How much breast milk should I be able to express at 10 days post-partum?

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I gave birth to twins 10 days ago, via c-section. My milk came in around day 5.

I've been trying to breast feed both of them, but mixed feeding rather than EBF. I'm hoping to get to the point that for every feed, I can do one baby on the breast and the other via formula, and then swap for the following feed.

At this point, I'm not producing enough milk for a full feed - whichever baby has been on the breast is hungry enough to need 1 to 2 ounces of formula afterwards. So today I tried using a breast pump, both to stimulate my supply and to get an indication of how much I'm producing. I pumped for 10 minutes on each breast, and the result was literally a few drops - not more than about 5ml in total.

Is that all the babies are getting when they feed? Or will I get less through pumping than they will through suckling? Also, is this amount normal at this point, or should I be producing a lot more milk?

Babies are much more efficient at getting milk than a pump. I could seldom express more than 10ml but I exclusively bf and none of mine starved. My body just didn't seem to like expressing.

I found it very difficult to pump milk - best time was always about 5am but otherwise when my baby was on one side and I was pumping on the other. They will be getting more than the pump so don't worry about that. The more they "put in orders" the more you will produce, so (as much as it is no doubt knackering - all credit to you with two!) I would let them feed as much as possible in these early days.

Bf babies definitely feed for longer than they tell you at hospital. Sometimes id spend 6 hours or so nursing dd, they do it to get your supply up. It's easier to drink from a bottle than the breast so probably why they're having a bit of formula afterwards? I used to find it easiest to pump whilst nursing - you can get a lot more off that way, not sure if that's practical for you though? Good luck x

Not much to begin with. I didn't pump (singleton) until about eight weeks in and even then it took a few weeks of pumping (I pumped same time each morning) every day until I could get 6oz a time. Both DD were ebf and thrived- pumping is not a reasonable test of how much you are making.
Good luck sounds like you are doing well xx

I found pumping impossibly hard for ages. I’ve bf one child to 2 yrs and I’m 1 yr into baby two, some days I still can’t pump much. I’d spend more time with a baby on your breast instead, and up your water and calorie intake. Your body will get there.

What about a haaka or similar silicone pump on the other side whilst feeding? So stimulating supply but not taking extra time?

I couldn't pump much until a few months in to bf with a singleton.
I mix fed early on then my production increased from lots of skin to skin and baby on the breast. I ate porridge etc too. To try and increase production no idea if it really worked but was easy to do and no harm x

I never pumped more than 3oz, more usually between 1 and 2. It has no bearing on how the baby feeds directly.

When you say they want formula after a feed, have you tried just keeping them on the breast for longer? Even if it means you're switching sides multiple times in one feed? Breastfeeding should work on a supply and demand, your body will produce what is needed. To stimulate supply I was recommended to try switch feeding for 48 hours, 7 minutes per side and keep swapping until the baby is done. It did seem to help send the message about how much to supply.

Massive kudos to you for feeding two, I hope it works out for you as you wish.

Congratulations on the birth of your twins! Like previous posters have said babies are normally better than pumps at getting the milk and also better at stimulating supply. Have you tried a haakaa or similar silicone pump? I found them easier and more effective than traditional pumps. Also cluster feeding is something I was never told about beforehand but totally a thing with mine. My 2 single babies both had certain days where they might feed-switch-feed-switch for hours. Hats off to you for persevering with twins! Sounds like you're doing great. Trust your body and your babies to get your supply to just the perfect level for them in time.

I mix feed and find I either do well on pumping when I concentrate on that, and baby doesn't seem to get much when they latch in between, or baby does well and I don't get much via pumping. Almost like my body gets used to one sort of sucking and reacts to that, then has to adjust.

The type of pump and leaning forward also worked for me to get my levels up. Also my pump has an initial let down setting for first 5 mins then 25mins of pumping, i would rarely get much within first 10mins as its just getting going but after the full 30 I've got a decent amount.

Hi, i had my twins last year via c section. I found it took a lot longer to establish my milk supply, compared to when i had my daughter naturally a few years before. So what worked for me was to formula feed at night, so i could wake up every 3 hours during the night to express ( i used the medela double pump to save time!) Then during the day for every feed one baby would drink expressed breast milk in the bottle, and the other would feed directly from me, i would alternate each time. How much i could express depended on how long i had gone without feeding, after about a 2-3hour gap i think i got around 3 -4 ounces to start with, then after a good few weeks i could express more than that. Key was to make sure every few hours i was either breast feeding or expressing, especially during the night. I managed this way until they were 6 months, then i formula fed. I wish i could have carried on longer, but my daughter was 3 at the time and was a demanding toddler lol!
It does get easier, first few weeks were hard! X

I EBF for years but could never get more than an oz on the pump 🤷🏻‍♀️

Express in the early morning, you'll get more milk. As a PP said try formula for a few night feeds so you can express and start a stash of breast milk to use. Don't top up with formula, you need to keep baby on breast as long as possible, keep switching sides. The more you feed, the more milk you make