Hi ladies.

Im new to breastfeeding and was having a chat to a MW the other day who said that as I wanted to bf and top up with formula, I would need to express (my baby will not latch on) at least 4 - 5 times a day.

This isnt a problem; however I don't have enough milk!!!! Its a good job I was happy not to exclusively breastfeed as my baby would starve.

In the 4 - 5 times I express every day this only amounts to 2 - 3 oz IN TOTAL!

Surely this isnt normal?? I am big chested and was hoping that I would have lots of milk but I dont :(

I bought lots of breastpads ready to use but I havent needed them as I never leak milk.

can anyone help??

Hiya,

congrats on your lo. My ds is 21 weeks old and ex bf (with little bit of food). I have started to express milk again to make up his baby rice and to put in a doidy cup. I do it an hour or so after his last feed (he only feeds off one side at last feed) and I only get 2 oz out.

A baby is much better at getting milk out than a machine. Have you tried hand expressing?

Emma x

It generally takes a while to build up your breast milk supply as your breasts produce as much milk as baby needs, don't worry your LO shouldn't starve. If your baby isn't latching and you are only expressing then they wont at the moment think that you need too much; keep at expressing and you should start to produce more. There is a good chapter in one of GF's books about how to build up your breast milk supply which might help. you could also try looking at pictures of your LO or having a warm bath before you express to encourage your breasts to let down.

Hope this helps

Hi, how old is your little one? it does take a while 2 get a good supply if your expressing only as the baby isn't stimulting your milk.also are you using a good pump? i've been solely expressing for 27 weeks now as my dd wouldn't feed. ti was hard at first i was expressing every 3hours for the first weeks! and i have got a huge supply and have donated tonnes! i'm now down to 2 pumps a day and still getting approx 16 - 18 0z and mixed feeding with formula now due to weight gaining issues! so it is possible and some ladies do this for over a year! also there is some supplements you can take like fenugreek and other stuff but i don't really know much about them but i have got alot of info on a good message board and theres a begginers guide that i think might help you. http://messageboards.ivillage.com/iv-ppexcluspump hope this helps.
good luck and take care x

[Modified by: clairewin1976 on July 08, 2009 02:25 PM]

I would go against the MW slightly and say that at first you need to express at least every time your LO feeds, if not as much as possible, just to build your supply up. LO can get the milk out of your breast much better than a pump can do so you will have to do more expressing to get the same amount out as the baby would do....

also some people just find they cannot express but baby feeds quite well (I realise not in your case as you say baby wont latch)

You still need to make sure you're drinking at least 2 litres of fluid a day, and eating plenty of high calorie energy food to ensure your milk is top quality

You dont say how old your lo is, but I'm guessing newborn? If so then its normal to get only 2oz ish out as thats prob all baby is taking per feed as their tummies are tiny tiny tiny!

xxx