Aspirating breast milk, then re feeding?

fergus51 · Jul 9, 2004

Ew, why would anyone do that? We don't "measure" how much breastmilk they have. We just decide if the babe gets enough based on time (if the baby feeds well for 15-30 mins) and weight gain and output.

Gompers, BSN, RN · Jul 9, 2004

Yes, I've heard of it and it's disgusting! Plus, breast milk gets absorbed so quickly that probably by the time the baby is done nursing some milk is already out of his stomach, so it's not very accurate to do this. We also just monitor weight gain and look for clinical signs of dehydration. Once in a great while we'll have a baby weighed before and after a feeding if we're worried, but that's not a really great method either.

RN4NICU, LPN, LVN · Jul 9, 2004

Nope, that's a new one for me. Yuck - poor baby. If we are THAT curious, we weigh before and after, but as Gompers noted, its not too accurate. If we are worried about baby getting enough, we tell mom to BF and then offer a supplement. If baby sucks down the entire supplement in less than 10 minutes, probably didn't get very much from mom. If baby is content and happy, sleeping in between feedings, not waking hungry after a short time, 6-8 wet diapers/day...we don't worry about it. Of course, by that time, they are pretty much ready to go home and we don't have much time to worry about it.

BittyBabyGrower, MSN, RN · Jul 9, 2004

We used to do that...and it was stupid! We will do before and after weights on occasion with the smaller babes, but usually if we are really concerned we will offer a supplement after and see how much they take.