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Low supply - when am I producing enough?

ldmwldmw member
in Breastfeeding
my LO is 2 weeks old. I've had issues with low supply since the beginning and have been supplementing. I'm in a "nurse with shield - supplement - pump" cycle. However, I occasionally take a break from nursing to let my nipples heal. All of this is from work with a lactation consultant.

Since I've been working with LC and taking fenugreek, my supply is slowly increasing. On sessions when I only pumped, I used to get 10ml total between nth breasts. Now I'm up to almost 30ml total. Is this enough at this point if I'm feeding LO every 2.5-3.5 hours?
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Re: Low supply - when am I producing enough?

  • amymariamymari member
    If you mean ounces instead of ml, I'd say that sounds fine.
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  • nursej519nursej519 member
    I'm pretty sure she means ml. 10ounces would be a lot..
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  • TracyB4889TracyB4889 member
    30ml is only an ounce. It's hard to tell what is "enough" since each baby is different. But my LC told me my LO should be eating at least 2 oz at 2 weeks. I too was, and still am, struggling to produce enough. I also heard of a formula to figure out how much breast milk your baby should be eating. Take your baby's weight times 2.5, this is the total oz they should eat in a day. Then divide by number of feedings in the day. So if your baby is 7 lbs they should eat 17.5oz per day, or ~2oz at each feeding if they eat 8 times per day. Its a rough guideline I was given, but at least it's something.
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  • ldmwldmw member
    Thanks. Sounds like I'm halfway there, which is better than where I was when I started. Trying to stay optimistic.
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  • TracyB4889TracyB4889 member
    Hang in there! The more you can nurse the better. It's more efficient than pumping. I had to exclusively bottle feed for 2 weeks to heal my destroyed nipples. Once I started nursing again I saw my supply improve. In the end, any amount of breast milk you can give your LO is amazing!!
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  • nursej519nursej519 member
    @TracyB4889 did you pump during that time? I'm also struggling with low supply
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  • TracyB4889TracyB4889 member
    Yes I did, religiously. I pumped for about 10 min after each feeding. That also gave me a little something to supplement her with after nursing if she wasn't satisfied. I also pumped at night even if she didn't wake. Lately she has started cluster feeding in the evenings, I think that has helped too.
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  • nursej519nursej519 member
    My LO won't latch on at all. She was born premature and I can use the shield but its a poor latch. Ive been trying to exclusively pump so she can at least get the benefits of breast milk but I am just not producing enough milk. I pump every 2 hours and get one ounce per pump session .
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  • ldmwldmw member
    I use a shield to nurse with also, and I wish I could get rid of it because I know it's not helping with my supply. But, for right now it's needed so my healing nipples don't go backwards.
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  • ldmwldmw member
    Has anyone tried power pumping? I've read about it, but haven't tried it yet. I want to try everything I can, but I'm also trying to be cautious not to overdue it and cause my healing nipples to become bleeding again.
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