How do I supply and stock enough milk for my baby?

[Mjayne98]

I’m a new mum of one week, my little one is only 5 pounds ten and has a hard time latching, I spent the first few days with my poor baby screaming because i didn’t realise she wasn’t getting enough milk, I’ve been advised to express milk and I bought an electric pump. She needs to feed every 3 hours maximum and drinks about 3oz per feed, the problem I’ve also been told to pump every 3 hours to keep my supply in, I roughly produce about 3oz (same as what my little one drinks at each feed) so logically this means if I pump every single 3 hours and feed her, but the milk will break even with the feeding if that makes sense, there’s no way of stocking up, however I miss even one pumping session I’m inevitably behind..

I’m worried as this also means I’ll be pumping at 3am, 6am, 9am ect and being a new mum i am absolutely exhausted so pumping at these times is super
Difficult I’ll be getting up every 3 hours feeding my baby for 20-25 minutes from a stored bottle then pumping for another 30 minutes to replace the bottle she’s just had and it seems silly and unobtainable I don’t know when I’m supposed to sleep.. :( I don’t want to use formula if I can help it but I’ve had to resort to it once or twice.. am I looking at this the wrong way? I keep reassuring myself with the fact that soon I will be producing even more milk as the weeks go by, however then remember that she will want to eat more as the weeks go by too.. can anyone help me? My midwives have said that I produce a lot of milk, so why is this such a problem for me :(

Congratulations on your new baby.

The early days and weeks are rough. What support do you have? Is there a breastfeeding group or lactation consultant near you?

I'd be seeing them about improving latch so you can feed directly from the breast and save yourself some work.

You can also look at a Haakaa style pump and use that while feeding baby.

It's still super early days so don't give up on anything just yet

Please don't stress how you feed your child. Normally I am of the 'ooo breast is natural camp'. But really what matters is your child is fed. If you switch to formula- so what. There are different circumstances surrounding each birth. If your baby can't breast feed then feed whatever your child needs to keep healthy. Maybe in this case it's a mix of formula and breast milk....maybe just formula.

You need to look after you as much as your baby. (If you are exhausted then you can't be much help to baby).

You have done tremendously well feeding pumped milk till now. Please don't worry if you can't keep it up. (I watched my friend go through this angst with her preemie child. It didn't help her or her son.) Formula fed kids can thrive too.

Don’t worry about the formula. I gave my 4lb baby a formula feed daily for 2 weeks, never did again, then bf for 3 more years.

Please push for getting your baby checked for tongue tie. If the latch doesn’t improve and the baby has been checked by midwives etc, consider going private to get it checked. It is missed in so many cases and causes so many issues with feeding. Having been through it myself, the lack of support makes me so angry. Pumping is not the answer they should be giving you, they should be supporting you to find out why your baby is struggling to feed. And if you want to breastfeed, formula is also not the answer, and there are NICE guidelines stating there are steps they should take before going down that route (sorry, I’ll get off my soap box now!)
I really hope you get somewhere with it. That schedule is so so tough, and is really quite unsustainable. You’re doing an amazing job sticking to it, so well done!

To clarify I’ve had several midwives help me try to breastfeed and it does work 2/10 times! I have large breasts so this doesnt help her latch :( she will however feed through a nipple shield and a bottle, so i think in terms of this my breast must be the problem xx

Thankyou! I’m thinking about doing formula on the 12.30am, 3am & 6am feeds just so I don’t need to worry about pumping at these times and instead pump through the day for breast milk, I really wanted to avoid formula if I could help it not that there is anything wrong with it at all, I agree a fed baby is best no matter how that baby is fed, I just want her to have the healthiest start possible 🥺x

Did you find your supply was enough after those first two weeks? Thankyou! X

Did you find your supply was enough after two weeks? Thankyou! X

If she will feed through a shield I would keep feeding her like that for now.
What pump did you get? Can you pump and feed at the same time rather than feed then pump so you aren't up as much in the night?

I would also spend lots of time skin to skin in a semi laid back position as she might find your breast herself and latch - have a look at biological nursing for this.

Also, get her tongue checked as it could be tied.

I used nipple shields with newborn ds for a couple of weeks because my poor nipples were shredded. He didn't need them after two weeks or so, once he got the hang of it, and my nipples recovered, and he breastfed until he was about a year old, with the odd bottle of formula thrown in when I needed a break. I found combination feeding worked really well for us in the end because it meant other people could help me when I needed it. Those first two weeks were tough though, I can't remember ever being so exhausted.

Breastfed, formula fed, combination fed, nipple shields, whatever works for you and your baby is absolutely fine. This is your child, it's your choice to make. Anyone else's opinion is irrelevant.

My preemie struggled to drink from breast too. I had lactation experts sit with me for hours and my technique is fine. Baby latches, but does not drink much, and I am not comfortable letting my below 1st centile baby go without, because of some practitioners' obsession with breastfeeding directly from the nipple. We did not have a standard baby, and my baby is not necessarily doing things regular full term and average weight babies do. I work with the baby I have, and the limitations baby has, not some ideal of how things 'should' be. By all means get some advise first, but don't beat yourself up if it doesn't work for your baby.

I have been pumping and bottle feeding for almost four months now. Baby is now almost 8 pounds, and was born below 3 pounds. It is a time-consuming and relentless business. I would suggest trying baby on breast and then pumping afterwards to empty what remains in your breast, and use that as a top-up for the next feed, if baby has not latched/drunk enough. Then repeat. Sometimes I just go for the expressed milk bottle, and don't do breast first.

When it comes to building supply, try to have a pumping holiday this weekend, where you pump every 1 hr or so. Just demanding, demanding, demanding, and your body should rise to the challenge. It will slowly start producing more. Get a hospital grade pump. I prefer the Medela one, which you can rent for around 50 quid a month. Worth every penny, as it really gets the milk out. I tried other ones, but this one worked best.

When you pump, keep going for another few minutes after milk stops flowing. Massage your breasts during pumping. Pumping after a shower helps, too. People also suggest eating oats and having breast milk supporting tea. Drink plenty, as it makes a difference if you are dehydrated. Pump both breasts at the same time.

What I realised is that after 5 hrs sleep at night, I get a big morning supply, which covers two and sometimes three feeds worth. This was a total game changer. This supply I use for the next night, where my partner takes care of two feeds, so I get some sleep. This system really works for us. I am now switching/going to bed at 6AM after the night shift, while he now wakes and takes care of the coming 5/6 hours, while WFH, with the milk I pumped after last night's sleep. It has kept me sane and this system sustainable. If you partner does not WFH, perhaps doing this in the early evening could work, when partner comes back from work.

Don't hesitate if you need a few supplementary formula feeds to keep you going. If you had a low birth weight or preemie, baby there is special formula on prescription, you could ask your midwife or NNU about.

In the end, just try your best. All baby's buddies from NNU are having different feeding regimes now. They are all growing and nobody gives any other mum a bad time. In the end, fed is best.