Not enough "cream" in breast milk? Quality/quantity issues?

RebeccaR17

I'm a FTM to an 11 week old DD. Overall, breast feeding has been going pretty well, thanks in large part to a lot of the tips I've read on this board and helpful info from previous questions I've posted.

However, I'm starting to wonder if I'm developing both quality and quantity issues...

First, the quality - I started to pump last week so that I can store up a little bit of a supply in anticipation of going back to work in about 10 days. I usually pump once a day, in the morning after our second feeding. I get about 1.5-2.5 ounces per side. Once I fill a bag to full (5 ounces), occasionally there will be about 1/4 an inch of cream at the top, but the vast majority of them time, there's 1/8 an inch or less. This seems like a really small amount, which makes me wonder if there is something going on with my supply quality. Or is it normal to have such a small amount of cream at the top?

Regarding quantity (although I suppose this could also be related to quality, too) - About a week ago, DD (who is 11 weeks now, and I'm a FTM) started to spend more time at the breast again - about 20-25 minutes per side, instead of the 10-15 minutes per side that we had gotten down to. (We started out at 45-50 minutes per side when she was born.) And she had been a really good napper, but around this same time, she started waking up 30-40 minutes into her naps. This means she has reverted back to eating every 2 to 2 1/2 hours instead of the 3 to 3 1/2 hours she had been doing. At the same time, she has also started sleeping anywhere from 5 1/2 to 7 1/2 hours at night. I don't force the issue - if she wakes up and starts to fuss, I feed her rather than try to persuade her to sleep longer.

I thought all of that might be a combination of 1) a growth spurt, and 2) catching up on calories, because she missed out on most of a day's worth right before all of that started, due to having to undergo a cardiac balloon valvuloplasty.

However, today I decided to try an experiment. Lately toward the end of her feeds, she keeps pulling away from the breast but then going back to it. So when she did this at the end of her 3rd feed, I heated up 1.5 ounces of BM in a bottle, and she drank that on top of the 3 ounces she got through nursing. (I weigh her before and after each feed so that I can keep track of her intake.) After that, we played for a little while, then she napped for 2 solid hours.

So now I'm wondering if she's not getting enough when she nurses after the first couple of nursing sessions of the day? (She usually gets 5.5-6.5 ounces during the first one and 4-5.5 during the second one, according to the scale.)

Any thoughts? Thank you!