Help! Need to pump but can't

[cantthinkofagoodname]

My 12 wk old DD has cows milk protein and suspected soya allergies, and therefore can't have normal formula. Luckily I'm bfing and have cut out the offending foods from my diet. She is now thriving just below 91st centile.

I had some issues establishing supply initially, and this has left me with a milk supply that only feeds DD with no spare. I have a hospital grade pump and can only get out 5ml a day!

I desperatly want to be able to build up a milk stash in the freezer for her as I worry that I'm her sole source of nutrition with no back up. What if there's an emergency or I get taken ill or something? I've asked about a prescription for hypoallergenic formula, but have been told she won't take it without significant weaning onto it (tastes foul apparantly)

Therefore I need to pump more milk. But how? Any ideas?

You bet it taste foul, my son went on it and it was so yuk even he refused it.

Your not supposed to give to give babies under 6mths soya milk anyway because it is the most GM modified it has a female hormon in it that give babies breasts early so I have been told by a specialist are you allowed to give your DD goats milk yet.

To increase your milk you need to eat more cheese, eggs, ham I think there is some more but you may have to look it up. Anyway once you have finished either feeding or pumping you need to in between feeds do a bit more pumping and over the next 3-5 days your milk will increase but you do need to eat and drink more and get lots of rest.

If you have any more problems with this I suggest you speak to your HV or look in the birth to five book they give you.

Hope this has been helpful.

Regards

Elizabeth

Have you tried pumping when your breasts feel fullest. I hate pumping and struggle to get anything at all out later on in the day but can manage to pump a bit out in the morning when my breasts feel very full.

Try pumping 0.5oz from each side first thing before your feed your DD (or 1oz from the fullest side); she'll suck for longer to get all she needs, after a few days increase to 1oz (or 2oz from fullest side) then 1.5oz from each side or (3oz from one side) - this would enable you to generate a 6oz bottle every 2nd day.

I generally can pump 3oz off one side in the morning, DS2 feeds from the other side and then from the side I have pumped from.

Otherwise GF has good ideas to increase milk supply via pumping, might be worth trying that.

Hi, the more you pump the more you will make. Little and often is the key and double pumping will increase your supply. Pumping as you feed, if you can manage it is a great way of getting more. Lots of skin to skin contact with baby - again, having your baby near will help with let down. It is a myth that you need dairy to make milk. Cows don't eat cheese but if you are interested in alternative methods you could try googling "galactologues". The drug versions are not usually recommended unless their are serious issues AFAIK (but I am not medically trained). www.kellymom.com is a good, evidence-based source of information on everything breastfeeding related. Not sure who/what GF is (SWMNBN?) but you need to check that your information is coming from reliable, evidence-based sources. Good luck [smile}

"To increase your milk you need to eat more cheese, eggs, ham"

i'm sorry but that is totally untrue! what you eat and drink has very, verty little bearing on your milk.

it's likely that you have plenty of milk there, but a lot of women just CAN'T pump.

I always found first thing in the morning to be the most productive time of day, and it's def worth keep pumping little and often to build it up a bit
also, don't put the pump on its highest setting immediately. start off slow and then build up gradually.
you could also try expressing off one side while your baby feeds from the other side, that way you'll get a good letdown

check out the kellymom page on exxpressing, that explains it all really well.

my son had dairy and egg intolerances and tbh i only ever left ebm for him once. by the time he got to 6 months I was happy for him to have a small amount of fortified oat milk if there was any reason for it (though there wasn't very often)
obviously that wouoldn't work if ou needed to be apart from yor child for a long time, but as a one off it would be ok

"To increase your milk you need to eat more cheese, eggs, ham"

This isn't true but you do need to eat properly, a good mix of protein and carboydrates, drink lots of fluid, and be prepared to sit and let the baby suck for as long as they want.

DS1 had a problem with suckling and I ended up express feeding him. Expressing didn't happen naturally or overnight. I used a hand pump as I felt I had more control (and freedom) over the fancy ones I'd used in hospital. My sister expressed with twins and like you used a fancy hospital type system - she didn't get on with the hand pump.

The thing that made the most difference to the amount of milk I could produce was the amount I drank - especially in the summer. Just as an adult you need to up your intake in warm weather if your the full fluid supply for your baby and you want to produce extra for expressing thats significant amounts. If as an adult your meant to have 6? pints a day - say its one and a half times this breast feeding and then you want some spare and the weather is warm you could be looking at 10+ pints a day.

When do you try and express? Do you feed on one side and express the other or are both sides used up?

Are you in a feeding routine or demand feeding?

Are you getting enough sleep that you're at your fullest in the morning or feeding through the night?

Initially I'd feed both sides (he wasn't really getting enough though) then after a couple of hours express a bit from both sides. Eventually as supplies increased I'd feed one side and express one side. I ended up just express feeding, plus freezing lots and bining lots.

For let down of milk I found warm flannels or in the evening after a warm bath helped in the early days until I learned to feel less stressed by it all. Having DS crying near by helped but was also stressful so not sure about that one.

If you're getting 5ml thats more than I got at first. It shows you can do it.

Lets put the food myths to bed Eating a good mix of protein etc etc etc does not make a scrap of difference to milk supply (and there is no reason why it would) and nor does fluid. Eat and drink according to hunger and thirst for your own well-being.

OP - have you tried hand expressing?

OTOH, how about thinking about just accepting that the emergency scenario you're worried about is highly unlikely.

I am intrigued about the cheese milk and ham thing though - is this in a book somewhere?? It's very strange advice indeed.

If we needed to eat specific foods to make milk, we should probably have to eat grass

Antagony - good info about expressing, but not about water, sorry.

To suggest a bf mother needs to drink 10 pints of water a day is to ask the impossible!

That's a massive amount of water.

There is no evidence that deliberately drinking more water makes a difference to milk supply, and there is one lot of research that shows deliberately drinking large quantities actually reduces milk supply....so it's not advisable.

I have breast fed both my boys and found that I've needed to up my fluid intake. When I was expressing in the hot weather I found if I had drunk less it had an effect on the amount of milk I produced (not a scientific study and could be a psychological response) . I don't know the exact volumes hence the question marks.

I guess the best guide is urine colour if you're getting enough fluids your urine should be pale.

I agree with tiktok about the food. I was on a very low fat diet when bf dd1 as had gall stones and was trying to avoid an operation at the exclusive bf stage. She thrived and it worked for me too. But I always feel thirsty when bf especially on a growth spurt day and expressing is a bit like tricking the breasts into thinking baby needs more than they actually do. If I get very thirsty I get headaches and feel more tired and this in turn effects let down etc so I would say make sure you're well hydrated and I go by urine colour as would never manage to count how much I'm drinking. Again though this is anecdote not evidence.

www.eatwell.gov.uk/agesandstages/baby/breastfeed/

MumNWLondon - don't those guidelines apply to everyone. It helps perpetuate the old wives tales and I find it is a bit misleading (and a tad depressing) to find this on a government website but there is mountain of myths around breastfeeding. All new mums need to look after themselves (or how about, other people nurture new mums a bit?). The site fails to mention that bf uses around 500 calories a day and is therefore an effective way of losing baby weight.... alongside a reasonable diet (not, as in my case comprising toast and chocolate in various forms)

Is it possible that the breast pump shields that you are using are too big or small and therefore reducing the effectiveness of the pump?

Have you considered Fenugreek or another galactagogue?

When you are expressing are you relaxed (as is possible with a machine stuck to your boob!)? Some women find it helpful to be close to their baby or to have a photo/something that smells of their baby nearby. Others find it easier to express (myself included) if they try to take their minds off the process entirely - I used to read a book whilst pumping.

HTH

I was nil by mouth in hospital for several days and still managed to breastfeed, so yes, the info on eating certain foods and drinking more is definitely bollocks (to put it bluntly)

You should eat well and stay hydrated for your own wellbeing, not to make more milk.