Establishing your expressed breastmilk supply

Although babies admitted to the Fiona Stanley Hospital Neonatal Unit (3B) are initially too small, premature or sick to breastfeed, they can be fed their mother’s expressed breastmilk (EBM) through other feeding techniques.

We encourage you to start expressing breastmilk as soon as possible after giving birth, ideally within the first hour.  

Expressing breastmilk early and often:

  • helps you build and maintain a strong milk supply
  • stimulates your body to produce more milk, ensuring you can meet your baby’s nutritional needs, both in the neonatal unit and as they grow.

A newborn baby’s stomach can only hold a spoonful of milk, and even less if they are premature, so they usually feed every 2 to 3 hours.

To support your baby’s nutritional needs and increase your milk supply, we recommend you express at least 8 times in 24 hours (about every 3 hours), including at least once during the night. Women who express regularly (including overnight) also have fewer problems with their milk supply.

Suggested expressing times are:

  • 3:00am
  • 6:00am
  • 9:00am
  • 12:00pm
  • 3:00pm
  • 6:00pm
  • 9:00pm
  • 11:00pm

You can record how much milk you express each time with an expressing diary – ask your nurse for an expressing diary if you need one.

In the first few days after birth

Start expressing your breastmilk by hand. Each time you express, your breasts will need about 10 minutes of hand expressing to help promote milk production. Do not worry if you only get a small amount in the first couple of days with hand expressing and pumping – every small drop is important to give to your baby.

The first milk you will express is colostrum, which is thicker and more yellow in colour than breastmilk. It is very concentrated, so even a small amount is rich in nutrients. The amount of colostrum you can express each time can range from a few drops up to 30 mL. 

Colostrum gives your baby the best start possible by:

  • providing essential nutrients
  • enhancing your baby’s immunity to help protect them from infection
  • supports your baby’s optimal growth and development.

When the colostrum stops flowing from hand expressing, we encourage you to further stimulate your supply by using the double electric breast pump for a few minutes.

Once you are producing more than 5 mL of colostrum per breast per expression, you can continue using just the electric breast pump.

Pumping for longer than 30 minutes is usually too long and not necessary.

When your milk supply increases (comes in)

As you continue to express and your milk transitions from colostrum to mature milk, the amount of milk will increase. You may notice it takes longer to drain your breasts. You will know your breasts are drained when they feel soft, with no lumps and the milk flow has slowed to a drip.

How long you need to express depends on how much milk you produce and how quickly your let-down reflex (release of milk from the breast) works. Many mothers find expressing next to their baby and after a skin-to-skin cuddle will produce more milk.

Studies show that the amount of milk women can produce by two weeks after birth is between 750 mL to 1 L of milk per day.

Changes to your milk supply

The amount of milk you express may change from day to day and from one expressing session to another. It is also normal for one breast to produce more milk than the other.

Studies show that mothers of:

  • healthy babies born at term (37 to 41 weeks) produce 500 to 600 mL of breast milk every 24 hours after the first week
  • preterm infants need to have 750 to 800 mL of breast milk every 24 hours by the end of the first two weeks
  • twins need to have 1,100 to 1,400 mL every 24 hours by the end of the first two weeks.

Find out more

Learn about:

Contact us

Fiona Stanley Hospital Neonatal Unit (3B) patients can phone the: 

  • Neonatal Unit on 6152 0215, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week
  • Fiona Stanley Hospital Lactation Consultant on 0403 137 964 between:
    • 8:00am to 4:00pm, Monday to Friday
    • 8:00am to 2:00pm, Saturday and Sunday.

Other breastfeeding support

Last Updated: 04/02/2025