/oz?  Formula is
about 20 kcal/oz... breastmilk is around that too -- allowing for individual
variations in moms.  I understood that for normal newborns, the requirement
was 120 kcal/kg body weight/24 hours, and that as the baby grew, the
requirements did go down somewhat.  According to Chris Mulford, quoting a
study based on doubly labeled water (whatever that is), breastfed babies need
approximately 115 kcal/kg/day; at 1 mo, 110, 2 mo 105, 3 mo 100 & so on.  But
it looks as though there is a lot of disagreement -- the RDA's in the 1970's
talked about 120 kcal/kg/day from 0-3 mo, and then 115 from 4-6 months.  In
1985 the WHO decided on 109 (2-3 mo), 103 (4-5 mo) and so on.

So,  when figuring out how much a baby needs, we need to take into
consideration his energy requirements as well as the caloric value of the
brmilk.  Remember, I posted about one mom that had her milk tested three
times -- came back at 27 cal/oz; 29 cal/oz & 30 cal/oz.  Don't think that
baby needed much in the way of volume!

Jan Barger
htt://member.aol.com/bsccenter