Not getting enough milk from breast pump (I think)

[northlondonchoclover]

Have a 4 week old baby, and have been exclusively breastfeeding. Baby has been putting on weight, and having good bowel movements.

Tried using a breast pump for the first time a few days ago to express milk because I had to go out of the house for a few hours on my own today, and am concerned that I'm not getting much milk. Baby drank all milk expressed on Days 1 and 2 and was crying for more.

Day 1 - half an ounce
Day 2 - 2 1/4 ounce
Day 3 - half an ounce (today)

I am a bit worried that I am not producing enough milk for my baby. I am pumping 15 minutes on each breast, which seems like a long time for so little milk. Will I get more milk over time? Should I be pumping more often? I have been pumping only once a day, sometime mid afternoon.
Are there any tips for more efficient milk expression? Hope that mumsnetters can help or point me to the right direction

Have you tried pumping on one side while feeding from the other? Especially first thing in the morning when your breasts are fuller.

The amount you can express isn't an indication of how much milk you have or how much the baby is getting though.

Just to make sure I understand your thread - you just want enough milk expressed so that baby can have a bottlefeed of EBM while you out for a few hours, is that right? If so then for a 4 week old baby a few ounces would be about right for a feed, four ounces should be plenty. You might find you can express more if you feed the baby first until she is satisfied, then try "rolling" your breasts i.e massaging them a bit before expressing and then making sure you express long enough to get a second let down. It can take a while, then your breasts get the message that "more" is needed. You can keep the EBM in the fridge and add to it as you go, so long as the milk you add is cooled first. What kind of pump are you using? I found the Avent one very good. It is a bit of a learned skill though so don't worry, just keep at it. If she is happy to drink from a bottle that is good, it took mine ages to master that!

If your baby is gaining weight and producing lots of wet and dirty nappies, they are getting enough milk from you

IME expressing is hard work and has to be done several times a day (getting about 2oz a time) in order to build up a 'stash'

What amount you express is no indication at all of what your baby gets from you from a bf

Congratulations.

This is a very helpful website

Amount of milk expressed doesn't = amount of milk baby gets. Babies are more efficient at getting milk out of a breast then a pump is (ill/prem/etc babies excepted).

Have you tried

Expressing is a learnt skill though and requires the co-operation of your mind and body to get the milk out. Some mothers can't express milk yet have masses of milk for their babies. You can try doing things like breast massage before expressing then pumping then doing hand expression, or smelling your baby's clothes, looking at her, a picture of her or pretending you are feeding her not pumping. Those things can help yield the most milk possible though every mother is different. You may need to experiment to see what works for you.

Time of day can be important, early morning - after baby's first feed of the day or during if you can pump and bf at the same time - tends to be a good time to express. It's easier to do that with an electric pump but equally some hand express whilst feeding other side.

You could also hand express after each feed and combine the milk to give her when you are away. Even if you only got 5ml (both sides combined) if you did that 11 times a day thats 2oz (55mls).

How long do you need to be away from baby for? If it's just a few hours and you gave a feed directly before leaving (even if DD didn't ask for it) then left 3oz you should be good. Bf babies take on average just over 1oz per hour (the usual range is 0.8oz-1.25oz per hour).

Hope you find something that works for you and that some of my ramblings help in any way

x-posted with lots of quicker typers!

Wow, quick replies! Thank you ! Am getting a bit stressed about this, and hearing about people managing to express ounces and ounces of milk at each sitting, worrying about whether I am feeding my son enough and also whether to supplement with Formula.

MoonUnit - I did try this but was not quite coordinated enough. Also I am worried that if the baby feeds off one breast and I express from another, if he is still hungry after one breast there might not be enough from the other breast.

Teenyweeny - yes thats right, expressing gives me some flexibility to be out and about for a bit. Am using the Avent electric pump. How long should I be pumping? is 15 minutes per breast long enough? Is there a technique to it? Baby was happy to drink from the bottle today, he couldn't drink fast enough today apparently! He also takes to the dummy to sooth himself to sleep, although if he is hungry he has no problems spitting it out and yelling

The baby is producing lots of nappies - he drenches through nappy and clothes and blanket at least once a day, and has been producing increasingly larger volumes of poo (sorry TMI) so it does seem he is getting fed. Also he is growing out of his first set of clothes too. I guess expressing milk makes it measurable and it just seem like such a small amount of milk comes out for the effort!

North - expressing whilst bfing can increase the milk flow in both breasts so you may find you don't need to offer a 2nd side. If you do though, as a pump isn't as effective as baby, you may find he is happy to feed off the pumped side any way.

A little bit of reassurance on the volume side - the most I have ever been able to express is 5oz (both sides combined) which was after being parted from 2w/o DD1 and my hospital grade pump for 14 hours. DD1 was mainly bottle fed for 1st 8w so was expressing every 2 hours i.e. I missed 7 sessions and still only got 5oz. With DD3 I could pump 4 feeds (120mls a feed) in 6 sessions when I was separated from her due to me being in hospital - so 80mls combined.

I have BF three babies, one till 9 months, one till 15 months and the third is still going strong at 19 months.

I have never got more than 1 ounze of milk from pumping.

It doesn't seem to bear any relevance to the amount of milk you produce when BF ime.

Please do remember thatwhatyou see in the bottle following an expressing session is by no means comparable to whatyor ds gets from a breast feed!

From what you say in your posts, there is no need to supplement with formula because of concerns about getting enough/weight gain etc - your ds sounds like he's doing great

Thank you very much for the replies. I will just continue doing what I was doing and not worry to much about it.

Merry Xmas everyone!