Too late to increase supply?

[Alice2014]

My DD was born late by EMCS, we BF exclusively for 2 days until she became too lethargic to latch. On admission to NNU we EBM and FF too because she needed so much more. After 12d I'm only expressing 40mls at a time, no where near enough for my DD. I try expressing more frequently but this doesn't seen to increase my supply. Am I too late?

Alice, do get help, as it is perfectly possible to re-start breastfeeding at this stage :)

To 'rescue' the situation you need to express around 8 x in 24 hrs, inc at night, using both breasts at least once each (some mothers get a good yield going from breast to breast, or you can get a double pump which expresses both breasts at the same time).

40 mls at a time is not at all bad - prob about what you might expect at 12 days post-birth.

More frequent expressing will increase your supply, and you can also ensure your baby gets plenty of practice feeding direct...have you got good help at home and good access to bf support?

I have good help at home, and we are BF every now and again in addition to EBM: I just find it brings peace of mind expressing as I know how much she is getting. We will keep going and I'll increase the number of times I'm expressing. We're having lots of skin to skin too which I know should help.

Will see the MW today to see if there is any extra support in our area.

That's all good :)

It'll also help to keep your baby close to you, skin to skin, as you say, as much as poss, as it stims her need for the breast and allows you to respond to any tiny feeding cues.

Breastfeeding needs to be often - not just 'now and again'. Even if it's not always effective, the actual attempt is not a waste of time at all.

Please don't equate expressing with 'seeing how much she is getting' - big fat WRONG!!! Expressing might underestimate how much your baby gets or even overestimate. All expressing does is tell you how much you got out with a pump on that particular occasion.

It might help to talk things through with any of the bf helplines - see mumsnet bf pages for the details.

40 ml at a time sounds good at this stage. My lb needed to be topped up with formula the first week and the total volume (ebm+formula) that we were advised to give per feed was 55 ml (it depends on the weight and he was about 3kg), with 8 feeds per day. So you are not too far off.