Expressing support thread

[pigletmania]

After a rocky start ds was unable to latch on and 3 months later I find myself expressing for him for a number of reasons. Sometimes I feel like giving up so have started this thread to support each other. I know the benefits outweigh the disadvantages of pumping.

Are there any other pumpers out there

sorry for double post

thanks tiktok its nice that everybody is being so supportive. I would still like ds to latch on but i think that we are way gone for that (he is 3 months) and i haven,t got the time to be glued to the sofa or bed, as i have another dc with sn

yes we do it out of love and knowing that bm is the best thing you can give (if you can). i am lucky to be pumping the volumes that i do and every day that i manage to do it is great. well done everyone on here

hello

oh it seems to be working now. I posted yesterday but for some reaosn it didnt show up.

Chipmonkey so sorry to hear about your DC, so terrible and also needing thats awful.

Well done to you all who are pumping!!!

My supply has gone down and so I have decided to try fenugreek its not nice though makes me feel sick! will see if my supply increases though.

I agree how pumping makes you feel good and bad and i am alwasy thinking is this worth it but yes then I do another session!!!

Needing...What I want to know is what do you mean it pays off at 12-14 weeks what happens then. I did feed my DS for 5 weeks exclusively and thats when I ran into problems with cracked/sore nipples and poor latch and presumed my supply will have come from that. I am still pumping 8 times a day but as I say my supply has reduced.

Anyway good luck to you all xx

awww Gelsa , i know that another mumnetter recommended a nursing tea from amazn. said to increase supply, might try that as my supply was nt all that good today. how long have you been expressing?

meant amazon.com

have just ordered some tea. after 2x fenugreek capsules milk supply slightly up. Have been expressing on and off since ds was 5 weks old so for 6 weeks now as he is 11 weeks old. when milk supply reduced previously I tried BFing again but was in pain after 24hrs due to poor latch and likely tongue tie which was snipped but no real improvement.
how you doing piglet? :)

i am good, worried today as supply has been down but i think that i have been stessed. i have ordered some nursing tea too. how are you finding expressinng. i do keep tryng ds on the breast but no such luck

I found that the fenugreek made my baby really fussy. In addition to Domperidone, I'm also taking a natural supplement called Natalac/Moringa Oleifera. I'm living in Asia at the moment and that supplement is super popular with nursing mothers here.

piglet, with long-term expressing, production does go down. The only effective response is to express more often - 4 times a day is prob not enough to sustain a tip-top production for most people. Good news is you can reverse this tendency by expressing more often, and this need not be permanent.

More expressing is going to have far more effect than any teas, any herbs, any de-stressing you can do, believe me.

cant believe it lost my message again.
Piglet why are you stressed?

Tiktok- I express 8 times per day and havent found that my milk has increased in fact if I increase above 8 including at end of day to mimic cluster feedings I ahvent seen any improvemnet.

I am back to single pumping both sides, when double pumping I found quality of milk not as good and LO's poo turned green so single pumping is better.am wondering whether I should try this spectra pump. I ahve been using ardo calypso but have found that too painful and as I say quality of milk not as good.

Am Not keen on taking supplements either,and am thinking may be safer to take domperidone as known the side effects and risks where as with fenugreek no one truly knows the risks.

My goodness the things we do for our LO's. Piglet hope you are having a better day today.

oh gelsa having problems with dd and biting ds and biting at school.thanks tiktok

I am coming to the end of my pumping journey, and wanted to express(!) my admiration for those of you who fed exclusively expressed milk.

Like most of you, at times I have hated expressing, although I only expressed during the day. Being strapped to a milk machine, stuck in a dingy room in my office, spilling bottles of milk (), and endlessly sterilising and cleaning isn't always fun. But every oz expressed (almost!) was gobbled up by my greedy boy.

He now won't drink ebm, and waits for me to get home to eat. I've decided to stop pumping.

Good luck to you all, and my thoughts go to the ladies who have lost their baby, I hope you find comfort in knowing your baby was fed with your lovely milk.

Feel a bit sad to be saying goodbye to my pump now!

Gelsa - accept that at 8 x expressings for you you may have maxed out and more expressing may not make a difference. piglet is expressing 4 x, which would not normally be enough.

I mean 'I' accept....not ordering you to do anything :)

i find that i have more milk when i have left a long time between sessions, i dnt expess during the night, and i generally have between 9-12floz when i start pumping at 6.00am. I find that when i am more relaxed i tend to express more. i found that the more i expressed at first the less i tended to have. noway will i do during the night, i have to have some sleep . the max i could pump is 5 times a day, as have a dd with sn who takes up a lot of time. i dont exclusively express, i have to give 1 formula a day

Actually, that was a good point about double pumping. I know it's supposed to be better and when in work I always used a double pump to save precious time. But single pumping is far more like what a baby is actually going to do.

chipmonkey i guess you are right, i think its because you can massage breast at same time if do singularly. i was told double pump- double amount of hormone- like with twins!!!!

dont think this is sustainable though!!!!!!!!

I used an expressing bra to allow me hands free to do go on mumsnet-massage. I also occasionally, when times were tough, sat upright with bra on and dozed for 10 minutes at a time . Word of warning - don't sleep too long or you will wake up either very sore or with the milk overflowing!

This was an excellent source of info and support when I first started expressing, but that was over 5 years ago. It still looks good. Look up the 'fridge trick'. Kellymom also has a page of links related to exclusively pumping.

I just meant that after the 12 week point a lot of your supply is based on not hormones but more 'supply and demand' IIRC, so you might get loads from expressing 4-5 times a day and then experience a bit of a drop at 1-13 weeks as the hormone levels that keep your supply will start to drop about that time. If you are expressing 8 times a day you might feel like it is pointless but your supply will be less likely to dip if you have expressed regulary before that point. However, as time goes on, if you are clever about it, you will be able to slowly reduce your frequency of expressing (maybe pump for longer) down by one pump at a time. I was expressing only 4 times a day by 5 months, and I still got to 6 months exclusively expressing. You have to take it slowly though and keep an eye on how much it is affecting your supply. Each time myself when I went down to 3 pumps my supply was starting to dwindle. 2 times a day and it actually started to reduce dramatically, then at 7 months I went down to once a day, then once in 36 hours, then one more time 48 hours later and then stopped.

You will get a great many people (even BFing support people) who will tell you that long term expressing is impossible, that you will 'dry up'...but look at the link above and you will find that it's simply not true as the site is full of people who are making it to 6 months, a year, 2 years etc. So it is possible, certainly. Personally by 6 months I was ready to call it a day, but some prefer to continue. The above forum is a US one so many parents went back to work at 3 months or earlier and had pumping facilities at work, which explains why it is more prevalent there perhaps?

needing, thats really helpful and really interesting to see that forum! did you use any supplements to boost your supply too? Fenugreek mothers milk tea bags?
again thanks so much for that advice.

Hi everyone - I was wondering if there is any advice - at the moment I am still increasing my supply - it seems a long and slow process - I am expressing 11 times a day and am up to 680ml - or 25oz a day - however DD requires about 100ml more - unfortunately she spits out formula as if it were poison.... so the only way I can manage to get her enough food is to add formula to my milk - it makes me sad that I have to "pollute" my milk - although I am sensible enough to know that she needs to eat enough.... I am desperate to get enough milk for her to not need formula... I wonder if I will ever achieve it.... At the moment I am not taking any supplements - as I am already on a dairy free diet as the paeds think she is lactose intolerant - so I don't want to take anything that could upset her tummy.... Does anyone know about how much they milk they get up to?

hi Kirsty wow thats amazing that you are expressing 11 times per day well done! Are you double pumping? How old is your LO.

Look at he above advice that Needing has put 2 posts above another forum there is lots of information on there of how to increase supply. One idea is power pumping for 1 hr in evening and other is supplementing. I have tried fenugreek capsules only once and found a slight increase but then didnt take anymore. Now I am back to trying them again.

What formula are you giving your LO. Nutraminogen?

Hi Gelsa,

LO is 8 weeks tomorrow - Will look to the other post... My LO is on Cow and Gate with Colief (to break down the Lactose) when she needs Formula - I have managed to get the routine of 11 in a day to coincide with my other two dds....It is great until now - when LO sleeps through and I'm not getting any benefit of full sleep... Will be expressing in 45 miuntes and then at 3am again...

I also agree about the hands free expressing... that way I can help other DDs with reading and story time as well as getting ready for bed etc.

how is everyone getting on?