Starting to express: how do I build up a spare supply?

[lola85]

I was really struggling with bf'ing my 2week old dd.
It was so painful it made me cry and dread feeding her! Midwife suggested expressing and bottle feeding instead. I'm expressing 2-3oz off every 3-hours about an hour before she's due to feed so I've always got a feed waiting for her but how do I start to build up a spare supply for fridge/freezer? Also is this 2-3oz enough for her? She's lovely and content after a bottle now so I'm assuming she's getting enough! Also no reduction in wet/dirty nappies.
Any one with any experience?

 

[lola85]

Anyone?

 

[calliebaby]

I always pumped the most in the middle of the night and first thing in the morning. 2-3oz per feed is pretty normal at her age. Just freeze a couple of ounces here and there and worse case scenario, you can always unfreeze it if she needs it. I would usually pump throughout the day, put the milk in the fridge and freeze whatever was left over at the end of the day minus a few ounces for the next feed.

 

[kung_pao mama]

yes. every ounce counts. find a time between feeds that is convenient for you (i pump right after he goes to sleep at night) and stick in an extra pumping session. i didn't express much at first (an ounce if i was lucky), but after my body got used to the extra demand i began pumping about 3 oz everytime.

keep up the good work. i know expressing is difficult. for the first few weeks we pumped exclusively because of latching issues. hurt like hell, and he wasn't getting enough...i encourage you to give BFing a try again. it may take time, but you and your baby could get the hang of it. it's so hard at the beginning, but now a couple months later, i found it SO much less stressful than pumping around the clock.

 

[alibaba24]

Im struggling with the same issue however i discovered i can actually express every hour to two hours. This i think for me is the only way to get a supply usually after an hour or i find my milk is there again and i can express . It seems alot to do it hourly but it will tell your body to keep making plenty of milk and give you enough for bottles between feeds too x

 

[mummytobe_93]

I used to exclusively pump and now I breastfeed. I used to pump every 2-3 hours sometimes pumping 6-8 ounces I would keep 3-4 ounces for bottle for baby and store other 3 or do's ounces in fridge. Sometimes if I stopped pumping so much I didn't have a spare supply. Try pumping a bit more often say every 2 hours if your baby wants a feed every 4 you may have double what you need. Also I used a double electric pump, twice as much in half the time!