Can you get a second let down?

[harverina]

Hi just wondering if its true that some women experience a second let down? I'm expressing every day to top up my dd's nighttime feed and i'm sure I read somewhere that I should contine to pump even when there is no longer any milk coming out as I may get a second let down? Tried this tonight but to no avail! My breasts seem to be well and truly empty! (I know that they are never truly empty btw!).

Tis true, I've had several in one sitting in fact. By the end, not much milk comes out in the letdowns, but I guess its the more fatty stuff.

I seen guidelines that say express for 2mins once dry or express for at least 20mins.

Personally I've found I get milk out for about 12mins (albeit slowly near the end) and then get another letdown at 18-20mins. I think I slowly built up the time I was expressing for (if I was uncomfortable I stopped), also sometimes I feel like there is another let-down trying to work its way out (silly I know) so, I give it 5mins otherwise pack up. It seemed to be a long road in getting there though, with time of day and regularity being factors. (Before I expressed seriously, then I paid no attention to these things and just stopped when I felt like it)

Time (your free time) comes into of course.

I imagine like everything, every woman has to find her own rhythm. I think, in the whole, there doesn't seem to be alot of information out there for expressers. It seems to be a muddle your way through affair.
Maybe somebody with more energy than me, than set something up.

More of a ramble than advice but hth

Do you switch sides frequently, or pump one breast start-to-finish before moving to the other?

Some women find it more effective to pump one breast until thr flow slows, then pump the other until the flow slows, then switch back, etc, several times. You can have multiple let-downs, and are more likely to do so this way.

Also, when you pump and whether the LO is around can have a big effect. You can pump one side while the baby is feeding from the other side. That is often very effective, and the baby helps trigger more let-down.

All the time while feeding, but never with the pump, my boobs hate the pump.

It varies, sometimes I pump on the one side for the full time, other times I switch back and forth as I get fed up with no milk coming out. When I change breasts the new one will spray out again but only for a minute or so. Is this the let down? I know this sounds like a stupid question but when I am feeding I actually feel the let down. I get a tingling sensation. Don't get this when I pump.

I haven't pumped this time round, but I can have several let downs when I nurse both ds1 and2 together. ds1 calls it fast milk

I never used to feel the letdowns when pumping, it was only when I switched to a double pump. Now I can feel letdowns when feeding as well, bizarre. But your right, its much more difficult to feel it when pumping.

I've also found pumping success depends on the direction of the wind. My let downs seem to last for a 1 min or two, just that at the beginning they're not far apart. I can't feel every one, just when there's been a big gap (normally the first and last one).

Could you try recording your LO and playing it when you express at random intervals, see if you feel anything then.

Try not to stress about it, just do what you feel like and get what you get (even if its different every time).

Do you express at roughly the same time every day? Also at night, the milk is harder to get out. I had to express at the same time each night for about 4 days to see an improvement in what I got out. Even if the milk isn't flowing, the stimulation should help for the next day.

I sometimes feel like the only woman in the world who doesn't feel let down (although this only applies to breastfeeding )

When you express, try and mimic what your DC does when they feed.

For example, DS used to suck quickly to get first letdown and then it would slow once the milk was flowing. Once the flow slowed he would suck more quickly again to get a second let down.
If you combine this with swapping sides then you may find you can express more.

jemjabella

I have been expressing every morning and at night after my DD is in bed. I am going out on saturday afternoon/evening (delighted but terrified too as going to miss my DD lots) so need as much milk as possible. Have 15 oz so far. I'll be leaving at roughly 3pm so need about 5 gallons .

climberchick, have noticed that my suply is much better in the evenings now because I have been expressing, so delighted about this as my DD had been pretty unsettled at night because my supply was so slow.

Thanks everyone for all your tips. Pumping away as I type this.

Jemjabella, I am a Breastfeeding Support Worker and someone who has breastfed 3 children (one is still going at 16 months) and I have always felt the milk ejection reflex. To me it feels like someone has their hand inside my boob and they are squeezing it, lol. In the first couple of months after birth, it was sometimes slightly uncomfortable. Anyway, the reason I mention this is because the majority of women I talk to who are breastfeeding say they can't feel when it is happening, so you are certainly not alone!

When feeding my babies, I used to have several let-downs during a feed and when expressing on my return to work, I could often stimulate them to let down at least twice to increase my yield, so-to-speak. Like others have said, I often swapped sides, but when double pumping, I would pump until flow was virtually zilch, then pause for a couple of minutes and start again. This would often result in another let-down. Tweaking/rolling the nipples can have this effect too.