Can't express anymore!

[cardiganlover]

Hi all,

I used to be able to express 120ml at a time, but stopped doing it when my daughter refused to take a bottle as there was no point.

I'm still exclusively BF and she's thriving so I have plenty of milk, but when I tried to express this morning I only managed 20ml!

This is a worry as she's due to start weaning in a few weeks' time and I'd like to mix her baby rice with EBM. Any tips ladies?

I express everyday at work and have found that if I am at all stressed out, I get hardly any milk. Try to relax, look at photos of your baby etc. I find that I am most sucessful pumping around lunchtime.
Good luck

yep, relaxing is key. when at all uptight, i get 2-3 fl oz from both sides. the other day i had a long bath, then relaxed with a hot chocolate while i pumped =- got 4 fl oz from 1 side in 15 mins

Thanks girls,

Will have a bath after she's gone to bed tonight and try after that. I'd hate to get this far BF and then not use it when she's weaned!

Will keep you posted

When I have had a bit of a break with expressing then I've found it takes a few days of trying for me to be able to express much again. I find it works best for me first thing in the morning and while feeding ds on one side and expressing on the other.

good luck!

p.s I've found that you don't really need that much ebm with baby rice particularly in the early days as they don't eat very much anyway! (well ds didn't!)

Hi all, thanks for the helpful comments. Well, I got 40ml after a bath last night and 35ml this morning....not great but ok. I'm hoping it improves over the next few days, fingers crossed!

When ds was in scbu I used to be able to pump a litre a day. When I tried last month I got 30ml I'm still bfing but I think my boobs prefer baby to pump. It must be a habit or something. A breast rebellion !

the best time to express is in the morning generally, and if you do it at the same time every day, your boobs will soon adjust to the increase in demand.

Another thing to try is expressing off one side while you feed from the other and get the benefit of the let down reflex.