Success stories of using BPs for milk supply

[Niknak90]

Hi everyone,

Hoping I can find some encouraging stories from the MN community. I have a 10 day old baby who I am trying to BF. Since about week 25 of pregnancy my left breast has leaked on occasion and I was able to successfully harvest colostrum from it from week 37. My right breast has had nothing. I wasn't able to express anything from it and now 10 days into being a mum it still isn't producing anything. My left breast is providing milk but I'm already starting to look lopsided as a result.

I had a BF specialist recommended hiring a medical grade pump out and doing things like power pumping between 1am and 5am , and pumping in 20 minute sessions 8 times a day to stimulate milk production. I'm currently using a Lansinoh double electric breast pump to do this which I bought in prep for BF but I'm wondering if its worth using one of these medical grade pumps as suggested by the specialist? I've been doing the methods recommended for about 2 days ( so not very long) but there's no change in my breast. Its still very soft and not producing anything, not even a droplet. Any tips or recommendations?

Also just looking for success stories of others who have gone from zero milk supply at the start to being able to stimulate it using whatever method! Please give me hope I can fix this ❤️ my baby was in NICU for 24hrs immediately after birth so I had no skin2skin contact or BF until the following day. I know I'm lucky to be able to feed from one breast and I dont want to be ungrateful for that. But I'd love to be able to use both and give my poor left breast a rest.

TIA from a very stressed FTM xx

Hi Op, sorry you’re having this stress so early on! I planned to mainly express but have ended up doing mainly BF and really regular expressing for the first 6m so my wife can also feed our DD.

Initially used a momcozy m5 which was ok but I felt I needed something more heavy duty. Bought a second hand spectra S1 and it made a big difference! Power pumping, upping fluid intake significantly and nutrition, more so than you think. I swear by bowls of oats as snacks, lots of flax seeds, avocados, oat milk etc. It won’t happen overnight but it will definitely increase your supply! I didn’t do the overnight pumps as DD fed overnight anyway and I just felt it was an extra step I didn’t need in the aim of maintaining some sort of balance, I’ve read 2am is meant to be the sweet spot though.

In terms of your uneven output, it is completely normal to have a primary producer. Admittedly not zero but I call my left side the one that has quit its job. I barely get anything when I pump in comparison to my right. I drove myself nuts for ages trying to increase it but DD was getting plenty from my right and I used to just give her desert on my left. Is your DD content from the one breast? Willing to feed on the low/no producer?

Did you experience any changes in that breast during pregnancy? Did it change size/shape? Is it a very different size/shape than the other?

It is possible that there is a reason your breast does not produce milk however rather than pumping which is a real faff with a 10do baby, I would wonder if perhaps you would be better off concentrating on establishing a full milk supply solely on the "good" breast. There is no reason why a mother should not feed just on one breast, for some mothers this is the only available boob or maybe there is another reason, but it's absolutely possible to exclusively breastfeed your baby on just one.

You say a "BFing specialist" - who was this, were they an IBCLC?

Lansinoh pumps are pants, sorry.

For actually building supply, you need either a hire pump like a Medela Symphony or Ardo Carum, or to buy a Spectra S1 or S2. Then make sure the flange fits snugly around your nipple, the flanges pumps come with are usually miles to big (for reference most of my clients need a 15-17mm flange, rather than the 24/28 they come with) and it makes a significant difference to the out put.

With a good pump, it can definitely be successful

I rented a Medela one and was militant about feeding baby and pumping afterwards, pumping during their naps, middle of the night, etc. It took me a few weeks but my supply increased. I was also using a supplementary nursing system at the time (basically a little straw you put one end in a bottle of formula / expressed milk and the other end in baby's mouth while breastfeeding at the same time) and reached the point where the baby was barely taking in any formula/expressed milk while feeding. I echo the posters above about one side being enough - my right side produces way more than my left for some reason. Also echo the PP who asked whether your specialist is appropriately qualified as expert guidance makes a huge difference!