How do I start producing more breastmilk?

Pam2965

My son is 4 months old. I work full time and pump anywhere from 3 to 4 times per day, roughly every two hours, (I try to pump every time he gets a bottle at daycare), and I see him everyday during lunch to nurse him. I am mostly pumping enough to fill his bottles for the next day. Some days I produce more than enough and some days I am a few ounces under. When pumping I produce on average 2 ounces per breast, 4 ounces total. I have taken "Milky" to help boost production and I eat oatmeal every morning. I also have a recipe for lactation cookies that I plan on trying this weekend and I want to start taking fenugreek pills. Maybe I am jumping the gun considering my sons age, but I read about these women who produce 10 to 20 or more ounces total per pumping and I want to do that!! Am I producing an average amount at 4 ounces total every two hours for a 4 month old? When will production pick up? Do I just need to relax? LOL

BelhurstBride

https://bit.ly/LUtWdr

MissLauraPants

I started taking fenugreek and drinking Mother's milk tea...I pump exclusively and pump 5 times a day and yield anywhere from 5-10 ounces each time for 30 ounces total a day.  I definitely saw an improvement after taking the supplement.  Also drink a lot of water

roo1oo

Do you pump at night? Between 1 and 5am? That was my best production time when I was pumping. Mothers Milk tea - you need to drink at least 3 cups a day of that stuff for it to help, and I got so sick of the taste that I couldn't do it anymore. The lactation cookies are good but I didn't find they helped at all. Are you taking hormonal birth control? That killed my supply and the stress of trying to get my supply back up just killed my supply even more. So don't stress over it too much or you might have even more issues.

When I was EPing the best I did was 8 oz and that was in the early morning, around 5-6am. Generally I pumped 4-5 oz (with a couple 8 oz sessions) 5-6x a day and that was enough to feed LO and stash a couple bags a week in the freezer. 

carrotcake06

On average I pump 2oz / hour and I have twins. So for a singleton, that's a lot.

mysticl

Your breastfed baby needs approximately 25 ounces a day.  That has nothing to do with age because your milk will adapt to meet his needs as they change.  That's roughly an ounce an hour, so if you are pumping 4 ounces every 2 hours you are doing just fine.  As other's have said 10-20 ounces more would be massive oversupply and there can be too much a of a good thing when it comes to breast milk supply.   

Pam2965

Thank you for the advice.

I do not pump at night as my LO sleeps a solid eight hours per night. I am up nursing him at 5am before we head out for work / daycare. His last feeding is around 8:30pm. I do produce about 7oz during my first pumping at work which is around 7am. After that it's about 4oz per session. After hearing what everyone was saying I suppose I am doing alright. Sometimes, I guess, we just need reissuance from other Mother's. Thank you ladies!