How can I increase my milk supply?

[bilbenjen]

Hi!

I'm exclusively breastfeeding (5 weeks today) and expressing milk. One breast pumps about 10oz almost every morning and definitely has a larger volume of milk in there. Where as the other hardly produces 2oz. Ive got it to increase slightly from 1oz to the current 2oz but I just can't seem to get it to produce any more.
I pump on both sides and breastfeed on both sides.
I was just wondering if anyone's gone through anything similar and if they found a way to increase their supply.

Thank you!

I never expressed more than 25ml from either side when I was feeding DS, nothing I did helped that. However, I never had any problems making enough for DS who was on the 99th centile. For me it was just one of those things

Is there a particular reason you want to express more?

The best way to increase supply is to feed. As long as your baby is exclusively breastfeeding then you'll produce exactly what he needs. The amount you can pump is no indication of your supply, as babies are far more effective than a pump.

10oz is a HUGE amount to express btw 1-2oz is certainly more normal from my experience. Please be careful as well, you're risking massive oversupply which can lead to mastitis. Pumping before 6 weeks isn't recommended.

As Spam88 says, that's a huge amount

Unless you need to express, don't.

Feed your baby by putting them to the breast and your supply will regulate to their needs

I was told my by midwives that expressing is fine. It works for me and my baby, there seems to be a lot of conflicting information around and everything's always changing.
The reason for wanting to express/increase my supply isn't really necessary to the answer to the question.

10 oz is a lot but if you do want to increase, make sure you are eating right. Good quality proteins and fats, plus OATS. they are a nursing wonderfood! Plus there are natural supplements you can take.

Wow, apologies for trying help

Are you eating and drinking plenty? That's key!

Another thing, in my experience the best way to increase supply is to feed, feed, feed and not worry about expressing. Also expressing isn't a reliable indicator of your supply / how much you're producing. I breastfed for over 16 months without any issue and had plenty of milk yet I could just not express - 1-2 drops in 45 mins! Wet and dirty nappies / a content baby are the best indicators of supply imo. If you want to continue expressing that's of course your choice but if u can't produce much from it then please don't worry. Good luck and well done on making it this far!

I took turmeric capsules on the advice of someone on MN, but super-dosing so more than it said on the packet. It increased my supply a lot after a couple of days.

Thank you for the useful tips and information!
The one that produces 10oz from pumping has pretty much always done that from when au started. I guess it's just different for different people.
Thanks again though! It's appreciated ☺️

What you get from the pump bears no relation to what the baby gets from the breast. I could never express/pump a single drop yet my son was ebf and I fed him for 13 months.

Based on my friends’ experience, getting into a heavy pumping regime that early on can be more trouble than it’s worth - you essentially end up with oversupply and are locked into the pumping cycle. If you need to stop suddenly (like if you want to have a day out) it can lead to mastitis etc, so be careful.

FWIW, try pumping whilst you feed if you're not doing so already, I've always got more that way. If your supply is actually low you could try power pumping.

Pump while feeding.

I have one mega boob and one naff one. Think it must just be the pump and my biology.

I took fenugreek capsules (from Holland and Barrett) and made sure I was drinking plenty of water

To increase supply you need to remove more milk. So things like more feeding the baby directly, more pumping sessions.

If its the expressing outut you want to incease using a hospital grade pump and doing hands on expressing(google for a video).