I get asked this question a lot through my involvement with parents of babies with cleft lip and palate whose babies are fed exclusively/almost exclusively with expressed breastmilk.

The reference I use is in the Breastfeeding Answer Book (I only have the 2003 edition pge.173 - someone who has access to a later version might want to confirm this).

"....babies need about  2 to 2 1/2 fluid ounces of nourishment per pound of body weight (60 to 75 mls per 454grams) every twentyfour hours to maintain a normal weight gain. An additional 1 to 2 ounces (30 to 60ml) per pound (454 grams) of body weight  per day may be needed to compensate for a previous  lack of weight gain."

I read a recent discussion on a student doula forum which talked about a baby whom the student believed was not gaining enough due to the large feeds every three hours in hospital. I looked back through my records of my cleft affected daughter (she was a term baby weighing 3.850kg). In the first week she was being fed, on demand, between 8 and 11 feeds in 24 hours. On day six (just as an example she was having feeds that varied in size from 10ml to 90ml).

Perhaps 8 feeds a day for a breastmilk fed newborn are not frequent enough?

Alice Farrow
LLL Leader Italy

             ***********************************************

Archives: http://community.lsoft.com/archives/LACTNET.html
To reach list owners: [log in to unmask]
Mail all list management commands to: [log in to unmask]
COMMANDS:
1. To temporarily stop your subscription write in the body of an email: set lactnet nomail
2. To start it again: set lactnet mail
3. To unsubscribe: unsubscribe lactnet
4. To get a comprehensive list of rules and directions: get lactnet welcome