Ameda personal electric dual pump

[Numusho]

I have a 3wk dd n day one she was a bit lazy feeder...I don't know if the fact that I had c section under GA made her sleepy but we had a hard time first two days. To top it, I didn't have any flow till day 3. I struggled to feed her and she is on a mixed EBM, formula with occasional breast thrown in everyday. I bought the ameda hoping to gradually phase out the formula till she is 6 months.

She was always hungry n I had to top her up with formula to gain weight. HV was slightly condescending (coz I'm a dr, a kiddie one to boot) and pushing towards only BF

And she has colic :(

Any advice on how much I should be pumping, how frequently? Am I being too hopeful? I'm at my wits end because I really wanted to breast feed exclusively (I wanted max breast milk with small top ups but now willing to settle even for 50 -50 breast milk/formula)

Little and often works best. Can wrap expressing kit in cling film and put back in fridge for next session (or two) before having to resterilise.

Good e-group

Forget the snooty HV. there's probably a nicer one if you ask around. or call your old workplace and ask for the scbu lead nurse for breast feeding, or the infant feeding specialist midwife. Remind them that time spent helping you now, will hopefully have a ripple effect later.

You need to be pumping a minimum of every 3 hours (preferably every 2 hours), maybe going to one 4-5 hour stretch overnight. If you use Milton's sterilising solution, you can bung the expressing kit back in. One bucketful is good for around 24 hours-it might be 12, check on the packet. Miltons def the best sterilising option for expressing. Shorter, more frequent pumpings are beter than protracted sessions. You should also try hand expressing, which is a much more effective and gentle method for extracting milk in the early days

Put baby to the breast as often as possible. Babies are much better at stimulating milk supply that pumps.

No, you're not being too hopeful. I'm a pump agent, and have loaned pumps to women who have got to exclusively breastfeeding from similar situations to yours.

Incidently, you wouldn't see any flow by day 3. Especially with a c/s you'd not expect mature milk to have come in by then, still colostrum, which is produced in very small (1-2 ml) amounts. You'd only expect to see drops beading on the end of the nipple. You shouldn't have been advised to use a pump at that stage, but to hand express, or use a syringe.

Thanks all. Between DP n the nurses n the HV I was at a loss. Kept thinking I didn't have enough n DP voted to change to full formula in the first week!
I don't work here in uk. So can't really call international but will look for another HV. I'm new to the system here...new to the country (less than one yr yet)
And the colic is wearing me down coz she won't take breast at that time. I do hand express,machine, stick baby on... Repeatedly n got very sore boobs n nipples from all that action plus engorgement.

Damn the stupid medical text book. They don't tell u anything useful!!!