Anyone else just expressing / pumping?

[snowydrops]

DD2 is 8 weeks, since 5 weeks she has basically rejected the breast in favour of the bottle my first daughter did the same at the same sort of age!

Anyway I've seen a lactation consultant who has said getting her back on the breast may be hard (she gets very stressed, screams, pulls at nipple etc and generally seems to hate it) the lactation consultant seems to think I have narrow ducts whatever that means.

I've been expressing since day 10 or so and am now expressing 5 x a day. I get approx 70-100ml each time. That's expressing both breasts, 15 mins on each side. I physically can't fit more into my day as I also have a 3yr old to look after! I'm taking fenugreek and doing the massage buy my supply seems less / also a lot lot slower to let down. Sometimes it takes two mins before the first drop of milk (despite the massage)

So now DD gets approx 3-4 bottles of expressed and 2-3 bottles of formula. It's not my ideal situation but I'm doing my best for now.

Does anyone have any tips on getting more from expressing? I can't think what else I can do to increase it / speed it up. Also I took domperidone last time but I don't think they prescribe it these days?

Thanks

Anyone? I should have changed the title of this to be about building supply...as that's the main problem I am having really. Does anyone have any advice at all of what's helped them?

I'm exclusively expressing a sbaby wouldn't latch despite seemingly millions of experts prodding my boobs/his mouth.
LO is 11 weeks now and supply is holding up.
I find these things helpful:
Plenty of fat in diet. If being health conscious try avacado, if not cake! I notice a sizable reduction of not enough fat.

I always express in the same room as LO, usually touching them,

I have a hospital grade pump I have hired.

Hope this helps! You have my admiration and support. It's bloody difficult and other people don't really understand the sacrifices you make to give your child the best you can. Also if one more bf'fing mum says "have you tried...." I might scream. Yes, yes I have. If there was ANY other way trust me I would.

Take a look at the American support groups. Lots of tips and emotional support there I'm told by friend.

Thanks primary teach. The fat is interesting as I've been trying to reduce my fat intake as wanting to lose the baby weight, I'm not dieting but been very conscious of that so I'll up the fat again and see if that impacts!

I may also look into a hospital grade pump to at least use at home as supply is definitely decreasing now

I exclusively pumped until my ds was 15 weeks - I also had oats daily which seemed to help and I doubled the fenugreek portions that were recommended. It's definitely gruelling and I think you're doing amazingly well

I exclusively pumped for first few weeks so you have both my sympathy & respect ! It's tremendously difficult & so time consuming.

My milk is plentiful & really creamy.

I eat porridge with full fat milk every morning...never thought about fatty foods just made sure I used whole milk but I eat cake most days & avocado a couple of times a week so that probably helps too!

Drinking loads of water, sleeping & resting as much as you can ..hard I know!

At 9 months post birth I'm still 3/4 stone overweight so I really hope I'm one of those people the weight drops off after breastfeeding!

Good luck OP

I had a premmie who wouldn't latch and exclusively expressed. I was told I needed to express 8-10 times a day initially to build supply, including through the night (I only ever managed 7 or 8
though, and dropped down to five once my supply stabilised).

The thing that made the biggest difference to my supply was eating and drinking loads. If I cut down at all, my supply was really affected. I was told that oats, fenugreek and fennel tea can all help, but for me the main thing was calorie and liquid intake.

Good luck. Expressing is hard work!

Sasasi, for me it wasn't until I stopped BF last time that I lost the last bit of baby weight (5lb or so). This time I have almost a stone to lose and it's really annoying me!