Expressing help?

[weeblueberry]

Baby is 6 weeks and I've tried again, after a rubbish few attempts, to express my milk. Unfortunately I seem to having issue with it...

Due to a very large weight loss before getting pregnant my breasts are very soft but still pretty big (36JJ). Using the electric pump is proving difficult to get enough suction on the breast/nipple to create a vacuum strong enough for the milk to come out. I can see the nipple is going into the flange part of the pump and is moving but hardly any milk is actually coming out. I just expressed for 30 mins and got about 20ml. At that rate id have to express for 2 hours to create a bottle for her.

There's definitely plenty milk available (when I squeeze the breast a thin stream of milk actually shoots out) so it seems like its the connection between the pump and breast that might be the issue. Whenever I push the pump against my breast to create the seal it just pushes the breast almost flat against me-that's how soft they are.

I've tried with our electric pump as well as a hand pump and got similar results.

Any suggestions? I'm desperate to introduce some bottle feeds but would much rather it be expressed milk than formula.

i had a bit of this problem found that squeezing the breast whilst pump was on worked but also remember that you need less breast milk per feed than the recommended amount of formula, also some pumps have different size cups so if you have smaller or larger nipples this should / may help also I found that making sure you were letting down when you expressed was key a hot shower or bath helps the first few times or a picture of LO or something that has that baby smell

Thanks both. I'm going to have a bath just now and try again. :)

It's been 5 hours since I fed with the breast I'm trying to express so I assume its fairly full. They never feel hard and full though. They generally always feel pretty soft. I'm confident I'm producing enough milk though as baby is very content (6-8 feeds a day) and is gaining weight at the perfect rate.

I found I only got any out first feed of day ironic as I was up all night with minutes sleep if lucky whilst bf, using opposite boob.
I found Medea swing and tomee tipee manual worked for me
Tr later was lent by a friend and the former I borrowed one pre buying to check it worked for me
Also better if had eaten and drank well
Some people swear by fenugreek boosting supply for expressing

Thanks all. In the end I got just under 2oz in total. When I went back after having my bath I got quite a bit then it stopped. I checked and the breast still seems to have plenty milk so I'm stumped. The first few times I used the pump the nipple went right into the small part of the flange but barely seems to be sucking now. It's up at the highest setting (for both speed and suction) but I barely feel anything. The motor also made an odd clunking noise and then stopped working as well so I'm wondering if there's also an issue with the pump? Mothercare won't take it back though as its now been used and its been months since we bought it. I hope that wasn't £129.99 down the drain...

If the pump is faulty you should be offered a replacement surely?
Have you tried hand expressing? there are videos online, to show you techniques.

Thanks. I have tried hand expressing which works but takes a very very l

Damn iPhone. A very very long time...