average milk intake for newborns and pumping

tootlebug

so my twins were born at 35w5d....a week later, they both take about between 50-80ml per session.  well, that is what they were taking when we brought them home two days ago.  our littler one only breastfeeds exclusively so i cant really monitor her other than her diapers and stuff.  our bigger one breastfeeds but is pokey sometimes with it so we give her a bottle of pumped milk.

when i do pump, i can usually get about 4-6oz in about 20-25 minutes.  sometimes i dont let it go that long bc i want to make sure my breasts arent completely drained if the babes need to eat again soon. i know this is fine now, but i get worried that my supply will decrease once they start eating more.  i vaguely remember htis with my son...the bfing was fine but i remember in the evenings i had some supply issues and i had to take a few hours break to build up some more.  are there actually foods/drinks that increase supply?

jalaiaa

kellymom.com has all your answers. It is a great site.  

tootlebug

jalaiaa:

kellymom.com has all your answers. It is a great site.  

good point.  that website is great.

eyelovemascara

If you aren't pumping after a nursing session, you might want to try that. It seems counterproductive to be emptying your breasts completely, but really it does increase your supply. It sends a message that the breasts are entirely empty and the body needs MORE. I ep'ed for 6 months and whenever my supply dropped, I just upped my pumping sessions/time and saw an increase within 24 hrs.

mars724

my ultrasound tech had twins and she told me that in the first few weeks the more I feed/pump the more my body will produce. So, go ahead and do both, I say!

JenLC99

You do need to pump to empty and after nursing, massaging your breasts to get as much milk as possible, and continue pumping for five minutes after you stop seeing milk. It is stimulation to an empty breast that tells your brain "baby is still sucking, we need more milk!". As far as how much, a BF baby will eat .33 oz for every pound of body weight every three hours. So a 6 lb baby will eat 2 oz at a feed, 9 lb'er will eat 3 oz, 12 lb'er will eat 4 oz, and 15 lb'er will eat 5 oz. BF babies usually never eat more than 5 or 6 oz at most at a time, and your milk matures and becomes more nutrient and calorie rich as baby gets older, about 19 calories per ounce at birth and topping out around 30-40 calories per ounce by the time baby is four months old  (it even varies based on time of day). Keep in mind too that a lot of newborns can't go three hours between feeds, so you can take that number of ounces per feed and multiple by 8 to get the total number of ounces per day (6lb'er will eat 2 oz every 3 hours x 8 = 16 oz every 24 hours). Hope that helps!