My let down has failed suddenly and no milk coming a

[auburnlizzy78]

Please help - if this doesn't resolve we will be on formula by lunchtime today (obviously not going to let my baby starve while I figure this out).

I exclusively express for a variety of reasons. I find breastfeeding very uncomfortable for my back whichever position I use, my baby is big, very hungry and very impatient. Even if I do feed directly (our latch is perfect, it feels pleasant, baby sucks fine) he will suck for a minute or two and then pull off, arms flailing and hysterical because the milk isn't coming fast enough and then it is IMPOSSIBLE to feed, trust me. This is a child who a)can pull the teat out of the collar of Tommee Tippee bottles while sucking, b) was strong enough to suck a syringe of colostrum in the hospital without me depressing the syringe and c)downs a 150ml bottle in under five minutes without breaking off.

Expressing 7-8 times daily round the clock via electric pump has worked for us so far and he is 12weeks old. Every day since he was born I have expressed about a litre. Sometimes that is enough for the day, sometimes I have to give him a carton of formula as well. I get a let down after a minute or less and then the milk comes. In fifteen mins I can get 200ml at this time of day.

But last night and this morning I have had no let down and no milk is coming. Been sitting using the pump for ages and only getting 40ml (not enough to bother with). What the hell am I going to do? I am not tired or ill, not on medication, reasonably relaxed (or I was), no changes in diet..... Please help!

Correction: Obviously only started getting milk from day 5 ish, sorry. But it's been about a litre ever since, reliable, constant supply whenever I pump.

I don't have any advice for you apart from the usual - try expressing in the bath (maybe not the electric breastpump though, eh?!) and while holding your baby, or see if he'll latch onto one side while you express from the other? This will bump the thread for you, but given the urgency of the situation I would advise phoning one of the helplines:

The contact numbers are all listed down the right hand side

Good luck :).

Yoga breathing may help? Letting your baby latch directly (while you pump on the other side?).

Are you feeling engorged now? Have you been pumping in the middle of the night?

You've not started taking the pill or anything? Are you under extra stress?

Let down and milk don't tend to just go away - if they have, you should be seeking medical advice, tbh.

hi. i also wonder if you engorged
if you cant bf while sitting down have you tried to bf lying down. I found it to be very comfy. You lay down on yr side and put him near you on his side make sure he is very close to you and his head alined with yr breast and put him on.

Update - I managed to get 250ml an hour later, before I read these posts above, which were helpful thanks. I was feeling engorged but it was the let down which totally failed. But fortunately it came back to allow me to pump.

I got another 140ml easily at 10am, have drunk loads of water and just tried again at 2 (fairly close to my usual timings/routine). But again I got barely anything, no letdown. Should have been about 140ml at that time of day. Breasts feel soft, "empty", not all buzzy and tingly like they sometimes do when I'm getting close to my next pumping session.

Tried hand expressing, trying to relax. it's not working. Not on the pill, not ill (pumped every day of having gastric flu a few weeks ago).

I just don't understand what is happening. It's so sudden. Will try one of the helplines tomorrow as it is bank holiday today. But DH has gone out to get formula. Feel so sad.

have you tryed bfing laying down?
or with baby straddled over one knee?
i find these positions easyier.and if he's latched on one side,it will be easier to express from the other side.

try expressing in a hot bath,or whilst looking directly at your baby if you cant latch him on.

Could he be growth spurting? What you are saying reminds me of a similar thing that happened to me at about the same time with my twins (my breasts felt soft too). It took about 24 hours for my body to catch up with their increased requirements. But it did, so hang in there x

I may be wrong, but I believe various of the helplines will be open as normal today. I've found them really helpful in the past so would definitely recommend.

Yes, do try the helplines. Worst case scenario is no answer, has to be worth a moment to try, yes?

My advice would be to keep pumping as usual, maybe feed directly a bit too for extra stimulation. If you stop the stimulation you'll end up with a permanent problem - what you've got just now may be a temporary one.

Some people say supply drops around their period - that may explain it. Perhaps have a look on kellymom too. All sorts of good stuff to be found there.

Oh god, that might be it, it's day 26 today. Periods annoyingly started up again last month.

I tried one of the helplines but felt bad for interrupting someone's bank holiday as it said it was connecting to a local volunteer rather than a call centre so I hung up. But I will try tomorrow. I've just managed to get another 140ml at 4pm but it took ages.

I will try the hardcore pumping approach which I did in the first couple of weeks - every two hours. Make those puppies work! I know that I should be latching him on but to be honest it always ends badly and, being somewhat fraught at the moment, I don't want to end up in a huge state as has happened in the past, particularly if DH is not around to help, so I will try my plan first....

auburnlizzy - if this is the NCT helpline you were trying, please call again. You are not interrupting a bank hol as we sign in to do shifts which are paid.

There is no 'call centre' which answers bf calls. All the helplines are manned by people answering from their own homes, as the calls get diverted.

Yes, it could be a sign of an impending period. But on the other hand, long term expressing sometimes does take a serious dive in time - but it is usually fixable with intense, frequent expressing. You need to talk to someone about it. The reason might go back to the beginning - maybe your supply has not had the best chance to calibrate at a high level and it has kept ticking along ok until now but does not respond well to a sudden increased demand.

Anyway, hang on in there and call again :)

I did call - the lady was very nice but sort of thrown by the problem. She doesn't get a lot of exclusive expressers! She said to try skin to skin and latching him when he's sleepy, and to express more while looking at my baby, that sort of thing. She said she thought I was "amazing" for doing all this expressing.

I tried this morning - we had a terrible time of it. I meant to keep pumping but he was so wound up he just yelled and yelled, took a bottle, threw up, screamed because he had wind, stopped when I cuddled him, screamed when I put him down to pump. So it's failing on both counts. He has just gone down for a nap so I am going to try pumping again. The milk is there, I can feel it, but the let down is taking 20 minutes. I am still filling bottles but the whole reason I express is because I find it very efficient and if it takes 20 mins each time to get going, 7 times a day, that is not do-able.

tiktok - I'm not trying to pump extra to cope with more demand, I would have no chance at keeping up with him. Just sticking to my litre a day.

OP, sorry you are having a tough time of it. A basic, basic thought....have you checked your pump to make sure that all is fitting as it should? Most pumps on the market are really built for occasional rather than daily use and in time things like the valves/membranes can get a bit flabby.

lizzytee - good suggestion.

Worth investigating, OP. You could contact the pump manufacturers.

Hi, in case anyone is still following this and interested. Thanks for all the comments and advice above.

Turns out it was most probably my period. Speed of let down picked up a couple of days ago and got AF yesterday. Very weird but now resolved. I will know for next month I guess as it looks like I am in a regular cycle again!