struggling to express

[Lisa78]

I've been using an Avent manual breast pump and although I struggled a bit at first, I was managing to express about 4oz / 125ml in half an hour, from which ever side he hadn't just fed from. Now its taking me half an hour to get 1oz so its taking 4 or 5 goes during the day to get a full bottle
Any ideas?

Just thought I'd give some reassurance - I have NEVER been able to express very much with my Avent pump, but my babies have always thrived. In fact I have been more successful expressing by hand!
Do you use warm towels to aid let down and look at a photo of your wee lad? Do you feel tense when you are expressing?

Same with me but now that I've hired an electronic one from a bf councellor I can normally get 3ozs in about 10 minutes.

HTH

I find it does vary from day to day. Have you tried getting the milk flowing with hand-expressing before you start?

Watching episodes of friends always helped me! Seriously I think relaxing and not worrying about it is part of the key - the number of times I've pumped for half an hour without letdown, given up just to feel my breasts fill up.

I have to say I've just bouhgt a medela dual electric pump which seems to do the trick as the manual one was getting harder and harder

Good luck!!

I feel tense all the time, never mind when it comes to expressing!!! He's only 3 weeks old and I have had a nightmare breastfeeding, why don't they warn you how horrible it can be? I was waiting for this lovely bonding feeling, but I just feel bored at best, frustrated at worst. I just tried using my heat pack - too lazy to warm towels but I figured the principle was the same! - and I got about 3oz in 20 mins which is an improvement so maybe that will do the trick
I do have these a funny rash of little red pimples in patches on my boobs, the last couple of days, wonder if thats anything to do with it??????
I've struggled hand expressing, the midwife showed me how and got loads out but when I try I just get sore boobs, hand and neck - and no milk!
Beginning to feel really useless, I mean how bad is it when you struggle to feed your baby? So much for the most natural thing in the world!

Lisa, I think they recommend not trying expressing until breastfeeding is fully established at 6 weeks. Up till that point, your body is calibrating how much the baby needs. It will get easier!

I also can't say enought about the Medela electric pump. It does get easier. . .

Lisa someone once told me to put a warm flannel on your breast before expressing. I used the Avent manual and I think it does take a little getting used to. Another suggestion was to do it whilst baby was feeding on other breast but thats very fiddly, need an extra set of hands I think..lol!

Lisa - check out hte thread
here that describes how much I hated it.
Mears was very helpful

Why do you need to express so much Lisa78?

If you can stick with it, breastfeeding really, honestly gets much easier after the first few weeks. You have more milk, the baby learns to feed better (remember, he's never done it before either) and it's much quicker. Expressing is never the most effective way of getting milk into a baby.

Why are you expressing ? If you don't need to then I would leave it for a while and concentrate on getting the breastfeeding sussed ! Get something to entertain yourself - I read loads of books while feeding DS1, and watched loads of videos too.

With expressing a lot of it is in the mind - if you can relax and forget about what you are doing then you often get loads, if you stress and worry you aren't getting enough then you hardly get any.
Massage the boob - it can help a lot.

If you have lots of hands or are very adept you can pump at the same time as feeding - you usually get more then because of the stimulation of the baby. Otherwise, first thing in the morning is often a good time to get more.

Also it is better to do long slow pumps than lots of fast frantic ones. If you got breathing sorted for labour give that a go - I found concentrating on breathing often helped get a letdown.

If you really need to pump and get a lot, then maybe go for an electric pump, and double pump both sides together.

Is this your first baby ? If so just try and relax - you say you feel tense all the time. Go with the flow, follow your instincts, and believe those little people are much tougher than you think ! It really should settle down soon, and you will get into a routine that suits you both.

You've got a lot on your plate, Lisa. Can you leave the expressing till you've got b/fing sorted one way or the other? I hated the first few weeks of b/fing with both of mine (there's a thread called 'remind me why I'm doing this again' and honestly I think it's quite common even in those of us who do get it sorted and eventually find it easier than bottles (like me). Pretty well everyone struggles with it - all that 'most natural thing in the world' is about as unhelpful as 'childbirth's the most natural thing in the world' (

Post here as much as you like, and you'll get brilliant support with what is an incredibly difficult time. You have a new baby - IMO it's the biggest shock you can go through AND you're expected to feed! HTH and cyberhugs.

oh and I didn't mean those smileys, dammit

I had real problems with the Avent pump in the beginning, but it turned out I hadn't put it together correction and there was no real suction. Do you think this could be your problem too?

Thanks everyone for the advice and support - feeling quite pleased with myself this morning as I just got 4oz in half an hour, aided by him muttering in his sleep and a heat pack!
The reason I am expressing is so that DH can feed him a bottle in the night - had a pretty rotten pregnancy and since DS screams for 6 or 7 hours at night, starting around teatime, it means I can get a bit of uninterrupted sleep
Even HV at a loss to know why he screams like this, but we are trying mixed feeding now; I b/f him during the day, his last night time feed is C & G Omneo comfort, then during the night, DH gives him the expressed bottle - it just gives me a break cos I know I don't have to feed him for a few hours
HV thinks he may have heartburn, so GP is sorting out some infant gaviscon - try anything once, nothing else stops the night screams and it makes me feel really useless. Which is probably why I am so determined not to give up b/f - be nice to do one thing right for him, little monster!

just a word of warning - the middle of the night feed is supposed to best for stimulating supply - so try not to drop that one - maybe go to bed earlier or have a lay in.

Agree with throckenholt - it is not wise to avoid night feeds altogether. It is really important to feed at night because that is when prolactin levels are at their highest. That along with breast stimulation increases milk production. Sadly a lot of babies have that screaming time from teatime throughout the evening. It isn't related to hunger. Mixed feeding could make it worse. It probably would be better for you to go to bed earlier at night and the baby be given EBM at the last feed before bed. That way you will have banked up on sleep and able to cope with the middle of the night breastfeeds. Should you stop night feeds altogether at this stage you may well find that you have to move to more formula feeds which can spell the end of breastfeeding which isn't your intention at the moment.

Hi again Lisa, I've just read that your ds is 3 weeks - I remember just hating bf at that time and knowing why people give up. It really does get better - they just start to know what to do and those feeding frenzies stop, hang in there!

Gawd, didn't realise that about night feeds - it was the HV that suggested it cos I was absolutely at the end of my tether late last week; it got to the point where I started crying when he did and I couldn't bear to feed him anymore. Thankfully its getting easier, tho it doesn't feel like it right now, I'm typing with one hand as I cuddle an inconsolable bundle with the other - fists and feet flying, red face and 100db screams - heartbreaking. And he was b/f half hour ago - gonna be another long night

Have you tried infacol ? It may be he has wind. My DS1 also was very fractious in the early evenings - I often fed him almost all evening - with may 1/2 hour breaks.

But may try as mears said - ebm in the evening, you go to bed early and then feed as normal in the middle of the night.

It really won't last much longer - it will get better soon - and you aren't the only one - promise.

It sometimes helps to remember all those other women up feeding in the middle of the night - maybe log on and surf the net while you feed - it really makes the time pass.

infacol was one of the 1st things, in the dim distant past (2.5 wks) when we weren't complete zombies! My husband spent his lunch break asleep on his bosses office floor - said boss was out but he scared the life out of the secretary!

Have you tried fennel tea. It can have a soothing effect on colic and reflux/indigestion type problems in babies. You could try some yourself (although it is an acquired taste) and see if that helps him. Otherwise I've seen cranial osteopathy recommended as a possible solution, especially if the birth was difficult for the baby.

Three more suggestions :

1. Status Quo ! the only thing that would settle DS1 sometimes. You may find something that works for you.

2. Is he overtired (the baby, not you ) ? I learned the hard way that my twins were overtired - if I put them down to sleep within 2 hours of waking they were fine - if they were up much more than that then they would scream and not go to sleep. It may be that he is over stimulated and really needs to sleep (I hope this is the answer for your sake !)

3. One of those swing chairs - battery operated - they are expensive but maybe you could borrow one ? It worked really well for my twins (only up until 3 months though - although others have said it worked for longer for them).

just thought of one more - baby massage - I never got round to it, but friends have said it was great - very soothing for both of you even if it doesn't make the baby sleep.