Breastfeeding

[nicole1233]

Mum to a 6 week old. I really wanted to breastfeed my baby girl but she started to loose 10 percent birth weight and I was asked to top up with formula. So ever since I decided to pump, I didn't know better so instead of using a hospital grade pump I started with hands free ones and since say she was 7 days old I have been pumping about 7 times a day and no matter what I can only get 2 ounces, that is both together. My right hand side I hardly get any milk at all , 10 ml sometimes 20 ml. So I have been topping up with formula as just 2 ounces is not enough for her.
But since husband has gone back to work I cannot pump often and I have reduced from 7 times to sometimes 4 times and sometimes 5, the other times I just latch her, as I have a very demanding toddler to take care of as well and leaves no time for me to pump. M scared now that since I have dropped the no of times I pump I am going to get even lesser than 2 ounces.
Any suggestions please, also I feel so deafeated by my body that I am not producing enough milk:(
Mentally it has just left me in a very bad space :(

What you can pump and your milk supply are 2 totally separate things. I've ebf 3 DC and the most I ever managed to express from 1 boob was 2oz, usually I got much less.

Having said that the physical contact of bf is part of what keeps your milk supply up and very few people manage to exclusively pump feed.

If you are able to cope with the uncertainty could you go back to bf and topping up with formula of DC still seems hungry after/you get tired? It might makes things more manageable.

Is she able to breastfeed? If so I would just breastfeed her as much as you can, and give formula in between feeds, or straight after if she’s still hungry.

I breastfed successfully, had no problem producing enough, but could hardly get anything from pumping. So I don’t think you should assume you can’t produce enough just based on what you can pump.

I had a lot of problems breastfeeding and my DD wouldn’t latch. I decided to pump. I rent a hospital pump from Medela and I also invested in a hands free pump. I still don’t quite get enough to exclusively BF, so she has two formula feeds (out of 6) a day.

It is a pain but I like the fact I know what she’s having and that others can feed her if I need them to.

Also check you have the right size flange on the pump and that it's properly dry after being washed and steralized.

If she's latching well then just drop the pumping and feed feed feed. It's the stimulation of the breast by baby's suckling that encourages milk production - a pump can never replicate this and most people don't get anything like the same amount of milk from a pump as the baby does when she's allowed to feed on demand.

Agree with pps that pumping is not a reflection of supply. I EBF until one and could never pump. Baby was on my boob for hours cluster feeding when she was small

This. I was told not to touch a pump for at least a month. I just fed constantly.