Why can't I express?

[Sugarplummy84]

I have the medela pump, I sit every morning for ages with full boobs and nothing! It simply doesn't work. My boobs won't express. Why? Does anyone else have this experience?! Thank you.

I'm not the best expresser either
Some people can, some can't.
I find hand pump better than my medela ( selling it on eBay!) bloody thing cost a fortune

I paid over £100 for a Lansinoh pump and get 1oz a time! It takes days to get a bottle full. Mw said that some women just don't pump as well as others-might find hand expressing easier?? It's meant to help having your baby in the room whilst you express? Pumping always makes me feel a bit squeamish too- very odd.

Some pumps just don't work with some women. Are the bits that go on your boobs the right size? Is the suction/speed set right?

Remember you want quick to start and then long, slow sucks once you've triggered let down to mimic your baby's nursing rhythm.

Thank you for all your replies so far. How do I know if the funnel bit is the right size? How should it fit?!

They should fit fairly snugly so there is suction but your nipple should be free to move in the funnel without rubbing. It's hard to explain but google probably have some images of correct and incorrectly fitting pumps.

I find a lot of people prefer the manual pumps to electric ones.

I bought a manual Linosoh pump, not expensive at all, and I LOVE it.

I get about 4 oz off each breast and it takes about 15 minutes.

Is your nipple moving when the pump is on? No vacuum = no milk.

Apart from that, have you tried with baby on one boob and pump on the other? I find it triggers my let down better. It does take me a few sessions to do a whole 180ml bottle though. Just put the whole pump in the fridge in between.

Can you put the whole thing in the fridge and it be ok??? Don't tell me I've been taking it apart, steralising it, drying it and reasseblimg the bloody thing when I didn't need to!!!

I paid a lot of money for an electric pump too and very rarely get anything out of it! I bought an Avent manual pump which works like a charm (although can be tough going on the hands :))

For me, I get more when I am with DS, he likes looking at the pump for some reason! When I imagine him sleeping through the night, I get a let down :)

Hate pumping tho, it's the devil's work.

Nicky yes that's what I do. It's unsterile as soon as you touch it anyway so normal hygiene is enough as far as I'm aware.

Google the oxford milk bank guidelines about cleaning, if washed in soapy water, dried with kitchen towel and stored in a clean plastic box is good enough for a milk bank........

For me I can't express for a pump because it makes me tense. So I don't get the let down. Relaxing then helps.

How old is your baby? That can play a part, I couldn't express at all as DS got older.

If your boobs feel "full" then I'm guessing your baby is quite little, in which case your problem is probably that you can't trigger letdown. You can try looking at your baby, if they're sleeping, youtube videos of crying hungry newborns - the hunger cry can set it off! - try to imagine feeding them or remember a moment that really made your heart melt like the first smile or first time you held them.

Good luck! :)

When I started expressing I struggled to start with but I actually found that doing it while having something else to take my mind off it (eg watching something on iplayer, listening to music) worked better. I suspect that intently watching the pump to see whether anything was coming out was making me tense and stopping milk flow. I've got a babytec pump which works for me, the only flaw is that at the beginning when it was only small amounts it was hard to see whether anything was dripping into the bottle.

I had no trouble expressing luckily but definatley got loads more milk when baby was beside me,even better if she was crying (I expressed and exclusively fed this way for 3 weeks, DH used to feed her while I expressed) so recommend trying while baby cries or watching videos of crying babies. Also make sure pump is assembled right,I once forgot to put the little yellow valve thing in my medela pump and meat I had no suction. Took me 3 days to figure it out!

I did. Even w the big green hospital monsters. So I expressed by hand and when prem dd got home 81 days later she was fully bf til 2. What worked for me was vast amounts of barley water, breast and nipple massage and swapping sides each time supply dipped even if it was every couple of minutes. I had a babygro to sniff but couldnt manage much by looking at pics or being next to her incubator... Poss because nicus are scary places.