Twins

christi83

Hello ladies, I generally just read post, but I thought that I would post and ask a question. My twins made there debut on August 10th, born at 33 weeks due to high blood pressure, They are still in the hospital not NICU, but special care nursery. They will be able to come home in about 2 weeks. I am pumping exclusively right now and I am pumping about 420-430cc a day. I am taking Fenugreek to increase milk supply. The Nurses seem to think my milk supply is great. the girls eat 40cc per feeding but they are having to fortify my breast milk to add more calories for them. Do you guys think my milk supply is great to be only 16 days post partum? And is there anything I can do to increase? Thanks in advance

sokmonkee3517

Congratulations!!  Eat oatmeal, I drink one beer a day, and DRINK WATER!!!  Lots and lots and lots and lots of water!!  You are on a great start! As long as you are pumping/feeding, your supply should keep up with the LOs.  Good luck!!

miesl

I'd have to look up my notes (on my home PC), but I can find out what I was EPing per day at that point PP if you want.  Send me a PM.

It seems like it's a bit on the low side, based on kellymom's estimates:

https://www.kellymom.com/bf/supply/maintainsupply-pump.html

How often are you pumping?  How long are your sessions?  How is your let down?

I EP about 52-54 oz per day, which is (just barely) enough for the twins.  I'm having to work to increase supply since they're wanting more milk in the last two weeks.

For preemies - fortification of the milk is normal.  They can't drink enough volume to get in the calories/vitamins they need to grow as quickly as they should.  Mine went home on fortified milk.  Having babies in the hospital is hard, and so is EPing.  *hugs*

LPJB717

miesl:

How often are you pumping?  How long are your sessions?  How is your let down?

I EP about 52-54 oz per day, which is (just barely) enough for the twins.  I'm having to work to increase supply since they're wanting more milk in the last two weeks.

Sorry to hijack...how many times a day do you pump and how long is each session?  This is about how much I pump as well, but I'm finding it takes FOREVER to get all my milk out each time.  One side doesn't even let down for like 10 mins or so.  ??

miesl

You're not going to love my answer... 6-7 times a day for 30 minutes a session.  I get about 2/3 of my milk from one side, the other is slower to let down and it produces less.  I don't feel "empty" unless I go for the full 30 (I have my last let down at about 25-28 minutes).

There was a post on another board (I think it was MM) yesterday by another twin mom who also pumps 30 min/session.

Mrs. Alice

I have preemie twins also, a little older than yours so I've been pumping longer.  My milk supply has just gradually increased over time.  I usually pump 6-8 times a day for about 15-25 minutes at a time.  I found that massaging my breasts while I pump really helps bring the milk out and empty them.  Then I try to pump until a couple minutes after I can't get hardly anything more out.  I'm using a hospital grade pump.  Right now I get any where from 150-220 mls per session depending on the time of day and how long it had been. 

I don't know what average is, but it sounds like you have an adequate amount right now.  I think at that point I was pumping about 80-120 mls a session.

E&RMommy

That's a great amount at that time post partum!  I never made that much that early with my twins.

Fortification is what a ton of NICUs do for preterm infants.  It drives me crazy.  I worked in breastfeeding (nutritional analysis of donor breastmilk) for three years before my current job.  Because of my work, the milk bank where I was now nutritionally labels all of their product.  We found that mothers of preterm infants across the board made much higher caloric milk than term moms (at least for the first month).  The literature also backs this up.  It's just an FYI for you to know because it's something that many neonatologists do not know or ever address.  It doesn't hurt to fortify; I just don't think it's always necessary.  We had many moms who had preterm infants whose milk was 30 kcal/oz!  Term is about 20 kcal/oz.

Anyways, your production numbers sound awesome.  Keep it up!  I only wish I had made that much in the beginning.  Once the babies are home, it will feel easier and harder; just stick with it and try to nurse as much as you can!

Good luck and keep us posted on the multiples board.   

E&RMommy

Mrs. Alice:

I have preemie twins also, a little older than yours so I've been pumping longer.  My milk supply has just gradually increased over time.  I usually pump 6-8 times a day for about 15-25 minutes at a time.  I found that massaging my breasts while I pump really helps bring the milk out and empty them.  Then I try to pump until a couple minutes after I can't get hardly anything more out.  I'm using a hospital grade pump.  Right now I get any where from 150-220 mls per session depending on the time of day and how long it had been. 

I don't know what average is, but it sounds like you have an adequate amount right now.  I think at that point I was pumping about 80-120 mls a session.

A great study out of Stanford shows that massaging early on and every singe pump session allows EPers to have a larger supply for the course of their breastfeeding career.  I only wish I had known that; I could have made more milk.

I ditto the hospital grade pump.  I used mine for 9 months and it was worth every cent.  For the last six weeks I pumped (9-10.5 months) my supply really started to drop, and I feel in part it was due to using only my PISA and not the symphony.