how much milk can be pumped or expressed from one boob a day?

Answer 1

It really depends on the woman. Some women can successfully nurse but can't pump a drop!

Answer 2

There is no one answer because it depends on so many things:

- how old is your baby?
- are you ONLY pumping? (not nursing at all)
- how often are you pumping?
- which pump are you using? (Some pumps are much better than others!)
- are you pumping both breasts at the same time, nursing on one side while pumping the other one, or pumping each breast separately?

Most mothers pump about 2-3 oz total from both breasts at each session, but this can vary a lot!
Remember, your baby's tummy is only the size of his fist, so he can only take in a little milk at a time. That is why babies need to eat so frequently.

There is more information about this and other questions about pumping here:
http://www.lalecheleague.org/FAQ/FAQMain.html#premature

* What about Pumping My Milk for My Premature Baby?
* Can Human Milk Be Heated in the Microwave?
* How Can I Make My Return To Work Easier?
* How Do I Choose a Breast Pump?
* How Often Will I Have to Pump When I Return to Work?
* I Need to Feed My Baby from a Bottle. Can You Help?
* If I Choose to Supplement, What Is the Best Formula to Use?
* I'm Pumping, but My Supply Is Going Down. What Can I Do?
* Is it OK to Mix Human Milk and Artificial Baby Milk (Formula)?
* What Are the LLLI Guidelines for Storing My Pumped Milk?

Answer 3

It just depends. It varies for every mother. Some moms have trouble even pumping a drop. Others can get 4 oz in a matter of minutes. It also depends on the pump you use.

Why do you ask? You should know that pumping is NOT an indicator of supply. The baby is more efficient than even the best pump, so that's not a good way to judge what your supply is like.

More frequent pumping or nursing is more likely to yeild more milk than longer pumping or nursing sessions. Never pump more than 20 minutes in one session. If you can pump both sides at once, you'll probably get a better letdown and see a better yield per session.

Answer 4

It really depends on how often you nurse. Don't make the same mistake I did, my daughter just would not latch on, so feeling too overwhelmed to seek help, I decided to just pump and put it in a bottle, well, my milk supply ran out after a month. ( And I pumped all the time, my husband would even pump the other boob at the same time!) Pump from one, then switch to the other, alternating until you cannot get anymore. Between nursing and expressing milk, the more you demand of your body the more it will produce. On the other hand, as in my case, if you slack off every once in awhile your milk flow will definitely decrease and it is very hard to get it to increase again, as i could not do.

Answer 5

it isnt the size of the breast that influences milk production just the mammary glands.it depends how many times a day you pump.4 times a day should give you 5 small bottles. if your using a hand pummp you get less but an electric will produce more.make sure you use the milk you pumped today is used today.and keep it in the fridge.breast milk will go bad faster than regular cows milk.i thought breast milk would taste good but its only good for the babies

Answer 6

I absolutely adore the way some of you referred to breasts as "boobs." How come nobody called it a "teat?" Lol.

It all varies. As you may have noticed, most of women wrote "I used to get [so-and-so amount] from one breast, and [so-and-so amount] from the other in [duration of time]," or something to that effect.

It all depends on you. I would help my mom pump in the past (for my little sister and brother) and I bought her an electrical breast pump. She could've nursed / produced milk until she felt her breast start to hurt a little bit. I assume she'd been taught in the past that that's how you're able to tell if you're out of reserves... :-/

I don't know, to be honest with you.

Answer 7

An awful lot. Consider that each pumping can yield five to eight ounces, times seven to ten times a day -- that's an awful lot of milk. And it stores in the freezer for about six months, I believe, without having to worry about it.

Answer 8

It truly depends on the individual. I nursed all three of my children for 12 months each. After a day of ONLY breastfeeding, I would STILL be able to pump 40 additional ounces by days end.

mb

Answer 9

man, my boy must have been hungry.
i could get 8-10 oz. from one side, and 6-8 oz. from the other, every 4 hours if i wanted to. so that adds up to, what?
a lot of milk in a day.

but the others are right, you shouldn't pump exclusively.... it's the baby's suckling that keeps your milk flowing.

Answer 10

I used to get 4oz in about 20 mins!

Maybe do 4 then change boob then wait a couple of hours and you should be able to get another 4 out of each.

I would say about 16 oz but u need to use each boob!