Mommy's who expressed! Please help.

[Srrme]

How was your milk supply? I plan on breastfeeding once he's home, but I'm currently only expressing 4 ounces every 3 hours, and 8 ounces when I wake up in the morning. Is this enough? Will I make more milk once he's home and able to breastfeed?

He eats 48 ml of breast milk every 3 hours right now.

 

[Sugarmuppet]

I was lucky that mine was pretty good. Think at the start I was getting about the same as you. If I remember right when Gaby came home she was on 50mls every 4 hours and I was making 2 extra bottles a day. My supply gradually increased as she increased her volumes. If she went up an oz I expressed for a little longer, even if nothing came out and tried to fit in an extra 'expression' a day. My biggest thing was to relax, the more stressed I was the less milk I got.

I expressed exclusively for 6 months. Gaby did eventually take a feed from me at 16 weeks but by that time I was so used to expressing and knowing exactly how much she was taking that I couldn't make that leap to breastfeeding 'properly'. I wish I had though.

Your post has totally taken me back to my expressing days, it was such hard work. Hope your little man manages to feed from you soon

 

[25weeker]

4oz every 3 hours is good. I got varied amounts throughout the day which totalled between 500-600ml a day. This was enough for my lo coming home so I solely breastfed. She is 1 next week and I am still breastfeeding.

A baby will get milk much better than a pump ever will and they will increase your milk when they need it.

Good luck with the breastfeeding xx

 

[Lottie86]

I exclusively expressed for 12/13 months and I was very lucky that I had a hefty milk supply but the most important thing is to make sure you keep expressing regularly and as he ups the amount he drinks then up how long you pump for each time or pump more frequently.

I have never directly breastfed but everything I have read says that babies are much more effective at getting milk out than a pump is so once he is home and breastfeeding all the time you should be fine as he will up your milk supply when he needs more

 

[Srrme]

Thanks ladies! That makes me feel much better.

 

[Jugs15]

I've been expressing for 5 weeks and started directly feeding for 2 feeds a day from 3 weeks. I usually got between 30-60ml as a combined total from both sides. I never felt overly full and was getting concerned even tho she's only on 36ml every 3 hours so had more than she needed.
However since saturday I have done 4 feeds a day and did all 8 feeds yesterday and the boobs are exploding!!! She's clearly making a lot more than the pump did I'm sure once you're feeding yourself it will correct, nature is very clever

 

[toothfairyx]

I never managed to express the amounts you guys seem to have while J was in hospital and I planned to breastfeed exclusively. Before he came out he went on to 80-90mls every 4-5 hours and I could express half that each day. Cue one hungry baby feeding every 1-2 hours initially when I was establishing breastfeeding, and it took about a week I think for me to catch up once he was home. I did give him formula each night at 10pm to give me a break and also as he would go 3-4 hours then so we got some peace! But the milk definitely comes in. I managed with breast feeding and also expressing for around 2 months until the reflux and growth spurts got too much and now he is on thickened formula as the gaviscon wasnt great for us. Every few weeks we seemed to go back to 1-2 hourly feeds when he needed to increase which was just exhausting.I've kept some ebm to give him as and when via a bottle. I also found that with breast feeding that a feed took ages - often over an hour and he was much more difficult winding after a breast feed than a bottle - and a night feed could take up to 2 hours once he'd been changed, fed and winded. He never however had any problems latching on or going from breast to bottle. Despite all the challenges I did enjoy breastfeeding him after his time inn hospital and wish I could have done it for longer. It's lovely to be able to do that for them, good luck with it all it will be fine and don't stress about the milk volumes as Elias will sort that out although sounds like you have plenty already!

 

[ButtonJessie]

4 oz is a fine amount. I was making tons more than that and it was a nightmare, my boobs were rock hard and she couldnt latch because of it. You only need to make as much as he is taking, and you're making more than that. Boobies work in demand and supply, once he starts taking your milk from the breast, your boobs will work out how much they need to produce. Stop pumping when he's BFing though, otherwise you'll get oversupply.

xxx

 

[Marleysgirl]

Unlike the others above, I had problems expressing enough. I was really unsuccessful at 3hrly and more successful at 4hrly, which included 11pm (before bed), 3am and then 7am.

I was prescribed Domperidone to help increase my supply and, even with that, I was only producing just over 100ml a time. I was lucky because Andrew was small and was only taking that amount (mixed with powder fortifier). We never did get BF established.

I expressed for 7 months (or was it 8?), and then was advised to switch him onto preemie formula because it was higher calorie than the EBM/fortifier mix.

 

[katy1310]

I don't think I was ever expressing as much as you - I used to get 100ml first thing in the morning then maybe 60ml every 4-5 hours. When I had the chance I expressed every 3 hours but Sophie's neonatal unit was 60 miles away and it wasn't easy with the travelling time and not wanting to take up valuable visiting time by going away to express!

I still managed to start breastfeeding her in May when she was 10 weeks old and kept going till August - my supply wasn't brilliant but I did the best I could, and I think it would have been better if I'd had more confidence. I ended up combination feeding which I now regret - I think I should have persevered with the breastfeeding but I was just so scared that she wasn't getting enough. I eventually stopped because I felt like I was getting stressed out over it and taking up my whole day with expressing as well as feeding her the expressed milk and breastfeeding her too - I felt like I had no proper time with Sophie and I wasn't producing all that much milk by the end.

Sounds like your supply is great though and I'm sure you'll be able to bf

 

[nkbapbt]

I expressed for over 18 months. My supply went up and down, I needed meds and took herbs to help it when it went down. It's normal to have a slowly down period around 3 months. And sometimes again around 6, more so if you only pump.

Your supply sounds awesome though!

Have they let you try breast feeding now? At 35 weeks his sucking flex should be strong and he can BF on low flow (or should be able too depending on your NICU)!

 

[Srrme]

I tried breastfeeding last night, and WE did great! Other than getting very, very sleepy. I'm going to wait until we get home to exclusively breastfeed though, because I don't want him staying in the hospital longer.

 

[mommy2baby2]

4 oz every few hours is good and must be normal as far as I can tell. That's about what I had (between 4-5oz) and I was pumping every 3 hours too. Even during the night. I drank lots of water after each feeding and I think that helped too. There were about 2-3 nights that I slept through and when I woke up it was about 6oz total. The longer you do it, as long as you stay consistant, the more milk you will produce.

Make sure you get plenty of rest though! I started getting tired and my supply started to lessen some, then when I got some extra sleep I started producing a lot again!

 

[Srrme]

Thanks, girls. I've been breastfeeding him occasionally, and seem to be producing more milk now. In a single sitting I can get 8 ounces.

 

[HCB]

Any suggestions on getting things going?? I gave birth to my twins on Tuesday (a week ago) at 27+4 weeks. They are in NICU so I can't breastfeed them so I am trying to express because I had hoped to breastfeed them had they not been premature. I'm not getting very far with it though and am literally only getting a couple of ml each time I try. I seem to get a bit at the start of expressing and then that's it.

I'm starting to get disheartened that nothing seems to be happening despite all the encouragement and advice.

Having 'just' 40ml would be great!!

 

[Laura2919]

Mine was rubbish.. I used to get half an ounce every 2 hours and they said it was because all that I went through in labour and then not being able to see the girls because they were 70 miles away so they started giving them formula and I froze the milk that I had so when I met them at 5 days old I had lots, they were then brought to a hospital closer to home and the lady who came up in the baby ambulance forgot my milk so it all defrosted and I couldnt use it so I was put under pressure again so I switched to formula.

 

[HCB]

I do feel there is quite a bit of pressure on me, especially from some of the older NICU nurses. They are being positive but also seem to be implying it's my fault, that I must be doing something wrong because something should be happening by now.

Different people at the hospital have told me different things too so it makes it quite difficult. I have been given advice on what I can do to help stimulate things and get it going, such as have pictures of my babies, but as a first time mum and with them being in the incubators I'm finding it hard to bond and get that 'mum' feeling. One of the things I got told was to visualise having a baby to the breast and how that felt when I expressed. Hard to do when you've never experienced it before so don't know how it feels!

My babies are now a week old and as I am only getting a few ml every couple of hours they have been put on formula because they have lost more weight than the medical staff would have liked. They're not worried about that though because the boys are losing it due to being very active (they wriggle and stretch all the time!) and because they have been on CPAP rather than a tubed ventilator from quite early on. They have also been having time breathing on their own over the last few days too.

I keep trying though!

 

[Marleysgirl]

How often are you pumping, HCB?

I was only getting a few ml to start with (I started at 3 days), and a friendly midwife suggested that I take the pressure off myself by downgrading from a 3hrly pump to a 4hrly pump. This seemed to suit my body much better, and the amount I pumped started to increase with each day.

Can you get somebody (midwife, HV, not sure where you are) to check that you are pumping correctly - that you have as much suction as you can stand (start high then turn it down). Double pumping is generally preferable to single-side pumping. And keep going for a while after you seem to stop, as you can get a second let-down.

 

[Srrme]

I do feel there is quite a bit of pressure on me, especially from some of the older NICU nurses. They are being positive but also seem to be implying it's my fault, that I must be doing something wrong because something should be happening by now.

Different people at the hospital have told me different things too so it makes it quite difficult. I have been given advice on what I can do to help stimulate things and get it going, such as have pictures of my babies, but as a first time mum and with them being in the incubators I'm finding it hard to bond and get that 'mum' feeling. One of the things I got told was to visualise having a baby to the breast and how that felt when I expressed. Hard to do when you've never experienced it before so don't know how it feels!

My babies are now a week old and as I am only getting a few ml every couple of hours they have been put on formula because they have lost more weight than the medical staff would have liked. They're not worried about that though because the boys are losing it due to being very active (they wriggle and stretch all the time!) and because they have been on CPAP rather than a tubed ventilator from quite early on. They have also been having time breathing on their own over the last few days too.

I keep trying though!

Maybe you can try hand expressing? When I first started using the pump, I barely got any milk at all -- so I switched to hand expressing, and have been doing that ever since, unless I'm at the hospital, then I use their pump. I'm just now able to get milk to come out of my right boob with the pump (ever since Elias breastfed).

 

[toothfairyx]

I found that I had a better supply when I expressed 4 x a day rather than 8.
I also found hand expressing worked best at first (at least 2-3 weeks) and then I moved onto a breast pump. I also found the manual breast pump better for expressing milk than the electric one although it did make my hand ache after a while.
I was never able to increase my supply up from 300mls per day even when I increased the number of sessions I was doing, but it did go up tons when Jamie started breast feeding exclusively. It didn't go up as quickly as he would have liked so I did supplement him with formula after putting him to the breast each time he wanted feeding, and also expressing a bit after he had finished his feeds in the morning when I seemed to produce more milk. At night times my supply was pretty low.