milk supply

[athalker]

Another question from a first time mom -- sorry to be such a bother :-)

As stated in an earlier post, my daughter is not latching on well. So I have been pumping and giving it to her through a bottle. I have discovered however that if I give her the bottle for just a few seconds and then offer my breast, she latches on right away and feeds for 20 minutes on one breast, but will not take the other.
I am eventually going to be going back to work. Everytime that I pump I am getting about 1 - 1 1/2 oz per pumping. She is eating around 2 oz per feeding. Will my milk supply increase? How often should I be pumping? What is the "average" amount that I should be getting per pumping. I want to be able to keep her on just breastmilk, but the amount that I am pumping and how much she is eating, I feel like I am going to have to start supplementing with formula (she is used to that since she was a preemie and I couldn't feed her right away)

Any help would be grealy appreciated!!!!

[whitnessforhim]

You are not a bother..thats what this board is here for!! :)

I'm sorry I haven't read your other post but have you tried pumping first until the let-down happens and then latching baby on. I had latch problems too at the beginning and I found that she just didn't have the patience to wait for the milk to start flowing.

I think thats great that she is spending that amount of time on the breast. As long as her latch is good then she is getting milk and probably full after 20mins of nursing.

Remember that its easy for babies to over eat on a bottle. So don't always go buy what they can suck down from a bottle. Here's a good look with some info:
http://www.kellymom.com/bf/pumping/milkcalc.html
and
http://www.kellymom.com/bf/pumping/bottle-feeding.html

Nursing is the most efficient and effective way to increase your supply. I'd offer the breast at every peep and pump when you can. You will see that your supply will increase as you LO's demands grow.