Milk Supply

[Rad123]

Looking for some guidance on milk supply.

I've had some issues with breastfeeding my 8 week old so need to top up feeds regularly with expressed milk/formula.

I'd like to get an idea of what my milk supply is so I can be confident that she's getting enough at the breast and eventually try and drop the top ups.

As an indication of what I can express my partner gives a bottle at the end of the day and I'll generally express 100ml (combined). I last expressed this afternoon at 5.30ish, 3 hours since I last expressed and got 50ml combined. Does this sound like an average amount or should I look to increase?

Thanks

Yes would normally expect more than 50-100mls combined at 8 weeks so would try to increase this, are expressing/nursing at least 8 times a day?

Expressing is not an indication of supply. I couldn’t express more than a few drops but DD2 was ebf from 6 weeks to 6 months and I continued to feed her until just over 3 1/2 years.

Expressing doesn't give you an idea of what you are producing. A baby is much more efficient at getting milk out, and at stimulating the breast to increase supply. Was there an issue with weight gain that meant there was a need to formula feed? If you'd like to move from combined feeding to fully breast feeding it's usually very possible, and I'd recommend a trained lactation consultant appointment to advise you.

Did you manage to increase it at all?

Hiya

Yes I did manage to increase supply - I moved to exclusively expressing for a couple of months while I worked on babies latch and was getting generally between 2oz - 5oz per pump depending on the time of day. She's now primarily breastfed.

From researching it a lot though 50-100ml is not a bad amount to express, if you're missing a feed the average amount to express is between 2-5oz, and after nursing 0.5-2oz, so not the huge amounts that social media would have you believe is normal!

Hi!

I'm currently in a similar problem. I've been breastfeeding my lo who is 17 days out but she just seems like she is so hungry and not getting enough. I've been topping up with formula which is something I really didn't want to do. Her mouth is so so small I think her latch might be the problem. It's so stressful! Do you have any advice?

Hi @coco111

First off huge congratulations on the birth of your little one ❤️ I hope you're both doing ok!

I remember those early days of BF so well - it's so so hard and I know how stressful it is! Well done for keeping going with it - you're doing so well. Firstly I would say it's totally normal for it to feel like your baby wants to feel all.the.time - cluster feeding is completely normal in the early days as they build up your supply.

That said though it's not always the case and there could be other factors at play - have you had a tongue tie assessment done? Often this can be missed when you're in hospital and can have a huge effect on how efficiently baby is able to feed so I'd definitely recommend getting this checked by a lactation consultant to see whether this is something that might need correcting. They will also be able to advise you on things like milk supply and whether top ups are necessary, and most importantly how to reduce these if you want to EBF long term.

I'd also recommend going to any local feeding clinics near you - check out whether they have them at any childrens centres close by. They're free and you can pop in for advice and to have your baby weighed if needed.

For general support and advice on breastfeeding NcT and the La Leche League both have free helplines you can call to speak to trained breastfeeding councillors. I'd also recommend Lucy Webber Feeding Support and Kathryn Stagg IBCLC on Instagram - both are great sources of info that have really helped me. There is also a great FB group called Breastfeeding and Lactation Support UK that id recommend joining for general advice - they have lots of great guides and the admins on the group are trained so can give advice if you post on there.

By way of reassurance my daughter was born quite small, her little mouth was tiny and she had a lip and tongue tie (TT corrected at 2 weeks) - and she was tongue tied (corrected at 2weeks) which meant it took her a long time to learn how to latch properly. I topped up for a while with formula and did a lot of expressing and bottle feeding while we worked on her latch, but in time with the right support and as she got bigger and more efficient we were able to successfully combi feed which works for us - now she is breastfed throughout the day with one bottle of formula before bed.

What i would say is that every feeding journey is completely unique and any amount of breast milk you give to your little one is incredibly beneficial. At the end of the day you're doing the best for your little one in making sure they are fed and however you do that is entirely up to you - whether breastfed, combi or formula fed. Don't give yourself a hard time, you're doing amazingly!

Good luck!x