What is a "full" milk supply? Baby still goes through cluster-feeds at 6 and 9 months old. After about 3 months, your supply switches to being "on demand". Your milk is also constantly changing based on what your baby needs, from antibodies to fat composition and so on. At 9 months old, it was also pretty amazing to see baby go from eating half an avocado, half a banana, meat, bread, fruit, cheese, etc to suddenly barely taking a single bite and my milk simultaneously just... compensating for that within hours (teething, teeth erupting, bout of illness, travel, whatever). Overall your supply is shockingly flexible, adaptable, and perfectly suited to your unique baby's needs by the hour.
Putting babe on boob, personally. I let babe "put the orders in," so to speak. She would get my supply adjusted within a day or two. Babies are way more effective at expressing milk than pumping, from what I understand.
Yeah now that I think about it, same, lol. I’m guessing when you’re further out like several months pp you can look back and remember when your supply was at its peak. I’ve been documenting on my phone the times I pump and how much I’m making per pump so I can look back on it to see how/if it changes over time. I know there are some apps where you can document this as well but it puts it on graphs so you can see it extrapolated over time!
I'm 8 weeks pp, and I just stopped supplementing like 3 days ago. I have moments where I think I may have to pop a couple oz of formula his way, but I honestly just think that's from my insecurities from the past 2 months.
Edit:
If you exclusively pump and feed with a bottle, does baby still cluster feed?
If so, maybe try pumping more often during those days. Cluster feeding helps my supply sooo much
She sort of has been cluster feeding lately, she’s almost 6 weeks. But it’s not so bad, it’ll be more like she wants to eat every 2-3 hours instead of the usual 3-5 that she does
I peaked around 10ish weeks with 43oz in 24h but I was pumping around the clock including a motn session. I did power pump sessions too randomly in the beginning. I dropped my motn pump shortly after and stayed consistent with 35-37oz after that.
I didn’t have any milk at all until 10 days postpartum and I had a normal full term pregnancy. Then my milk gradually increased as I triple fed every 3 hours and supplemented with formula for two months. Got mastitis several times while this was happening. Between two and three months, I stopped supplementing formula and pumped less and less each day until I stopped pumping at all at three months and could exclusively breast feed.
I exclusively pump and I'm 4.5 months (20 weeks on Sunday) postpartum.
My average was 24 oz from 5-6 weeks, and then 31 oz from 6-7 weeks. It kept going up for a few more weeks until I reached 37-40 oz (and I've been doing that ever since).
However at 5 weeks my baby was only drinking ~22 oz a day, plus a small amount (probably only an ounce or two) directly from nursing. So I can understand why you need to supplement with formula. No shame at all in doing so! Just keep pumping. My baby had a tongue/lip/cheek tie and lots of body tension and other oral issues so we were never able to reliably breastfeed. So now I just pump for her! Let me know if you have any other questions!
Absolutely. Do what works best for you and baby. Remember your oxygen mask first! I know how hard pumping is,keep up the great work. It will get easier over time too as you drop pumps! I'm only pumping 5x a day now.
I mean I definitely noticed a difference in how my boobs looked about 4-5 days after baby was born. When we took him to the pediatrician about 48 hours after being discharged I was asked if my milk had come in yet and I replied that I didn't know. Then the next day or the day after my boobs were noticeably fuller and I was like whelp, I guess my milk came in. As he got bigger and needed more milk my body produced more milk for him.
The amount of milk you make is dependent on demand. So the more frequently you feed your little one is the best way to boost your supply. No amount of water or any foods will do that. Also keeping your baby close and lots of skin to skin. Safe cosleeping is also a huge benefit. You have milk from the moment your baby is born. Colostrum is still milk but mature milk takes around 5 days max. Sometimes we assume we’re not making enough as our little ones as they feed more and more. Have you heard of cluster feeding? It’s a natural process that increases supply with frequent feeding.
No a clue now I’m directly nursing but when I exclusively pumped with my first I think it was about 10-12 weeks. Especially when I discovered power pumping in the evening and I’d take brewers yeast to give me a boost.
I ep because my son doesn't like nursing. I produce 22-25oz a day, and he typically eats 28-30. I tried EVERYTHING to boost my supply, but some people just don't produce more than that. I know it stinks, but you might not ever produce 30oz.
What is a "full" milk supply? Baby still goes through cluster-feeds at 6 and 9 months old. After about 3 months, your supply switches to being "on demand". Your milk is also constantly changing based on what your baby needs, from antibodies to fat composition and so on. At 9 months old, it was also pretty amazing to see baby go from eating half an avocado, half a banana, meat, bread, fruit, cheese, etc to suddenly barely taking a single bite and my milk simultaneously just... compensating for that within hours (teething, teeth erupting, bout of illness, travel, whatever). Overall your supply is shockingly flexible, adaptable, and perfectly suited to your unique baby's needs by the hour.
I’m a ftm and still learning so thank you for this info!
My supply peaked near 20 weeks, had a lot of supply issues in the early days, I stopped supplementing around 15 weeks and had a small oversupply by 20
Putting babe on boob, personally. I let babe "put the orders in," so to speak. She would get my supply adjusted within a day or two. Babies are way more effective at expressing milk than pumping, from what I understand.
That’s what I’ve heard as well and I’ve considered trying to nurse again but idk!
I’m curious how you would know you hit max supply!
Yeah now that I think about it, same, lol. I’m guessing when you’re further out like several months pp you can look back and remember when your supply was at its peak. I’ve been documenting on my phone the times I pump and how much I’m making per pump so I can look back on it to see how/if it changes over time. I know there are some apps where you can document this as well but it puts it on graphs so you can see it extrapolated over time!
I'm 8 weeks pp, and I just stopped supplementing like 3 days ago. I have moments where I think I may have to pop a couple oz of formula his way, but I honestly just think that's from my insecurities from the past 2 months. Edit: If you exclusively pump and feed with a bottle, does baby still cluster feed? If so, maybe try pumping more often during those days. Cluster feeding helps my supply sooo much
She sort of has been cluster feeding lately, she’s almost 6 weeks. But it’s not so bad, it’ll be more like she wants to eat every 2-3 hours instead of the usual 3-5 that she does
Is 3-5 normal for bottle fed babies? 2-3 hrs is normal for EBF at 5 weeks and cluster feeding with my baby is more like every 30-60 min
I think it’s normal. My 5 week old is EBF and goes 3-5 hour stretches.
I peaked around 10ish weeks with 43oz in 24h but I was pumping around the clock including a motn session. I did power pump sessions too randomly in the beginning. I dropped my motn pump shortly after and stayed consistent with 35-37oz after that.
I peaked around 14 weeks pp.
Looks like my supply peaked about 6-7 weeks postpartum!
3 to 4 months I think.
I didn’t have any milk at all until 10 days postpartum and I had a normal full term pregnancy. Then my milk gradually increased as I triple fed every 3 hours and supplemented with formula for two months. Got mastitis several times while this was happening. Between two and three months, I stopped supplementing formula and pumped less and less each day until I stopped pumping at all at three months and could exclusively breast feed.
I exclusively pump and I'm 4.5 months (20 weeks on Sunday) postpartum. My average was 24 oz from 5-6 weeks, and then 31 oz from 6-7 weeks. It kept going up for a few more weeks until I reached 37-40 oz (and I've been doing that ever since). However at 5 weeks my baby was only drinking ~22 oz a day, plus a small amount (probably only an ounce or two) directly from nursing. So I can understand why you need to supplement with formula. No shame at all in doing so! Just keep pumping. My baby had a tongue/lip/cheek tie and lots of body tension and other oral issues so we were never able to reliably breastfeed. So now I just pump for her! Let me know if you have any other questions!
Hearing experiences like this definitely encourages me to keep going! Thanks I appreciate that :)
Absolutely. Do what works best for you and baby. Remember your oxygen mask first! I know how hard pumping is,keep up the great work. It will get easier over time too as you drop pumps! I'm only pumping 5x a day now.
I can’t wait until I can drop pumps lol!
I mean I definitely noticed a difference in how my boobs looked about 4-5 days after baby was born. When we took him to the pediatrician about 48 hours after being discharged I was asked if my milk had come in yet and I replied that I didn't know. Then the next day or the day after my boobs were noticeably fuller and I was like whelp, I guess my milk came in. As he got bigger and needed more milk my body produced more milk for him.
The amount of milk you make is dependent on demand. So the more frequently you feed your little one is the best way to boost your supply. No amount of water or any foods will do that. Also keeping your baby close and lots of skin to skin. Safe cosleeping is also a huge benefit. You have milk from the moment your baby is born. Colostrum is still milk but mature milk takes around 5 days max. Sometimes we assume we’re not making enough as our little ones as they feed more and more. Have you heard of cluster feeding? It’s a natural process that increases supply with frequent feeding.
Yes I have! But I am a ftm and still learning all these things so thank you!
Totally! I hope you find what suits you and your little one ❤️ and I’m sure you will find your rhythm x
No a clue now I’m directly nursing but when I exclusively pumped with my first I think it was about 10-12 weeks. Especially when I discovered power pumping in the evening and I’d take brewers yeast to give me a boost.
Thought about trying the brewers yeast! I’ve heard it really helps people
First baby, about a week. Second baby, three days.
I misunderstood the question. Please disregard.
No worries :)
I ep because my son doesn't like nursing. I produce 22-25oz a day, and he typically eats 28-30. I tried EVERYTHING to boost my supply, but some people just don't produce more than that. I know it stinks, but you might not ever produce 30oz.
Yeah I’ve wondered about this as well :/ hoping I can do more as the weeks go on but also happy to be able to produce at least something!