Any ideas if i can do anything to express even more milk?

[nannyl]

My baby is 4 months old and since she was 5 weeks old has had a bottle of EBM given by daddy.

This really suits us as it means from 5.30pm I have time to sort laundry and cook our dinner etc etc. (I LOVE cooking). It also suits Daddy as it gives him some proper Daddy time each day. Neither of us want to change this.

My baby feeds:
1 breast at about 7.30am (& I express the other)
2 breasts at about 10 / 10.30am ish
2 breasts at about 1pm ish
2 breast at about 3.30pm ish
1 breast at about 5pm ish
8oz bottle at 6.30pm

2 breasts at 11 / 11.30pm ish
2 breasts at 3.30am ish.

I express both breasts at 7pm and 9.30pm ish. (same time each day and have been doing so for months)

My issue is she has recently upped her milk to 8oz, and I only express 6 - 8oz a day. (normally nearer 7oz)

I am now not pumping enough milk to sustain her bedtime bottle

I take fenugreek and eat and drink well.

I have decided that once she is 6months old and has had cows milk as part of her diet, I will give her a bed time bottle of formula (as I am fed up of expressing all the time) But i feel very strongly that I dont want her to have any formula before 6m.

I plan to start weaning her at 5m, so will also need milk to mix with baby rice etc, so i guess i will need perhaps 10oz + a day.

We have 2 nights out planned as well and will need to leave a bottle with the babysitter, though i hope to be home before her 11pm ish wake up.

I have a fair bit in the freezer (14 5oz bottles i think), but Im not convinced this will be enough to get her until 6 months old

Also i was pumping enough milk for Daddy to do a couple of night time bottles a month (about 1 bottle every other weekend so I could have some unbroken sleep) and it really upsets me to think im not going to be pumping enough to enable this to happen.

I have 3 pumps, hand pump, swing and medala freestyle and get the same small amount of milk regardless of which pump i use. I use my freestyle 99% of the time as its a double pump, so much quicker and doesnt need a plug.
I really dont want to buy any other pumps as have spent rather a lot on breast pumps already.

Any tips?

8oz is a lot of milk to take in one go, I'd be inclined to not give more than 4 or 5oz as 8oz is about 8 hours worth of milk!

Are you still using newborn teats, plenty of pauses when bottle feeding so she is able to be aware of her satiety cues, giving a dummy/clean finger after her bottle if she still wants to suck?

On the pumping front, breast massage towards the nipple before pumping, breast compressions during pumping, hand expression post pumping are all ways to increase pump yields. Cluster pumping (10 mins pumping, 10 mins not, 10 mins pumping, 10 mins not, 10 mins pumping) can help increase yields in the future rather than working then and there so might be something else to try.

How much fenugreek do you take a day?

I might be wrong but I would have thought she isn't getting 8oz when she bf from you. She will probably take what she is given. How is she after 6oz does she fuss?

Yep - 8 oz is a huge amount.

What is sometimes called 'paced bottle feeding' (google it) might help you and your dh.

6oz is no way enough for my piggy!!!!

she has been on 7oz since 9 weeks

the last week or so she has been having 7oz bottles but really hungry after (and rooting for daddies nipples) and point blank refusing to settle as she looks for milk, so has then needed top up breast feeds from me (so i then express even less as she has just drunk it!)

at 4 weeks old after 3 hours of cluster feeding i gave her 4oz and she was still hungry, and then drank another 2oz

she now has size 2 (3m+) teets, but she really is hungry, and will not sleep unless she is full

truthsweet thanks for pumping tips.

sounds worth a try and could be the answer maybe? (with my freestyle it only takes 8min anyway)

as for fenugreek i aim and take 2 capsules 3 times a day but some days i only remember it twice

In that case I would be looking at ways to increase her milk intake directly at the breast during the day - especially at the 5pm feed - so she wasn't so hungry for a bottle (offering more frequently, switch nursing, breast compression).

The suggestion for newborn teats is so she has to work a bit harder to get the milk out rather than being able to get it easily. That may lead her to take less and can lessen the chance she may chose bottles over breasts.

You could even try swapping the bottle teat for a dummy part way through the bottle feed and then switching back a minute or so later to see if it's the suckling she wants not the milk (you can comfort nurse on a breast with minimal milk being swallowed but not on a bottle).

not sure how or when i could feed her more during the daytime....

she has 5 good feeds between 7am and 5pm as it is) as it is....

will try breast compression during feeding etc though

she will take a dummy during the day but refuses it at night!!! she just doesnt want to know.

given she wakes at 11 / 12ish (sometimes as early as 10.45) and then again in the night i am reluctant to give her less milk at bed time. (2 nights ago as a one off she slept until 3.15am though, and then fed for an hour and then slept til 7.30)

If i feed her 2 breasts at 5pm ish then i hardly express any milk at all at 7pm .

The more you feed and the more you express the more you make. It may not look like it for the first few days but you will catch up.

If she wakes at 7.30ish, could you offer to feed her at 9? She may well feed more often if offered often, as there are 3hr gaps in the morning between feeds.

If giving the bottles is making you stressed (am I pumping enough? is she eating too much/not enough? will she sleep ok?) why not try a day with out them? DH can do other things with baby while you cook if you feed her before hand (have a bath, take her for a walk in a sling/pram, play with her, etc)?

You could try taking max dose of fenugreek. 3 capsules 3x daily.