A plan to increase milk supply

[Lu28]

I've been following a plan to increase my milk supply which seems to have worked really well (I have a stock of expressed milk in the fridge now!) so thought I'd share it with you guys! It's based on a routine from a well known book - I don't follow it to the letter but it's still working.

Days 1-3
6.45am - Express 30ml from each breast before feeding - 20-25 mins of fullest breast, 10-15mins on second

10am - feed 20-25 mins on breast which baby last fed on, then express about 60ml from the other breast and offer baby 10-20 mins on this breast after expressing

2pm - as per 10am feed

5pm - Give baby 15-20 mins on each breast

6.15pm - Give baby a bottle of expressed breast milk

The routine suggests that baby be put down at 7pm until 10pm to sleep.

8pm and 10pm - express both breasts until empty

10.30pm - Give baby a bottle of expressed breast milk

During the night - breast feed as usual



I don't put Aisling down to sleep at 7pm so I bf her until her last feed at 10pm ish and give her a bottle at that stage

Day 4

Drop the 2pm and 8pm express and bring the 10pm express forward to 9.30pm

Day 5

7am - baby should get 20-25ml from the fullest breast. Then express on the second before offering baby 10-15 mins. If you managed to express 120ml at least the night before then express -

120ml for 8-10lb baby
90ml for 10-12 lb baby
60ml for baby over 12lb

The routines in this book generally suggest expressing a couple of times a day so there's enough milk to give baby a bottle at night but whether this is something you want to do is totally up to you, I guess if you don't want to give EBM then you could drop all expressing...

During the first 3 days it suggests offering a number of top up feeds of EBM which I gave only if it seemed like Aisling needed it. They can be dropped as the days go on and your milk supply increases.

I haven't followed the times to be honest and at the moment do the first 2 expressions and the last one but I do them at whatever time I happen to feed her. It has really worked for me and has meant that I can cut out the bottle of formula I had been giving her just before bed which is great.

Hopefully it might work for some of you too!

 

[sjnams]

I've got that book It's really handy and has some ace tips and if I was a little less lazy I would be doing this plan for increased supply instead of using formula

 

[Logiebear]

I wish I had time in the day for all that. Also I wish Hannah didn't feed constantly. There is no way she would go for 4hrs without feeding! Hasn't ever done. Does it say what to do if they want fed before then??

 

[Lu28]

The idea is that if they need more in between the scheduled feeds, then you top them up with the milk you expressed. I don't follow it to the letter and it definitely is a pain to squeeze in the expressing, not sure I'd manage it if I had more than one LO to deal with!

 

[jms895]

Sounds like a plan but I couldnt follow it either as through the day Caine feeds roughly every hour then last feed at 10.30pm which is 6 oz of EBM and maybe a bit of formula if I not got enough milk pumped off then he zonks for 4-6 hours, then another feed maybe 4am.
In the first few weeks though I was expressing loads and it really increased my supply xx
Good luck hun

 

[Jelly Bean]

Wow, I envy anyone who can "put down" their baby at the stage I'm in! My little monster would probably be wide awake at the 7-10 pm slot, looking at me as if asking when the next bottle will be coming along please!

 

[Logiebear]

Well I am starting this today so will let you know how I go with it. Struggled to express 30mls fromeach breast this morning as my left one had been fed off during the night lol but I got about 20 off it so I have 50 mls.

 

[sjnams]

Good luck with following the plan

 

[Lu28]

Wow, I envy anyone who can "put down" their baby at the stage I'm in! My little monster would probably be wide awake at the 7-10 pm slot, looking at me as if asking when the next bottle will be coming along please!

When I say I don't put Aisling down at 7pm, it's a bit more accurate to say that she decides when she's going to sleep and 7pm has never happened for us! I think the main benefit of the plan is just to time the extra expressing so it doesn't take away from the milk baby gets when bfing, my brain doesn't work enough these days to try to work that out on my own!

 

[Logiebear]

What do you do if you can't express what it says? I can't express 60mls, especially from my left boob, it is crap. Or is that the point to aim for and it should get to that??

 

[sjnams]

I think you just need to aim for that. Everyone will produce different amounts as you will be producing what your baby needs. As you keep expressing and feeding, your body will start to produce more giving you the surplus you need for a couple of bottles a day....I think anyway feel free to correct me if i'm talking bollocks!!

 

[Lu28]

^^^^^ I agree!