Exclusively pumping - how to increase supply?

[HulainHawaii]

Baby has refused to latch from 2 days old- defeating midwives, HV, lactation consultants, etc....

I've found this difficult to come to terms with but am now trying to look at ways to get him on breast milk exclusively by pumping. I will keep perserving with getting him on the breast but in the meantime my supply is dwindling...

I'm pumping 6 times a day - the most I can get is 100 mls in the morning but rest of time 40-50mls so having to top up with formula.

How can I increase supply? And reduce the time takes to pump?

By the time I've tried baby at the breast, fed and then pumped, each feed is taking nearly 2 hours. Will increasing supply meaning that pumping will be quicker?

Thanks!

Was in the exact same position. Am not an expert at all re: supply but below is what worked for me!

Try to drink as much water as you possibly can. Also, try and get some rest (easier said than done I know). How long are you pumping for? You probably shouldn't be going much longer than 20 minutes... or it will get sore. Make sure you pump at least once between 1am and 5am during this early period.

I found this page very helpful. Exclusive Pumping

I stopped EPing at 19 weeks, I was going to try the Motherlove 'More Milk' never got round to it... that might also be useful to you?

Are you also pumping at night? Night feeding is VITAL in establishing supply so if you are to manage exclusive feeding you must pump round the clock.

I ended up exclusively pumping with DS1. Lots of pumping should increase supply. In the early days I pumped 3 hourly.
Other things are breast massage, hand expressing at the end of pumping to get a bit extra and taking things to increase milk supply. I started with fenugreek, herbal teas, eating oats etc but eventually asked my GP to prescribe domperidone.
Also recommend hiring a hospital grade pump.
These websites are useful [ forums.ivillage.com/ivillage/?category.id=iv-ppexcluspump] beginners guide

fenugreek worked for me. Regular pumping (every 2-3 hours), double pumping, and limiting pumping to 20 mins and not getting stressed about volumes all helped too.

Keep trying with the breat feeding and keep patient. My DS1 took a month to learn how to do it (then fed through to 12 months).

I used to spend way longer than 20 minutes on the pump! But as he was my first baby I didn't have much else to do! The website I linked to talks about power pumping to increase supply. That's where you keep coming frequently on and off the pump for a day or two to simulate the baby feeding frequently in a growth spurt.

I'd also suggest lots and lots of relaxing skin to skin with your baby. Snuggle together, have baths together and just have him skin to skin on your chest. Have you ever looked at biological nurtering? The idea being that the baby has natural reflexes to seek out the breast. It may be less stressfull for both of you to let him have the chance to lead the way rather than trying to latch him on at each feed.

Sounds like your doing a great job Hulain!

Do you have a hospital grade double pump? TBH you really need one to establish supply. As others have said, pumping at night is very important indeed. A lot of women find cluster expressing works very well too.

I have exclusively pumped twice. The first time my milk dried up at 3 weeks, the second I was getting 9oz a time easily by 9 days, despite my babies being born at 24 weeks and in fact I had a massive oversupply this time, probably in part down to the outrageous amount of milk I had last time.

Things I was told would help (and certainly did for me) were:

• pumping at least every 3 hours/8 times a day
• pumping at least once during the night, between about midnight and 5am.
• using a hospital grade double pump
• pumping both breasts simultaneously (which apparently stimulates supply better than doing each breast seperately)
• pumping for at least 15 minutes each time, (per breast) even if no milk comes out, although I admit I did pump until hardly anything came out, which was eventually longer than 15 mins eacht ime.
• holding your baby or a photo of your baby whilst pumping
• using warm flannels on your breasts prior to pumping.

It will also probably help to make sure the flange of your breast pump fits well.

NCT hire out hospital grade pumps, as do several other organisations if you look online. You might find it helpful at first while you're trying to get your supply established. I used an Ameda (Elite I think) and found it great.

You have my sympathies as my DD was the same. I hired a double pump which reduced the amount of time to pump by half. It is also important to pump in the small early hours.

Have you had a 2nd/3rd opinion on whether baby has tongue tie? Has anyone said that they think you may have flat nipples ? With flat nipples (do not protrude as much as other womens when pressured either side) it helps to pump then try to latch the baby.. Some say that nipples shields will help with this also although others dont recommend them.

Don't feel bad about the situation you can only do what you can. I pumped for 10 weeks holding on to the belief that my DD would latch, but she didn't. We moved to mixed feed and then formula at that stage as my supply just wouldn't keep up. I stopped pumping overnight as she started sleeping through at 5 weeks. I was absolutely gutted that I couldn't BF, but at least I got a good sleeper :)

Thanks for all your speedy replies and advice!

I?ve hired a hospital grade pump ? Ameda Elite. I?ve never got the hang of double pumping ? i found that I need to hold my breast in the pump plus squidge the nipple in to different positions to get the most out. It would be great if there was a way of reducing the time it takes to pump.

I?ve been thinking about switching to another one ? maybe Medela Freestyle or Medela Swing . Any thoughts?

I?ve tried Fenugreek ? it definitely increased supply but I found the milk became quite watery and baby got diarrhoea. Am thinking about asking for Domperidone (sp? ). Anyone had this and what was your experience?

I?ve tried really hard to stick to pumping 8 times a day but it?s been hard ? especially when need to go out. I?ve pumped in the night but have found that it doesn?t make any difference in quantity e.g. if pump in the night and then again at 8am ? I get 50mls both times. If I only pump at 8am I?ll usually get around 100mls ? sometimes a little more. Is it worth doing the night pump if I end up with the same amounts?

In terms of getting the baby on the breast ? I really have tried everything ? it?s not just down to latch ? baby becomes hysterical when the breast is offered. I?ve tried catching him out when he is sleeping/ yawning etc. Yes I have flat nipples- I have tried the old switcheroo with from pump to nipple ? but baby doesn?t go for it. Tried nipple shields ? work to an extent ? baby latches on but the milk isn?t coming through so he gets frustrated very quickly.

Thanks for the links - will check them out...

Thanks

Pumping isn't a very good guide to what your breasts are actually producing so I would continue if you can to pump at night as that will stimulate your supply.

The baby getting stressed at being offered the breast is what I was getting at with suggesting not offering at feeds but doing lots and lots of skin to skin. Allow him to simply get used to being around your breasts without having a nipple shoved in his mouth if that makes sense, try to remove the fear and see how things go.

Ultimately, exclusive pumping is very hard work and you have my utmost admiration for continuing.

I used the elite and thought it was pretty good. Aren't the Medela ones you mentioned non-hospital grade? I think if you are exclusively pumping a hospital grade pump does make a difference.

I bought this bustier to help with double pumping. So if you need to use your hands to do breast compressions, squidging around etc the other breast is still attached. here's a DIY version with hairbands which is ok but a bit more precarious.
I had good results with domperidone and my GP was happy to prescribe. However it is off-licence so you might want to print off the Jack Newman info sheet in case they aren't aware of this use. Mine wasn't. It does enter the breastmilk but babies are often prescribed it for reflux anyway so it's safe.

And it gets much much easier. I managed 9 months and could have easily continued.

The other thing I would say is that trying to offer the breast all the time as well as pumping three hourly gets very tiring. I was quite persistent and kept trying until about four months. Saw many LCs, BF support people etc as well. I found it all quite stressful. Especially when a midwife told me to literally starve him and not offer the bottle at all. Her reasoning was the latch looked fine and he would eventually get it. He didn't. Just got more and more distressed.

With DS2 it was a different story, he fed well from day one. I guess with some babies it's just not going to happen no matter how hard you try. You haven't said how old your baby is though, if he's still very tiny then do keep trying, it's so much easier when they breastfeed!

Hula - when pumping or bfing it's the long gaps between milk removal that tell the body to make less so if you aren't pumping at all over night then you are signalling to your body to make less milk.

This may not happen over night but it will happen unfortunately. It also may look like there has been no point in you expressing in the night if you get the same yield from one expressing BUT you will have stimulated your breasts twice in the same time frame and increased the bfing hormones (you release prolactin and oxytocin each time you remove BM from your breasts and even if you are dry pumping you will still get some hormonal response!) you will see an increase over a few days. You want your breasts to have as much milk removed as often as possible even if it means getting up in the night multiple times to pump.

If you have a double pump you can use a hands free pumping top/bra or make your own (cut holes big enough to get the end that connects to the bottle through not the breast shield!) or even just clip your bra back up. Then you can do breast compressions while pumping but you would have to switch between sides.

This is a great article on a method shown to increase pumping output and this is another way that has been shown to increase output - you can do both at the same time btw if you want!

Speaking from experience I pumped 12 times a day for 8 weeks with DD1 before she got back to exc. & direct bfing - it can be incredibly disheartening to see how little you pump but the only way to realistically increase how much you make is to pump more often, more effectively, taking drugs or herbs will have no real long lasting effect if it isn't accompanied by more expressing/bfing.

Some other links you may find helpful -

This

This

This

Not really a lot to add that others haven't already said, but you really should keep trying to double pump because if you can crack that it will make your life sooo much easier as well as boosting production.

It sounded from your previous post like you've only been pumping in the night sporadically. It's not an immediate fix, like others have said you need to do it consistently for at least three days to boost supply. If I were you I wouldn't drop the night pump for at least two months. There really is no substitute for regular pumping to boost supply.

Above all I'd say just hang in there. I exclusively pumped till DS was one year old (cleft palate), and whilst you will be absolutely tied to the pump in the early days, once you milk is much more established after a few months or so, you can drop to four times a day and that makes a massive difference.

Finally, don't stress about toping your baby up with formula while you boost your supply. As long as you don't slacken off with the pumping because you're topping up with formula I don't think it's a bad thing as it's really important that you try to relax about it all. I used to watch programmes on i-player while I pumped and found it worked well as it stopped me watching the mls and took my mind off things.

All the best and hang in there. It does get easier. Honest!

Thanks for all your replies.

Have to say its reassuring to know that there are other women that have survived exclusively pumping! Its been hard and some people have been quite judgemental about the pump and bottle - even though I've made it clear that I'd rather be breast feeding.

Baby is only a month old so hopefully will get the hang of breast feeding soon!

Thanks again! x

Do keep trying Hula... I was very hormonal and feeling very discouraged... also a helpful mw told me in the hospital that she would never get it! So I just stopped trying after a little while.

I'm sure you know this already but it would probably be worth you accessing some sort of bf support service. I wish I had done this rather than just crying about it... like I said... hormonal. La Leche League or the NCT may have someone in your area or your mw should have details of any other bf support services or groups available.

Thinking of you! In my opinion you are a superstar for working so hard to get the breast milk into your baby.

Sorry, have just re-read your first post and seen that you have seen a lactation consultant etc!

Also, wanted to add that I never got very much from my night pumps but I needed to do them in order to get more during the day. Just like TruthSweet said above. I know it is totally grim. I used to set alarms in the night.