breast pump - what am I doing wrong?

[5dcsinneedofacleaner]

I want to pump a feed for my 3 month old so i can go out fot a few hours without her.I had an electric one but it just sat there pumping its little heart out with virtually nothing coming out - I got 10ml from the whiole things (so a teeny 5ml per side).I tried a manual one amd that was worse.
My baby is plump and clearly getting more than that when she feeds. Where am I going wrong? Is there anyway to make this work? I tried pumping with my last baby with the same result and ended uo not leaving her until she stopped breastfeeding at 14 months.

any ideas?

Some people find it just doesn't work for them .

Have you tried all the normal things, like pumping in the bath (obviously not with the electric one!!), feeding on one side whilst pumping on the other, looking at/smelling your baby whilst you pump, or some people find thinking 'sexy' thoughts helps?

Also, do check the seal on the pump against your breast and fiddle with the settings. Higher isn't necessarily better.

I havent tried the bath, so I could give that a try. I have always had the baby on my lap - normally she staring at me as if shes thinking "wtf are you doing now" .The seal seems fine on the pump ot seems to work well, just nothing comes out. When i dont want it to (out in public for example) it seems to decide to leak but when I actually want it to it shuts down!

An electric one never worked for me but manual Avent one did - can you try borrowing one from someone to see if you have better luck? It's so frustrating when all the effort comes to nought.

I have a manual one that my sister actually won in a competition (she doesnt breastfeed so gave it to me) I tried that but got really really sore - I have never had sore nipples at any point before so that was very unexpected!.

Oh, also, some people find that they can't get anything out with a pump but can manage to hand express. Never tried it myself but sure there are instructions online somewhere?

I attended a breastfeeding workshop for mothers returning to work and expressing. They gave the following fab tips. Before even putting pump to boob, softly massage in small circular motions all around your boob. Then do feather strokes down your boob towards your nipple all the way around, very soft and light. Once you've done those two, hand express to get the milk going.Then you can put the pump to your breast and when you start to pump, try to mimic how your child feeds so more rapid at first and then slowing down. Also, if you have a camera phone, video your baby feeding and watch it whilst pumping. After doing most of that (haven't tried the video yet) I certainly had more success so worth a try. Oh and perhaps start off doing first thing in the morning. I'm only a novice pumper myself so just passing on the tips I was given.

I've only ever used a manual avent pump, which works really well for me.

Just going by my experience, I found it hard to get let-down if I held the pump's funnel too firmly (sorry, bad English!) against the breast. I find that just enough pressure to create a vacuum works best.

I agree with the comments about massage and, again, ultra light works best for me.

When I start pumping, I do 4 or 5 short pumps to create the vacuum then longer ones of 3-4 secs each. Once I have let down, I can make each 'stroke' even longer.

Oh, one tip is to make sure you haven't got anything in the way stopping the funnel from making a vacuum. My bra is always the culprit if pumping isn't going well!

(Disclaimer: I have horrendously fast let down - think soda siphon - when dd feeds, and so pumping is pretty straight forward for me. Hope these tips help though)