How do i increase supply ?

[mamatomany]

DS is 2 weeks on Monday and i see from the formula tin that they are meant to increase from 3oz every 4 hours to 4oz's every 4 hours at two weeks.
I am expressing because i cry with pain when he latches on but am only producing 3oz's maximum.
Has anyone got any tips as to how to magic up that extra ounce please ?

You need to get baby's latch sorted out so that he doesn't hurt you. As far as I know it's very difficult to get supply increased through expressing only.

I wouldn't get too hung up on what it says formula fed babies should be getting. BF babies feed more often - though I've no idea how much they take! Does your baby seem satisfied with what he's getting? Is he gaining weight and having lots of wet nappies?

There is some stuff on the Kellymom website here about breastmilk which says that the amount that breastfed babies take in doesn't actually change with age (between 1 and 6 months anyway), it does increase during growth spurts, but normally it just changes content for your babies needs. How cool is that?!

So although a formula fed baby would be increasing the amount they take in, a breastfed baby just gets the same amount, but it gets more creamy and nutritious.

It also says for babies under a month old you would expect them to take less than the average of 25oz per day as their stomachs are smaller, so your baby taking less than a formula fed baby would be to be expected.

There is also a lot of helpful info about increasing supply and pumping on kellymom here so if you do want to increase your supply, something on there may work.

HTH

I'm sure someone wiser than me will be able to help you more but I was told to multiply my baby's weight in pounds by 2.5 and then divide by the number of feeds she was having to get the approximate number of ounces she needs at each feed.

I would second getting help with the latch and also judging how much he needs by whether he seems satisfied by 3oz. Good luck!

Thank you both, I figured it's the latch we need to work on it's absolute agony at the moment, brilliant link GTPS thanks again.

Yes, indeed - comfortable breastfeeding is the answer to this dilemma

mamatomany -please get some decent help with this.

Very few women would get more than 3 oz at any one time by expressing - but using the formula tin to tell you how much breastmilk your baby would need is going to mislead you.

Having said that, the only sure way to make more milk is to remove it more often - by the baby or by expressing. So 10 expressings getting 3 oz at a time will give you more milk than 6 expressings getting 3 oz at a time...

I find it hard to get anything off during expressing other than first thing in the morning when my breasts feel full. But I have enough for a hungry DS2.

The only solution here is to get your latch sorted out ASAP. Are your nipples "damaged" from the feeding or does it just hurt when he feeds?

Its not really relevant what its says on the formula tin but if you are exclusively expressing it would not be uncommon for your supply to decrease.

Also at 2 weeks whilst FF babies might be feeding every 4 hours a breastfed baby would be feeding probably every 2.5 hours, maybe slightly more at night, so a typical day for me at 2 weeks would have been roughly 7am, 9.30am, 12pm 2.30pm 4.30pm 7pm, 10pm 1am 4am - so 8 or 9 feeds in 24 hours. If each feed was 3oz, thats 27oz - which is not so different to 4oz every 4 hours.

eat cake

lots and lots and lots of cake

It's funny you should mention cake, i've gone into baking over drive since giving birth !
It just really hurt from day one when he latched on, at first i thought his little mouth wasn't big enough to get enough in but now the nipples are very flat and tender, don't think they are actually cracked.