Enough Is Enough

Making Sense of Your Milk Supply

By Brenda Nixon

Rachel Lee of Ontario, Canada, breastfed her son through his 18th month. Of those months, two were spent expressing breast milk due to a complicated surgery that prevented the child from nursing. "Expressing" is the art of squeezing milk from your breasts, either by hand or with a manual or electric pump.

Like Lee, many moms find it necessary to express breast milk, and this often leads to worries about not making enough and pumping to see how much is being produced. Can you know you're making enough milk to meet your baby's constant demands? Will pumping give an accurate visual?

Most experts agree that pumping is not a measure for milk supply, because even if you express it, you may not empty the breasts. In Lee's situation, she was "able to pump 20 ounces," and then her son would finish feeding from her breasts. "The baby's suck is much more efficient than the pump," says Sarah*, a certified lactation educator and mom of three in Springfield, Ohio. "If latched on properly, the baby can do a much better job of emptying each breast. Also, Baby needs the hind milk to get the best nourishment from the milk, so Baby should be the primary source of emptying the breast."

The best indicator of milk supply is to look at your baby. If she's healthy, growing and gaining weight, she's getting enough. Another indicator, Sarah says, is to observe your baby's output. "Look for one to two dirty diapers and eight to 12 wet diapers a day," she says.

Want to see more?

• The Land of Plenty: 3 Steps to Stop Pumping Problems
• Full Exposure: Is Your Breast Pump Worth It?
• Is Baby Getting Enough Milk?
• Check out our Article Library.
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