400-480ml / day at 3 weeks along?

[Kiwiberry]

I need some help ladies. I am not sure if I am making enough milk. My baby is a preemie, so she only eats about 24ml every 3 hours. However, sometimes I am only able to get 5-6 pumps in a day instead of 8. Do you think that will hurt my milk supply? Also, is 400-480ml a day at 3 weeks along good supply? Or should I work on making more?

Also, I am on a diet. I am watching how many calories I take in so I can lose some of the baby weight. Do you think how much I eat per day can effect how much milk I express?

I also have another question not related to the title. How long can you store frozen milk for? I read so many sources that all say different things. I want to make sure that the supply I have built up the past 3 weeks in the hospital freezers will get used. They use the oldest bottles first, so I know they are doing it right. I just want to make sure since she eats so little right now and I give them so much in comparison if it will be used or go to waste. To give some numbers, I give about 400-480ml a day and she only eats about 192ml per day.

 

[noon_child]

I need some help ladies. I am not sure if I am making enough milk. My baby is a preemie, so she only eats about 24ml every 3 hours. However, sometimes I am only able to get 5-6 pumps in a day instead of 8. Do you think that will hurt my milk supply? Also, is 400-480ml a day at 3 weeks along good supply? Or should I work on making more?

Also, I am on a diet. I am watching how many calories I take in so I can lose some of the baby weight. Do you think how much I eat per day can effect how much milk I express?...

To give some numbers, I give about 400-480ml a day and she only eats about 192ml per day.

It depends whether you had 'bad' eating habits and have now adjusted your diet to a healthy amount of calories or if you are 'dieting' in a way that restricts your body to less than it needs. There are women around the world who do manage to breastfeed despite lack of food but not everybody can and if your focus right now is milk production I'd just make sure you are eating regular healthy meals and snacks. Producing milk is supposed to use around 500 calories a day so if your body can't afford to lose that many and keep you alive it may affect milk supply.

That said, you are making more milk than she is drinking right now so obviously you aren't at the point of drying up. It is really hard to say how 'much' you need to produce as breastfeeding is supply and demand, but you are in the position where you have to guess how much to pump which must be really hard. Breastfed babies don't need hugely increased volumes of milk as they grow bigger. After the first weeks where the stomach does grow, they pretty much stay at the same volume till they are weaned. This may be different for a preemie because she has more growing to do. So please do not be influenced by how much formula a baby requires at the same age as it really has no bearing on breast milk.

I know it is exhausting but are you able to pump at night? The hormones released at night are really good at signalling to your body to keep producing milk.

 

[Kiwiberry]

Thanks so much for the reply. Yes I do pump at night. Once in awhile I will miss 1 pump session but for most of the time I try make all of them.

 

[AP]

Can you do a swap with Riya's blanket - she'll get your smell and you'll get hers, helping production. We used to do that a lot, NICU recommended lots of pictures too The night-time pumps are so important and the more you do it the better too.

I never used to get as much as that in NICU and had to be prescribed domperidone. You're doing great chick. x

 

[kanga]

I used to get 700-800 ml in 24 hours from 8 pumps.

what gestation was baby born at.

Although you've technically got an oversupply at the moment, when baby joins in with bf they may want feeding 2-3 hourly so you might want to pump more at that time to help build your supply up so the baby doesn't have to do it all by themselves. Good luck with it you're doing great. X

Drinking lots of water will help you stay hydrated. Porridge is good for supply and also not unhealthy and will release energy slowly so keeps you fuller for longer. There's plenty time to worry about the baby weight. For now can you just eat and drink what you need and in a few weeks have a drive on the weight Loss x

 

[misspriss]

I wouldn't restrict calories so early if I were you. I don't remember how much I pumped per day when my LO was in the NICU, but I did pump every 3 hours round the clock.

restricting calories later on, after my supply was well established, did reduce my supply iif I wasn't careful. I don't know what affect it would have if your supply was not established yet. I would wait until your baby is hone and successfully transitioned to feeding on the breast WELL. That is just my opinion based on my experiences.

 

[Kiwiberry]

Thanks ladies. I did try eating more and it increased by like 20ml each time. I have decided to do as you ladies suggested and just eat healthier and not restrict my calories until after I get a good supply going of at least 800ml a day.

 

[AnonymousCAT]

The sheet I got from the hospital says you need to pump at least 8-10 times per day and to consult your lactation consultant if you are making less than 650-800 ml of milk by the time baby is 2 weeks old. My baby is also prem at one wk old. Pumping is hard work. I'm not there yet with my supply.

 

[kanga]

I found lactation cookies great for increasing supply. Porridge is supposed to be good. And flaxseeds.

 

[Kiwiberry]

Thank you ladies!

My supply has gotten a little bit better. I am doing about 90-95ml consistently each pump session now. Hopefully I will see that increase more and more each day.

 

[kanga]

That's great news. X

 

[Kiwiberry]

That's great news. X

Thank you! We looked up a recipe for those lactation cookies. Planning on making some tomorrow! How well do they work?

 

[kanga]

Very well! They don't taste too great but just grin and bear it and put extra choc chips in to hide the taste. Hope you can get hold of the ingredients easy enough. Think my friend got mine from holland and Barrett

 

[Kiwiberry]

Is it normal for your supply to fluctuate? Mine went back down to 60-70ml all day yesterday. It is just now starting to climb back up slowly. I am wondering what the heck is wrong!! I think I might as the LC at the NICU for a prescription to get the medication that helps build it up better. What do you ladies think?

I looked online and google says I should be at about 110ml per pump session. It has me a little worried that I am behind even on the big days.

 

[kanga]

Don't worry honestly Hun. Mine did fluctuate slightly and it certainly went down during high stress periods, of which you may have a few.

Just pump often and for 5-10 mins after the flow has stopped to tell you body to make more. Ideally you will pump every 3 hours.

I used to do very 2 hours in the day sometimes. Just do it when you can. If circumstances mean you need to leave 4 hours down times then that's fine.

Domperidone can help yes. Your gp will prescribe it.

You're doing a great job just by pumping. So whatever you are getting is great. A supply can
Always be built up/increased.