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I ate oatmeal for breakfast every day & drank 100+ ounces of water. I do think that helped.

I would keep pumping for 10-15 minutes after the milk stops flowing each session and add in a power pump like Adira suggested.

Good luck mama!

The only thing that worked for me was adding in extra pumps. I tried fenugreek, oatmeal, mother's milk tea, etc.

That being said, I think 5 oz every three hours plus 10 oz first thing in the morning should be enough. DD maxed out at 5 oz bottles and she's in the 90th percentile for weight.

@bubblegum: I totally hear you. Pumping is so hard. What I did was have my pump parts clean and all assembled. I'd pump for just 5 minutes at the 4 am feed and leave the milk on the bathroom counter. I'd pump into the same bottles at 7 and then take them down and start my day. I got like 6 ounces in that one 5 minute session and 8 at 7. It was crazy.

@Adira: I wonder if my milk isn't fatty enough and that is why my kids don't gain much. I pump and the layer of fat on the top is so small.

I see a big difference on pumping days when I do and don't eat oatmeal for breakfast. Fenugreek and water, water, water help too.

I think it was on here, but people said gatorade helps. Electrolytes are supposed to help with supply.

Your supply sounds pretty good to me already. If you are pumping at say 6am, 9am, 12pm, 3pm, 6pm, and 9pm and get 10+5x5 that's 35 oz a day which should in theory be sufficient even as your daughter gets older. .

Have you tried "hands on pumping"? This really helps me increase my output. Also make sure each session is at least 20 minutes to make sure you are pumping 120 minutes a day.

I understand the exhaustion. I purchased extra pump parts so I had 4 sets to save my sanity a little so I didn't need to keep cleaning the parts multiple times a day - I highly recommend this, especially if you want to EP for a year. Totally worth it!

@bubblegum: oh good!! I know its such a drag to do that MOTN pump. Its worth it in the long run.

Your body makes the most milk in the early early morning, I'd definitely keep trying to do a middle of the night pump. Do you think you might be getting your period, that could affect your supply.

Pump once overnight! Also, drink more water (I used to pump a little more than a liter of BM a day and drank about 3 liters of water and half a liter of Mother's milk tea). Apply gentle heat to your breasts while pumping. Lastly, try to do skin to skin or even let LO root and attempt to latch before pumping. My DS had issues actually nursing, but if I did this I reliably let down faster to the pump and got an extra once or two.

Another vote for pumping overnight. If you were breastfeeding you would need to breastfeed overnight (presumably) at this young age. I would probably recommend everyone to pump or feed overnight until at least 6 weeks old. Does your baby eat at night? You should pump for every bottle. That's really the best way to increase supply and prolactin levels are highest overnight in the early morning hours. You should be pumping 10-12x a day at 3 weeks old and at least one time overnight IMO. Cookies and supplements aren't really going to do much compared to pumping overnight, increasing demand is by far the best way to increase supply. I have been pumping overnight (I pump on one side and nurse on the other) at least one time overnight since my baby was born (he is 5mo) as well as sometimes during the day the first 3 months at times and I have been able to save over 1200oz extra. When he was 3 weeks I was probably pumping 2x overnight (1-2am ish and then 4-5ish). It is a lot of work but it's really nice to not have to worry about ever supplementing. I'm planning on continuing my 1x overnight until he is at least 6mo and then going from there.

This is JUST my personal experience so far... My supply wasn't that great with DD1 and drinking the tea and eating the right foods didn't help that much. I was already so exhausted I wasn't willing to subject myself to even more pumps.

This time I tried out supplements from this Etsy shop (very legit) and so far I've been pumping 10-12 oz total between 2 pumps (baby is 4.5 mo).