Expressing - does it dry your supply up??

[bigpreggybelly]

I've started expressing for the last week after finding my nipples couldn't cope with breastfeeding any more.

However, the amount I'm producing seems to be getting less and less each day. I thought I would produce gallons with spare for the freezer, but that's not happening. Now, despite expressing 5 times a day I'm producing barely enough in total for 2 feeds. How can I up the supply? Does pumping an empty breast help to increase it??

Does this happen to everyone? At the rate its going, my boobs will have given up in another week.

Any advice hugely appreciated.

Not sure how old your baby is, but if you have a newborn then expressing 5 times a day is not enough to keep your supply up. Newborns nurse 10-12 times in 24 hours, and ideally you'd pump that many times to stimulate your supply.

Also lots of mums find that they can't express a huge quantity but have more than enough to feed a baby at the breast.

Can you get real life help with the pain? Have somebody observe a feed to look at positioning and have your nipples checked for thrush. Generally LLL or NCT are more knowledgeable than the average HV.

What you are getting out is not an indicator of supply, but, a pump is not as efficient at stimulation as a baby is, so if you are exclusively pumping then you need to be pumping more often than you would be feeding, if that makes sense.

I agree it would make sense to get the nipple pain looked at, breastfeeding in the vast majority of cases should not hurt. There might even be a possibility of getting the baby back onto the breast if that is what you want, as it would be a lot more convenient than expressing every feed. How old is the baby?

Babies are much better at getting milk from the breast than a pump is - so if you could start feeding your baby again you'd be making enough. You'd need to pump more than you are now to keep it going otherwise.
Have you tried nipple shields while feeding just until your nipples heal? I've used them with both DSs and they are wonderful.

You say your nipples could not cope - are they sore? cracked, bleeding?

Mine got sore for a few weeks, just sort of red, through over use!, but after a while they settled. Babe always had a good latch from birth. I could never express, never got very much milk out.

I fed through the pain until it died down. When it was really bad, took paracetamol to take edge of.

Fed for a long time, really enjoyed it once things settled down. Glad I persevered.

Have you had any help for your poor old nips? Someimtes its just a case of the latch not being good other times it could be something else but its worth getting it sorted as the others have said pumps are never as good as a baby. Are you going to put the baby to the breast again or express? Which pump are you using? I always found hvaing a pciture of dd helped when i was pumping.

Bump - its not my nipples I need help with, its the expressing!

Express at least 2-hourly, using a double pump. You will need to express once in the middle of the night as well. It's bloody hard work - I did it for a year. If there's any chance of you resuming breastfeeding then do, it's much easier.

Do ask me any other questions though!

I had a similar problem and I would agree that you will need to express more often if you are not feeding 'directly' at all.

Other things that helped were increasing fluids (you need to drink loads I found), eating well and trying not to stress too much .....easier said than done?!

If you can bear to put the baby on your boobs even for a v short while it seems to help. Oddly I have one side that seems to really 'mind' having the pump rather than the baby - the other side is more resilient!

Supply winds down quite quickly if you are not careful I find, but the good thing is it also winds back up pretty easily.

Good luck!

I'm sorry OP I mistook your original post. I thought you were just "resting" your nipples for a few days while they healed. I didn't realise that you wanted to express from here on.
Like Picante says you need to express at least 2-hourly, and a double pump will greatly cut down the amount of time you spend pumping. The breast does not seem to get the same stimulation from a pump as it does from a baby.
Kudos to you for thinking of doing this, it is a lot of work especially when you factor in sterilising too.

Why not try the baby back on the breast and see if it is less painful? Nothing to lose except the extra work!