Need pumping tips

So far I've been two times lucky with having kids who latch and feed well, dd1 I quit at 6 months just because and dd2 I had planned on hopefully 6 months to a year, but one morning I woke up to feed her at 4.5 months and she latched and tried and cried, I gave it back she latched then cried... I switched her sides same thing.. I manually e pressed didn't even get a drop, got my pump out NOTHING not a single drop. DH went and got me breastfeeding supplements and I tookothers milk, kept pumping and putting baby on I literally woke up dry! Impossible right? Nope talked to lactation consult and she was shocked but has heard of it before. anyway so that was that. Well this time I'd like to EP. But I seem to always struggle to get a lot. Like the baby was full and happy and gaining but I couldn't pump much, like 2oz per side was it! And I have a top of the line pump.., so should I take supplements or pump more frequently? Can you give me tips from those who EP or even just pump sometimes how to get more?

Staying hydrated also helped me to make more milk and honestly, squeezing my breasts while I was pumping always got more out and then I would make more to fill the ducts. That's my thinking anyway. :) I think EP is hard....my body needed to feel the baby feeding to make more milk; I would have never made it as long as I did by just pumping. Best of luck to you though - I admire your determination!!!

 What is EP?  Does that mean exclusively pump?  I'm not sure how long a person could keep up a milk supply by pumping only b/c even top of the line pumps won't be able to express as much milk as a baby would by sucking.  

 When I was bfing, I had tons of milk until I went back to work and had to pump, that's when my supply dwindled.  I had a medela pump... the one that is right under the hospital grade pump, can't remember what it's called.   I took reglan for a bit to boost my supply and continued bfing until ds2 was 27 months.  However, with ds1, my milk never came in at all.  I tried really hard to bfeed, but it just wouldn't work and I have no clue why to this day.  I was so afraid that would happen with ds2 that I started pumping when I was still pregnant (as soon as I was 37 weeks so that I didn't risk preterm labor).  I did not pump much, just put the pump on for a few minutes a couple of times a day and stop pumping before any milk came out b/c I didn't want to lose my colostrum.  I don't know if that is what did the trick, but my milk came in right on time with ds2.

One way I have heard of to really boost your supply is to start pumping on one side while baby is nursing on the other.  This mimics twins so the body produces more milk, but you have to start it right away.  Probably within a couple of weeks, I would say.  My sil did this and she was like a cow for quite a while.  She got to a point where she could just hold a bottle under one breast while her ds nursed on the other and she would get 2 -3 ounces just from leakage!!!  She also had bfing issues with her ds1 and was trying really hard to prevent that from happening again.  She has inverted nipples which prevented her ds from being able to latch well, and she lost her supply when he was 4 months old. She wanted to make sure she did everything she could to maintain a supply with her ds2.  However, she ended up stopping bfing when he was 6 months old b/c she went back to school and all the pumping was just too much but it took her forever to completely dry up.

 

Good luck!  I hope whatever you decide works out really well and that you are able to bfeed/ use breast milk as long as you and baby want. 

Thanks girls! IM- yes EP is exclusively pumping.. Two friends of mine IRL EP and they enjoyed it a lot. Something may be wrong with my sensitive mommy part of the brain but I don't feel that closeness, bonding feeling while BFing.. I know I should be sitting for 20-30 minutes and keepig baby awake etc it becomes a lot of work, is that horrible? They EP'ed and did a wonderful job. I have the Medela pump in style dual electric pump.. I had no probs with dd1, but had supply issues with dd2, I'd let her nurse, then pump, it was an around the cloc event for 3-4 weeks, took supplements to promote BF until I finally woke up 100% empty :( I felt awful.. I remember with dd1 when my milk "came in" it felt like my chest was heavy with cement! Hurt so bad and milk was shooting everywhere. I wish my dr had reccomended pumping it all immediatly to build up supply instead of the hot towles and expressing some to get relief. I felt it really slacked on my supply because your body only makes what baby drinks so I think I tricked my pay into thinking I didn't need that much, when if I had let it think I needed that much I could have stored the excess and had a great supply.. However with dd2 I never had that major come in feeling, it was weird, and I stumbled with her from day 1, but I felt it was all my body's fault because she latched properly and wonderful! She nursed like I champ I just couldn't make more, even when she started needing more, I'd get 1-2 oz out per side! Big waste of pumping time! So I hope to attempt to EP this time because I'll need all the extra time I can get having dd2 to take care of when the new baby gets here! Guess I'll just talk to my lac consultant

GL BB!!!  Hope it all goes nice & smoothly for you this time around!

 

 

I actually really liked my avent isis manual pump.  I liked that I could control it and was usually able to get 2-4oz from the side I pumped after nursing baby on the other side.  I'd recommend pumping every 1.5-2hrs the first few weeks as that is how often breastfed babies usually nurse in the beginning.  I'd go 4 hours at night unless baby wakes you before then.  Or you could just breastfeed at night and pump/bottlefeed throughout the day.  I LOVED not having to get up to get a bottle.  It allowed me more sleep :)

Good luck!!

Thanks lovemy4! I had planned on her nursing the irdt couple of weeks to help my milk come in and get a good supply but then do bottles in between to build up my store then get her totally on bottles. I do plan on nursing at night cause it's easy on easy off! Lol! I did this with dd2 and it worked like a charm. She began sleeping through the night at 5-6 weeks so it was short lived having to get up at night.

Wow girls such great advice !, I breast fed my two girls ....dd1 for 10 months and dd2 for 8 months exclusively. I am a bit frightened though about milk supply since it was very very hard work to keep milk supply up for exclusive breast feeding. I am thinking about using pump to up my milk supply and I am finding all your info very useful. Keep the tips on pumping coming !!!