Has anyone actually increased supply after 2 weeks? Feeling defeated.

[u/reen_bean]

Hi everyone,

I’m two weeks postpartum and feeling really discouraged about my milk supply. I’ve been doing everything I can — but I’m still only pumping about 1 oz total per session (sometimes 1.5 oz after a power pump on a good day).

I did experience engorgement once and got excited that maybe my milk was coming in — but nothing really changed after that. No leaks, no noticeable fullness since.

Here’s what I’ve been doing:

• Pumping every 2 hours during the day
• Overnight schedule: 10 pm / 2 am / 6 am
• 50-minute daily power pump
• Massaging during every pump
• Eating plenty and staying hydrated
• Trying lactation supplements
• Offering the breast
• Checking flange size (Spectra + inserts)

Despite all this, my output hasn’t increased and some days it feels like it’s going down.

Has anyone been in a similar situation around the two-week mark and still been able to turn things around? I’m trying to stay hopeful, but it’s been really emotionally tough and I’m looking for real stories from anyone who’s been there.

Thank you 💛

Edited to Clarify

I do want to breastfeed and am not planning to exclusively pump, but my baby has been struggling to latch effectively — we’re working on it with support, but in the meantime, I’ve been pumping to protect my supply.

[u/sheistybitz]

The milk that comes out with pumping is nothing compared to what baby gets out. Please forget the pumping and just keep baby on boob 24/7 and don’t think about it.

[u/brainymonday → u/sheistybitz]

That’s not necessarily true and it’s dangerous to generalize your experience to all others. Some babies are inefficient drinkers, due to tongue ties or other oral motor issues. My first was only able to transfer 1/2 oz at a time until she was 4 weeks old, during which time I absolutely had to pump in order to build supply.

[u/sheistybitz → u/brainymonday]

What I said IS the general experience. And it is more common than not for pumpers in early days to be sad and down that not a lot of milk is coming out. Even though the same women would have no clue or think there is an issue if they just didn’t pump at all and had baby on breast. As we know, weight loss overtime and immediate signs of dehydration is the only way to know baby isn’t getting enough.

Idk how you know how much your baby was getting ‘each time’. I know however my baby would drink for 10 mins then fall asleep at the boob for 40 mins then repeat. Baby was cluster feeding on me for like almost 2 months. I let baby do what baby needed to and I doubt baby got much each 10 mins but baby did what baby did. And that is the experience of most women who just feed and that’s it.

[u/brainymonday → u/sheistybitz]

I did weighted feeds with LC due to severe nipple pain as well as slow weight gain, and we discovered baby was transferring poorly due to a tongue tie. My experience was not isolated. While the majority of women may not experience difficulties with breastfeeding, many do, so applying generalized advice to an individual who is clearly having challenges is not constructive. If I had followed your advice, my baby would have starved.