is it me or the pump?

Question

im just about to give up on pumping but before i do can you give me some tips on how to make it work? i ws sitting in an empty office at work for AN HOUR and all i got was one little ounce. what am i doing wrong? when my daughter breastfeeds she is fine but i have no luck with the pump. is it me or is it the pump and how can i tell?

i have the medela swing. i tried calling their hotline but after being on hold for so long i just gave up.


any suggestions are welcome. im gonna go make a cup of raspberry tea, wait an hour and try again. im trying so hard not to have the babysitter resort to formula (she absolutely HATES it!) but this pumping is not working for me.

when my son was born i stayed home from work until he was one so i dont have any experience with needing to pump a certain amount for the day.

please help me, i feel defeated. :-(

Answer 1

Don't give up but stop stressing over it! It will only hurt how much you're able to pump. You've probably read all the typical things to do like looking at a picture of a baby, relaxing, putting your feet up, have a cup of tea, nipple stimulation, warm breast compresses, breast massage, leaning forward, looking at the milk in the bottle, using a different size flange...all of those can help your pumping output. Medela makes XS, S, M, L and I think XL sizes for the flanges...so get out the directions to your pump and make sure that you have the right size (there was an illustration in my Medela PIS). For a while I thought my pumping output was decreasing, but it wasn't, I just wasn't overproducing (like I had been) and my boobs got smaller and I needed a smaller size flange.



Alternatively what I have also done is to feed baby on only one breast and immediately go pump the other one. Ultimately why you're not getting that much is because the pump is not stimulating a let down. Since baby is much better at stimulating the let down, have her do it for you and go pump what's on the other side (it's already "let-down"). You may have to feed more frequently at first, but that will only help your supply anyway.

Answer 2

Some women's bodies do not respond well to the pump but do fine when the baby is actually latched on. You may want to see if your hospital will rent or borrow you a pump just to see if that is the problem, and call the LaLeche league hotline for more tips. Or even a breastfeeding specialist at your local hospital, they are a wealth of info!! They may suggest manual pumping by hand, your body may respond to it better? Don't give up. You are so lucky that you can still breastfeed. My milk was significantly reduced after 2 months of bf'ing due to an illness and I could never generate much milk after that. I tried everything and had to do half formula and half breastmilk. Finally after baby was 6 months old, I went full to formula. :o(

Answer 3

I pumped at work with 3 children, and it can be hard. You did not say how old your baby is or if you have had an success with pumping. I am going to assume your baby is very young yet and you are new to pumping at work. First you do need a quite comfortable place. An office sounds like as good a place as any!! Then you need to relax. Put away thoughts of work of HAVING to get milk for baby and just be calm. It always helped for me to imagine holding the baby and putting him up to my breast, to try and feel like I was holding a baby and not a pump. I also would breath deep and try and feel the milk coming down. Sometimes I would sing songs in my head, it helped as I would sing to my baby when I was nursing. Try in your head to create a place as close to real nursing as you can get.



You also need to be comfortable with your pump. Is it electric? Can you adjust how much suction you get and for how long? You may need to play with these settings to get what works for you.



I would pump 3 times a day at work for 15 minutes each time. I would usually get at least 8 to 16 oz for the day. The older baby got and the more solids baby would take, the harder it was for me to pump at work. Usually around 10 months old I would stop pumping at work, but still nurse at home for at least 3 more months. My children HATED a bottle no matter what was in it. It would have to be very hot, almost to the point where you thought it was too hot. Breast milk comes out nice and warm!! And my youngest could take an hour to get 3 oz down.



The biggest advice I have for you is to relax as best you can and your milk will come down better. Let me know if you want more of my personal experience!!