How much Breast Milk should one produce?

O

Obiwan

Registered User
Hiya, I am wondering what is a 'normal' amount of breast milk one should expect at

1. Day 1
2. Day 5 (My baby is 5 day-old now)
3. 1 Week
4. 2 Weeks
5. 3 Weeks
6. 1 Month

I understand that milk production and flow will increase as breast feeding is better established, but am not sure if I am producing the 'right' amount of is too little. Can anyone help?

By the way, how much milk does a baby need? Thank you very much.
 
All babies are different and need different amounts so there isn't one right answer in terms of how many ounces, which you woulnd't know anywyas unless you exclusively pumped. Pumping does not always tell you how much you make, I had very fat , growing babies and could hardly pump anything, so if the question is how to tell if you baby is getting enough (both in terms of making enough milk, and baby removing enough milk, 2 totally different things), then
the general guidline is
Day one 1 pee, 1 poop
Day 2 2 pee, 2 poop
day 3 3 pee, 2 or more large poop( about 1 tbsp in amount)
day 4 6-10 wet diaper/day from here on, and poop should be seedy and yellow by now, minimum 2 large, burt some babies poop way more than that.
regain birth weight by 10 days
gain on average 5-6 oz/week the first 3 months (some weeks will be more, some weeks less,

the bottom line is if you baby is gaining weight, you have enough milk, it is not amount the specific amount of milk that is important
 
Does it seem like your baby is not getting enough? I know when I was in the hospital I had to top mine off with formula until day 4 (when I refused and just let him suck suck suck). I never knew if I had enough either. I pumped whenever I had the chance, until one day at around 1 month, I noticed my baby had gotten a lot bigger and found out he gained more than a kilo since birth.
I don`t know about actual amounts we`re supposed to produce, but I think it`s more helpful to looks towards your baby for signs of him/her getting enough, like wet diapers, adequate weight gain. Some babies like to breastfeed more often than others, and there are also growth spurts to consider - I think at 3 weeks, 6 weeks at first.
 
Thank you ladies!!

When I was at Matilda, I was getting about 10ml each breast on day 3 - 4 when I expressed and the mid-wives there were very encouraging, telling me that my milk supply was improving.

I was reading this forum and notice that most people here are producing >90ml (!!) each pump, and am wondering if I'm producing too little, or that this is an OK amount on day 5 - 6 (20ml each breast now).

Baby is pooping several times a day, but i don't have 8 - 10 wet diapers (only get about at most 3 pee a day). Or perhaps I can't tell if she also pees when she poops....

Btw, had a really great experience at Matilda (not cheap though) and highly recommend it. The mid-wives there are great (a few better than some others), and when we left, we could get the baby to latch on, and are pretty comfortable with breastfeeding, know how to bathe, change and swaddle the baby etc.
 
i could only pump 10ml 6 weeks postpartum (10 minutes on double electric pump) which gradually increased to 30ml. Most of the time my baby had 70ml per feed which seems lower than most mums on geobaby. I worried all the time about whether she had enough, but she was thriving outwardly, gaining weight, had wet nappies etc. From 3 months postpartum milk pumped from each session increased very gradually, from 60ml to 100 ml. I breastfed 4 times a day and pumped another 2-3 sessions as well. So you should not be thinking in terms of weeks but I would say months. My baby is exclusively breastfed and I must admit i have been counting the days til she started solids to take the pressure off. Just hang in there, keep breastfeeding and pumping, don't listen to the naysayers.
 
Thanks for your encouragement Lisa88. May I ask if you feed your baby with bottle when you pump?

I understand that bottles are discouraged for the first 6 weeks of breastfeeding, so I have been using the Medela spoon when I pump. Some times the baby takes it, but there are occasions when the baby doesn't want that and only wants to suckle on the breasts. Do you ladies have similar experience and what do you do?

Thanks.
 
Be careful~ Aside from the first few days in the hospital, i didn`t give my son a bottle at all. the pumped milk I had was just in the freezer. I waited too long to reintroduce the bottle and then it was too late. I did it at about 5.5-6 weeks, possibly a week or so too late. He totally rejected it. Until now, I only breastfeed him. The window of opportunity for introducing a bottle seems to be at about 4-5 weeks from what I read. If breastfeeding is going fine before that (for us it wasn`t), then I think there is nothing wrong with introducing it earlier than that.
 
Thanks Shenzhennifer, glad to hear that it's ok to introduce the bottle.

My nipples are getting sore and painful from all the suckling and they really hurt when i first put her to the breasts and she starts sucking vigorously! If she rejects the spoon, and I don't use the bottle, I will have no choice but to bear with the pain each time :(

I recall reading somewhere that they discourage us from using bottle and pacifier/dummy before 6 weeks though ... nipple confusion et al?

By the way, can you mix different batches of pumped breast milk into one? Or do they have to be kept separately?

Thanks again!
 
Hi Obiwan

Sorry for the late reply, have been away and just got back online.

Yes my baby had expressed breast milk in a bottle from age 10 weeks, because I went back to work then. I know there are a lot of dos and don'ts about giving your baby the bottle and the pacifier before certain age, but I was lucky with my baby, she suckled from my breast and EBM in a bottle too, without any fuss. I got the Tommee Tippee bottles with the teats that seem pretty similar to the human nipple from Mothercare, maybe that helped.

There is a lot of information on breastfeeding at the La Leche League website, both the HK and International sites. You can also call up the leaders (English and Cantonese) with all the questions you have from time to time, they are very very knowledgeable and supportive.

Good luck!
 
you should not have ANY "milk" at all for the first 3-5 days! what you produce is called colustrum(sp?). it is VERY thick, and VERY nutritious. around day 3-5 your real milk will "come in". after each of my births, mine came in overnight and i woke up around 3am with rock-hard, very painful boobs. i had to get the baby to feed immediately, or i felt like i'd explode.

once the milk comes in, then you start producing more. no one knows exactly how much milk they produce as you can't pump it all out. some people produce more, some less. what is the MOST IMPORTANT is how your baby is putting on weight. i believe that by day 10, your baby should have gained back enough to reach his/her birth weight.

don't worry about what "other mums" seem to be able to do. that's not important. what is important is that your baby gain the "correct" weight. but even so, remember some babies are naturally bigger and some naturally smaller.

good luck! you are doing a wonderful thing for your baby.
 
Thank you girls!

I started introducing the bottle with formula milk for the last feed and she took to it very well, and so far i have had no problem with feeding on the breasts as well. Still hurt, but baby is not rejecting it.

Once I get my pump, I plan to bottle feed her EBM in place of formula for moments when she is still hungry and my nipples are too sore to nurse.

Saw the doctor over the weekend, her weight gain is good, almost back to her birth weight, so that's a load off my shoulder :) Thank you so much for all your support!
 
Dear Obiwan,

If you are still experiencing sore nipples please get help with your positioning. Call myself (2548-75636) or one of the other LLL Leaders (numbers listed at LLL-HK Home Page).

Breastfeeding shouldn't hurt (it might be tender to begin with but it shouldn't be sore). The most common reason for sore nipples is a positioning or latch issue.

Generally we suggest not to introduce bottles or pacifiers until the baby knows exactly how to breastfeed (i.e. when the baby is gaining well and the mother no longer has any pain or worries). This is usually around the four to six weeks. Some babies learn quickly and then the mother can introduce the bottle a little earlier and some babies continue to have problems for a few weeks in which case we'd suggest waiting until the baby has been feeding well for four to six weeks.

It is fine to add different batches of fresh milk together. But you have to date it from the oldest milk. It is also OK to add fresh milk to frozen milk - chill the milk first and only add it in small quantities so that the already frozen milk doesn't thaw as you add the fresh milk. (If you want to use the frozen and fresh milk immediately then it doesn?t matter that the frozen milk thaws.)

However, it is better to use fresh milk if possible and fresh milk will keep up to seven days in the fridge, although three days is recommended.

If you can make it join one of the LLL meetings and then the Leaders can help you face to face. Our next meeting is on Wednesday at the Helena May on Garden Road, Central. The details of the meetings are at LLL-HK Meetings for English speaking meetings and LLL-HK 會議日程 for Cantonese speaking meetings.

The article Why La Leche League, LLL-HK Why LLL , gives a nice description of our meetings and why you might find them helpful.

Best wishes,
SARAH
 
Go to this website:

kellymom.com :: I'm not pumping enough milk. What can I do?

It is a great resource!!! I've been breastfeeding my first born and have needed a lot of help. For quite a while i thought I was having supply issues, but then after research found out I'm about average! Not only am I average, but I've been thinking that the amount I pump is the amount my baby is getting when nursing, which is totally not the case 99% of the time! Many women can nurse their baby's fine and can't pump at all.

I have been working fulltime since my son was 3 months old. I need to pump three times to get enough for one feeding. I get between 1 and 2 ounces per pumping session from both breasts. Like you, I will get 90% from my left and only 10% from my right, occasionally they will switch and the right will give me 90% of what i pump and the left only 10%. That is more common than you might think!

So, check out this website, I'm sure you'll feel better after doing some research.

Good luck!
 
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