Expert: ruth kraft - 11/15/2010

Question
Hello, my baby is 6 weeks old and was born 6 weeks early. She has been in the NICU at the hospital until 4 days ago, and early on right after she was born after my milk came in I was pumping and getting 4 ounces per breast. This continued for a while, and I thought she was going to be released and come home after 2 weeks but the morning she was supposed to come home she had blood in her stool and had to be moved to level 3 in the NICU. Before this happened I was able to breastfeed her twice a day, but after this she wasn't allowed to eat (only for a week) because it was a virus in her stomach. I continued to pump but I noticed that I was getting only 2 ounces from each breast. I attributed it to stress and from being disappointed that she wasn't able to come home, but the supply never increased. Now that she is home I seem to only be getting 2 and 1/2 ounces combined. I am very concerned, I have a supply of breastmilk in bottles that I am feeding her (after she takes all she can out of the breast) but I am afraid that will dry up soon because she is eating 3 ounces every 4 hours. I don't have money for formula so I don't know what to do.  

Answer
Good for you for trying so hard! You have milk so that is good! If you can get a couple ounces you can get more ! YEAH! A few things to try, increase the fiber in your diet. The more fiber you have, the more milk you will have. Not sure why but milk production increases when intestinal motility does! So LOTS of fiber :)

Keep pumping every 2 hours and feed her every 2 hours also. You can feed first then pump for 10 minutes. This will help tell your body you need more and more.  After a few weeks, you should be able to nurse her and not pump at all. Just let her take over telling your body what she needs.

Try those things first. My guess is she doesn't really need 4 ounces but more like 2 anyway. 6 weeks is awfully early for her to be taking 3-4 ounces. Although she does it because the flow form the bottle is quite fast. 4 ounces of formula is equal to 2 ounces of breastmilk because it doesn't have all the filler stuff in it. So take lots of deep breaths and know you are doing FABULOUS!

I hope that helped :)I had a preemie too so I understand the fears :)