Can't express enough

[PretzelPrincess]

I EBF but express occasionly to allow someone else to feed. DS is 12 weeks old now and I'm only able to express 2 oz Is there a diffrence between expressing and the baby actually feeding? I'm worried he's not getting enough nutrition and may be left hungry.
He seems content and is growing although hasn't been weighed for a while. I don't want to get caught up in numbers but 2oz seems so little!

Yes, there's a difference - babies and pumps work differently, what you can express is no indication of supply.

Depending on how often your baby feeds, 2oz may not be far off a feed. Breastfed babies don't need to take as much volume as formula fed babies and tend to feed little and often.

Kellymom states that the average intake of a breastfed baby is 25oz, so a baby that feeds 10 times a day (like mine!) might only be taking 2-3oz per feed.

I worried about this too. The best advice I got: if the baby is thriving and making wet/dirty nappies, don't worry whether you're making enough milk because you definitely are. Babies will let you know when they're hungry!

I have trouble expressing too, someone at baby cafe told me this week that if you down a pint of water immediately before expressing you get more. I'm not sure there's any truth in it but I'm going to try it next time!

I'll try the water trick! It's just that I can't seem to express a full feed So I generally have to express twice for one feed. It's frustrating!

Is there a diffrence between expressing and the baby actually feeding?

Yes definitely. DD was EBF for 6 months and then went on to feed till 18mo. I was never able to express much. The time you spent trying to pump a bottle outweighs the time you take back from having someone else give a feed. To me, you either resign to just feeding yourself from the breast, or give formula when someone else take your baby. They aren't EBF forever, and formula is not evil.

Your baby is doing fine on the breast and you can see it from how much weight they gain! Have faith in mother nature.

My experience with both children (EBFed for 6mo and BF until 18mo) is that I had huge milk supply but could not express much. I was not worried as not only did they both thrive, but I was leaking milk all the time (especially with my first). It was only once that I tried to express and it took me almost hour to get 3oz. And the pump gave me blocked ducts around nipple so I gave up on expressing altogether. I didn't even try with my second.