expressing for a sick child

[proudmum74]

Hi

My DD is 3 weeks old and has Down's and a hole in her heart; whilst she can latch on she is unable to feed effectively and as a result she lost too much weight when we were solely BF.

I have seen a BF counsellor who has checked her position and advised we just keep on trying in the hope she may be able to suck more effectively as she gets older

In the meantime the hospital have given us special formula to help build up her weight. Whilst I know this is necessary to keep her healthy, I really want her to get the benefits of BF, so have been trying to express with an electtric pump and top up her feeds with that. The problem is that I am only able to express about 1 oz at a time (or 2 oz on a good session), but she needs to feed closer to 4 oz.

I was wondering whether there is any way I can increase my supply?? At the moment I am trying to express after every formula feed but my supply isn't increasing, if anything it is getting less.

Any help would be appreciated!

Thanks

I used to find it most effective to express from one breast while DD was feeding from the other. Not ideal or very dignified but definitely most effective. I think it's because the baby causes the best let-down.

I also found that I got more first thing in the morning than any other time of day.

Being rested and relaxed was what I was always told but not very realistic for you just now by the sound of it!

Congrats on your DD.

What pump are you using? In this case it might be better to rent a hospital grade pump

www.nctpregnancyandbabycare.com/shop/hire-services/breast-pump-hire

I used to only get 2 oz or so but now can get 5oz if boobs are full (my dd is almost 13 weeks and first week was in NICU plus lost 14% of bodyweight so am well aquainted with pumps and top ups!) Also if you massage boobs before you can get more out (my best yield is in morning just after a warm shower with lots of showerhead massage on my boobs)

Keep your DD to the breast as much as possible and pump as much as possible. Some women swear by fenugreek or domperidone. I have tried fenugreek but didnt find it made any difference really.

Main thing is keep boobs as empty as possible as the signals to increase milk production increase on empty boobs not full ones.

Good Luck!

oh yeah and use this if you want to pump on one side and feed on the other:

www.kellymom.com/bf/pumping/hands-free-pumping.html

as the worst thing is spilling pumped breast milk when trying to feed on one side and pump on other!

Thanks - I'll try this. At the moment I'm using the medela swing pump.

I rented a pump, I think it was an Ameda one, DD couldn't latch on either..it was fantastic, managed to express all her milk for almost a year.

Yes, just looked, it was an "Ameda Elite"

Hello, my DD2 was tube fed and never breastfed but I managed to express for her for 9 months.

I advise expressing every 2-3 hours day and night, and using a hospital grade electric pump with a double set if possible. I needed domperidone after a few months as my supply wouldn't keep up with her needs but in the early weeks found frequent expressing was the best thing for me, even though it was exhausting setting the alarm for every 2 hours. I felt like I permanently had my boobs out!

Good luck.