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Infant feeding

Get advice and support with infant feeding from other users here.

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Original poster

how much can you express in one go?

30 replies

Wildpoppy · 28/02/2011 20:54

I only ever get about 90ml and that is from both breasts combined. My baby is 10 weeks old and I am mix feeding breast and formula. Just wondered what is normal and any tricks for getting more.

OP posts:

Nagoo · 28/02/2011 21:15

same here. Can get up to 4oz, that's about the same, right? Better first thing in am. Also if I do last night feed and morning one off same side then express off full side IYSWIM.

do you need more than that in one go?

FluteyBoots · 28/02/2011 21:16

I only ever got about that, breatsfed exclusively for over a year.
Just wasn't brilliant at expressing :)

So I used to have to express twice to get enough for a feed. I think it's quite common tbh, some people can express very little at all, 90ml isn't bad going!

findingthepath · 28/02/2011 21:17

I can get 250ml + on both but my son is 2 years old

The genral rule is to double what you express and that is what the baby can get, as the baby is designed to milk you and expressing just is not the same.

Why are you expressing and using formula?

If you give me some more details i might be able to help more.

To increase your milk supply let your baby feed/nurse as offen as possible. The more the baby feeds at night the more milk you will make. Drink fennel tea also helps increase supply. Make sure you are sleeping and drinking enought each day.

If you are just expressing then you will still need to express for the same about of time as you would feed your baby but if you are only expressing and not latching the baby on then you will end up expressing less and ff more.

findingthepath · 28/02/2011 21:20

sorry i ment 250+ together so 100 on one and 150 on another

japhrimel · 28/02/2011 21:46

Anything from 50ml to 200ml from both.

Massage and compressions can really help but consistently getting 90ml a session is not bad IMO.

ThreeBubbasAndManyBumps · 28/02/2011 21:47

If baby (4 weeks, but my 3rd) feeds on my left boob, and I express from my right first thing in the morning, I can express 220ish. Feel like a milking cow

Later on in the day this drops to 100mls

KristinaM · 28/02/2011 21:51

well if my baby only got double what i coudl express he woulnd't be here

when he was a strapping great toddler i could barely get enough to cover the bottom of the bottle

i have always been rubbish at expressing

PenguinArmy · 01/03/2011 00:21

expressing at the same time each day helps. I found this would double my yield after a few days, but if I had a few days off, it would drop to the original amount

3oz which I think is what 90ml is a feed. A general rule of thumb is 1oz of breastmilk per hr, plus a little extra fr god measure.

I think because people are used to seeing formula amounts which increase in time, expressed amounts often look pitiful when they really aren't.

faverolles · 01/03/2011 09:59

I managed half an ounce last night. From both sides.
I was very proud of it.

Olivetti · 01/03/2011 10:19

I was expressing quite regularly around Christmas time, and got up to around 125ml total, but then didn't do any for a while, and I REALLy struggle now - just gout 40ml in total. Getting very down about it. I have a beautiful, thriving 15 week old girl, who is EBF, putting on weight very nicely, but I just cannot get milk to flow consistently with a pump. Does anyone have ANY idea why??

Olivetti · 01/03/2011 10:20

Sorry about typos

japhrimel · 01/03/2011 10:32

Your supply will have settled to what your LO needs. Are you expressing at the same time every day?

PoledrathePissedOffFairy · 01/03/2011 10:36

Olivetti, I can't tell you why but I can say that I was shit at expressing. I could get up in the morning with the milk dripping from my breasts, put the pump on and hey presto! 10ml And I've bfed 3 babies.

It might be the pump - I had an Avent hand pump (which was recommended by my sisters, who'd got on well with it). When DD3 was born, she was in SCBU and tube-fed - the industrial strength hospital electric pumps were great, I expressed plenty milk for DD3. Got home, dug out the hand pump thinking 'OK, this time I'll get it right.'

Nope, barely a drop..............

shesparkles · 01/03/2011 10:41

I exclusively expressed for my ds for a year (he had latching on problems) and was able to get 250ml from each side....to the point where I supplemented my niece who's 4 months younger!

MOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOooo!!

Nagoo · 01/03/2011 10:45

I really didn't get on with the Avent pump.

I've got a tommee tippee one which I found a bit better. Maybe it's the pump.

I don't know how it happens but sometimes I can get the let down and get a lot, but I can't work out how it happens. I can stare at the baby all I like and nothing, shout at DS to stop doing some dangerous activity, and whoomp, floods of milk. Odd.

Olivetti · 01/03/2011 10:47

Poledra, it's EXACTLY the same for me!! I can evern feel engorged if she's slept through the night and then had a feed, and still hardly anything comes out. I have the avent pump too, I've used it manually and electronically, and it makes no difference. Japhrimel, I've tries all sorts of times but yes, generally in the morning. Sigh. It just means it's really hard to leave her with my husband for any length of time - even if I express a feed over a few days, I still stress they won't have enough milk if I go out. That's why I am wondering about the odd OCCASIONAL formula bottle, say once a week on a Saturday?? Would that be ok??

Nagoo · 01/03/2011 10:51

I would. You need to be able to escape a bit, and one bottle in a blue moon won't hurt. Whether the baby will have it is a different thing. formula is not delicious like bm (imo).

what about expressing a bit each day to be given in one go? I've got some in the freezer for emergencies.

shesparkles · 01/03/2011 10:53

I do believe that not everyone can express a lot-I could have expressed for every child in the street, but my sister really struggled to express. We both had the Avent Isis hand pump

Olivetti · 01/03/2011 10:57

Nagoo - that's what I am trying to do at the moment, expressing 40-60ml a day and freezing it. For some reason it's making me upset not being able to get much though, and I don't think that's good for me or the baby. I'm being irrational, I know, and over-emotional.

Cosmosis · 01/03/2011 11:05

Do anyof you do breast massage first to ready the boobs? That should help I think.

I've just bought an ameda lactaline 2ndhand on ebay, tried it for the first time this morning and was v impressed - got 7oz in under 10 mins! So much more efficient than my single tommee tippee electric was.

Ilikegreenshoes · 01/03/2011 11:05

I had no trouble expressing plenty of milk, though time of day definitely made a difference to the amount (first thing in the morning and last thing at night seemed to be best, don't know why) But I have to say I got loads more once I invested in a Medela electric pump as opposed to the Avent manual one I had. Don't know why.

Haven't expressed for ages though, so not sure how much I'd get now - perhaps I'll crack out the pump again, for old time's sake!

Nagoo · 01/03/2011 11:06

if you get that much and you only need to give a bottle a couple of times a week, then you should be ok?

I get very when I DH doesn't seem to try with the bottle and I have to tip it down the sink. It's hard won stuff isn't it? I don't think it's unusual to be a bit attatched to your home made product

Goldrill · 01/03/2011 11:09

I usually get 3 to 4 oz per boob in the morning and maybe 2oz each if I do it in the evening.

I have found I get an awful lot more if I do something like surf the net or play solitaire whilst pumping and don't think about it - let down much faster too. If I try and do it while DD present I get a dribble!

Have a medela swing which is very good.

Unfortunately this may all be in vain as she is still refusing a bottle or cup - anyone want a freezer drawer full of milk...?

PoledrathePissedOffFairy · 01/03/2011 11:18

Goldrill, I know that was a jokey comment at the end of your post, but, on the off0chance it wasn't, might a milk bank be interested (www.ukamb.org/)? I'd have loved to be able to donate milk but (as per previous posts) was no good at it............

Goldrill · 01/03/2011 17:50

if it comes to it I will certainly look into it Poledra. It's a pity I live in the back of beyond because I'd be quite happy to do a regular donation, but am hours away from any of the centres. Sincerely hope some of it will end up in DD's tummy shortly though!

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