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EP'ing for the first time- supply changes?

starkbaby22starkbaby22 member
in Breastfeeding
Hey ladies!  I breastfed my first DD for 12 months, and pumped a few times/day then to make bottles for while I worked away from home.  With DD2 I'm pretty much EP'ing, it just works better for us this time around.  She is almost 3 weeks old.  I am pumping every 2-3 hours, she eats about every 3 during the day and about 4-5 at night.  I currently will get anywhere from 1.5-3 oz. per session.  I'm wondering as she gets older and needs more milk, how exactly that happens.  We both have thrush right now, and I don't feel like nursing, so we've been doing the bottle, but I did break down and nurse the other night and she still latched and ate well that way.  How do you get your supply to increase as your baby ages if you're only pumping? 

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Re: EP'ing for the first time- supply changes?

  • jlsimon56jlsimon56 member

    Several ways!

    Once the milk stops flowing, leave the pump on for a few minutes after each session. 

    Add an extra pumping session in your day.

    Do some Power Pumps (pump for 10 minutes, stop for 10 minutes, repeat for 1 hour).

    I think EPers pump for 120 minutes per 24 hours (do I have that right?).  So anything over that would be to increase your supply. 

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  • cottonlily84cottonlily84 member
    Babies don't really need a big increase in feeding volume as they get older.  Breastmilk babies at least.  Formula is different, just like a baby will need more formula per feeding to get the same nutrition in a smaller amount of breastmilk.   From all the BFing stuff I've read the composition of your milk changes to support their nutritional needs and how often they eat might change as well (they might eat more but then go longer b/w feedings=same amt per day).  My DD is almost 3 months old and eats 2.5 oz per bottle.  They say all BM babies eat an average of 25 oz a day but she's only at about 20 oz so far but gaining about an oz a day now.  You can divide 25 by the number of feedings yours gets to see about how much each bottle should be.  But remember at 3 weeks her tummy's only about the size of an egg right now so it's best to feed more frequently rather than a bigger bottle.  Even at 6 months a baby's stomach capacity is about 5 oz.  My biggest piece of advice to make more milk for those growth spurts is to pump more often.  When DD was 3 weeks old and nursing she'd want to eat every 1.5 hours sometimes but now that she goes longer I will still pump every 2 hours to keep the supply up.  You are also right about the time that supply starts establishing, meaning you might see a decrease as your body adjusts to making what your baby (or pump) is taking.  To keep that level high you can pump more because it's hard to raise it back up when it drops.
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