Breast milk supply

[WavyTwinMommy]

Hi all! I gave birth about 3 weeks ago at 33 weeks gestation to my twin girls. I have concerns about making enough milk for both of them. Right now I'm between 500-650mL a day in pumping, but I need to be between 800-900mL a day to really be able to feed them solely breast milk when they come home from the nicu. Right now they're getting a combination of my milk and donor milk, so I have time to get my supply up. What are your favorite tricks/tips for increasing milk supply and keeping it steady? P.s. I've done power pumping for 4 days now, drinking water, and have heard about lactation cookies (don't know if they truly work.) I also pump about 6-7 times a day, but find the less times I pump a day, the more milk I get at the end of the day so I don't know if I should stay at 7 pumps a day or 4 times...? TIA

Hey hun it sounds like you are doing great and doing all the right things, what I would suggest is to up the amount of times you pump a day if you can add another couple (12 times is the goal but very hard to achieve) also make sure you are doing atleast one middle of the night pump
Try and sleep when u can, which I know is hard with a baby in nicu
look at joining www.facebook.com/groups/566808133515254/?ref=share
Loads of helpful tips and tricks

Agree with PP, you need to pump as many times a day as you can without going completely insane. In the early days I pumped for 15 mins every 3 hours all day, every day - it works out at eight times a day. After the first month I reduced it to seven times a day by allowing myself slightly longer breaks at night.

Remember though OP that even more important than breastmilk to your babies is having a happy mum that hasn't gone completely potty from sleeplessness and stress. Feeding two babies on expressed milk alone is very difficult and just know that it is okay to supplement with formula once you all go home - they will still be getting the goodness from your milk.

12 times a day would have driven me completely mad.

Agree with the above comments, more often will help increase supply, and a middle of the night pump (between 1am and 4am) really helps. Try to fully empty them each time you pump, ie. Until the milk flow slows or stops.

Oh, and oats are supposed to help, so oat milk or porridge for breakfast. Make sure you're eating and drinking plenty and resting as much as you can. Making that much milk will burn a serious amount of energy.

Good luck!

Also OP, I didn't eat anything special (not sure the foods meant to help really do much) but I did drink a LOT of water. I noticed that if I forgot and didn't drink even for just a few hours then the next pumping session was less productive.

Might be too late to say it but
Double pump as often as you can. Minimum 8 times in 24 hours but 9 or 10 is better. Make sure you don't try to skip a middle of the night pump - that 1 or 2am one is crucial in terms of prolactin levels. More pumping = more milk. Frequent works like nothing else.
Drink loads
Oats oats oats

I drank fennel tea which helped me but doesn't work for everyone.