supply and demand question

[lindso]

Hi.

I'm currently expressing three times a day to increase supply - giving this ebm top up at next feed (advised to do so by HV as five week old baby not gaining very much weight).
Query is: at night, baby doesn't feed much (wakes up twice, feeds for about half an hour) day time feeds can go on for over an hour and are about every 2 hours - along with non stop cluster feeds in evening. when i express first thing, i can get quite a lot (for me) say 2.5 oz's, but when i express at lunchtime and tea time i get pathetic amounts.
i'm assuming i can yield a lot in the morning cos there's a build up of milk as she hasn't fed much during the night - but going on the logic of the more you express/baby feeds the more you make argument, i would have thought i could express bigger amounts during the day as she feeds so frequenty. any thoughts???

Your body is probably making more milk ,but because your lo feeds so frequently during the day, he / she is taking most of it!

The amount you can express isn't a true indicator of how much you're producing, as no pump is anywhere near as efficient as a baby at geting milk out.

See this page on kellymom for a good explanation about variations in pumping 'yeild'.

The amount you get early morning is the unusual bit, lindso....the smaller amounts you get later on is the usual experience.

You are over-supplying in the morning - that's why you have a lot of excess.

Overall, your frequent feeding and expressing will mean you are making more milk in total, and the frequent removal of milk means more rapid production. It does not mean you will get 2.5 ounces every time you pump.

HTH

cheers.