Pumping help - at wits end

[painauchocanot]

Breastfed baby is 5 months old. My mental health is at an all time low and I desperately need to try and work out how to get more than a few drops out when pumping. I have a haakaa and a Medela hand pump. Also tried a tommee tippee electric with my last baby which had the same result so got rid of that.

We've tried formula but turns out he is allergic to cow's milk and it makes him really sick. And he refuses to go near the vile dairy free formula the GP prescribed so I'm back to my non existent pumping. Please help.

Other people might have some ideas, but I just gave in and stopped trying, and didn't even bother starting to try with my second baby.

at 5 months, you're getting close to the down hill, where they'll start eating more and more, going longer between feeds, sleeping through etc. So my feeling is that heaping on the pressure to pump is that final straw and if you just threw that away, you might find you're OK until the baby is weaned.

The most difficult thing about pumping is getting your breasts to let down to a pump instead of a baby. Things you can try to encourage let down-

Use hot water to warm face cloths and use as compresses on your chest right before pumping

Pump from one breast while you are feeding your baby with the other breast.

If baby isn’t there, look at pictures of your baby while you pump. This helped me let down when I was pumping at work in a grimstorage room.

Don’t pump directly after feeding baby, usually they empty you out so there’s not much left to pump. Take an hour break as a minimum before pumping. What worked for me was to pump an hour after they went to bed at night and then an hour after their first morning feed.

Just remembered
Letting baby suckle on your breast when not nursing can also increase your supply, making pumping more productive. So feel free to just cuddle with them on the sofa and use your boob like a dummy to fall asleep. I used to watch TV or read a book.

@Kotatsu I did wonder that, if it might just make things worse and make me stress about pumping but I'm so desperate for a break.

Thanks @PlanDeRaccordement, I'll give those a go!

I pumped a lot with dc1 as I knew from the start I was away for a week when she was 5 months old (a trip with my Gran). I pumped every morning before she woke up and got a reasonable amount to freeze. I froze a drawer full which was enough for the tim I was away though dh used formula for cereal etc (this was in the dark ages when weaning was 4 months). I used an agent hand pump.

And though it was awful at the time, I'm so glad I went on the trip with Gran, she dies not long after and I have so many special memories.

*avent hand pump!

Have you tried Neocate milk?

I imagine the doctor prescribed nutamigen which smells like animals feet. Neocate is far nicer but costs about 10 times the price I think so you will have to ask for a different prescription.

Same as pp, i binned the pump as it was too much stress and effort.

If your baby is 5 months they will be weaning soon, and can have baby rice (or cereal/yoghurt etc past 6 months) or something if you leave.
I used to give mine rice cakes and they’d suck on those happily until I got back.

Admittedly I only pumped for about two weeks however I found that the hospital grade Medela pump was massively better than anything else.

I believe they can be rented, so maybe that is worth a try? They have a function where the first minute or so is used to trigger letdown before it goes to pump mode.

@Alarae
I had a hospital grade Medela pump as well. Definitely worth the money!

Contact the breastfeeding support network. They were amazing with supporting me in pumping after my baby struggling to latch despite shields so us wanting to pump/bottle feed his breast milk instead. One of the key points I took away from our conversations is that any change takes 3 full days of consistency before your boobs respond - this took off some of the pressure that I was feeling when nothing was working. But their support is amazing and I wasn’t pressured into how to feed him they just heaped praise that I wasn’t giving up.

I found pumping very difficult, came to it when DD was 7 months old but still regularly breastfeeding. The only way I could get a decent bottle's worth out was via breast compression, so I'd sit there and firmly squeeze the boob being expressed with both hands: squeeze, release, squeeze, release... It was so satisfying to finally get more than a trickle of milk out.

You could try simulating cluster feeding in the evening by keeping pumping on and off over a few hours. My consultant told me to stop the pump after 5 minutes if nothing was happening as it would just get sore, but then try again in another hour. I had a premie and was loaned a hospital pump, but found the manual more convenient for a quick pump here and there.