Milk supply -

[babysensoryclass]

I've not been able to breast feed - I hate it and can't get the baby in the correct position. It hurts my wrists and I feel like he's going to suffocate due to my large chest.

I hired a Mandela pump at the start which which a low supply did to me not eating and being anxious as anything. I was also staying with my parents which added to the stress.

Im six weeks pp

However when I squeeze my nipples milk does come out.

Would it be worthwhile getting a pump again and seeing if I can get collection that way? The Mandela is hospital grade and I purchased a wearable pump Momcozy but couldn't get any suction...

I just don't want to waste money again.

That all sounds really tough. If you want to breastfeed have you sought some help from a good lactation consultant? I struggled so much with positioning and wrist pain until I tried the laid back position. Due to tongue tie and my baby preferring the bottle by the time we got it sorted I still ended up switching to formula full time and it was a big relief. I now have no regrets at all for not continuing with breastfeeding. I found pumping such a chore and probably wouldn’t do it again if I had another one. Next time I would just switch to formula straight away and spend the time cuddling my baby instead.

Are you giving any breast milk at all at the moment? If you’ve stopped completely and you’re happy giving formula then I wouldn’t bother with the stress of trying to build up your milk supply from zero feeds again. It might work, but would the effort really be worth it? It’s hard to look after a baby (especially if you’re a single parent?) while you’re pumping. Your bond with your baby is more important that what kind of milk you feed them.
As your baby is bigger now you could try direct feeding again, if your baby is interested - it might not feel so worrying anymore and different positions might work - but you’d have to keep formula feeding anyway.
But it sounds to me like you’ve stopped breastfeeding + pumping and you’re just worrying that it wasn’t the right decision?
I’m a massive breastfeeding advocate and fed my own kids for 2years each. And I think the correct amount of guilt a mum should feel for using formula is zilch.

Oh and I could hand express drops of milk for several months after stopping feeding. It takes a while for that to stop.

Thanks.

I managed to get 1.5 ounce of milk from a 15 min pump.

Not sure if it was fluke or not. Will soon find out.

Thanks.

I'll see how it goes.

Apparently 50ml is enough for nutrition.... which is what I'll try and get him to suck, even for comfort.

I've had help, the only thing that works is him on my lap and me hovering over him. So at least he can suck for comfort:

There isn’t really such thing as a fluke with breastmilk production? You pumped, and you got 50mL. That means you’re still producing significant quantities or milk. If you either breastfeed or pump consistently then you’ll be able to feed that milk to your baby. Consistency is key though.

The more milk you remove from your breasts (via pump or baby) the more your body makes. If you don’t remove milk, production slows down, and you pump/feed more, production increases.

Thanks. But that doesn't seem a lot?

I've pumped before and got nothing? Many times

Do you actually want to persevere with breastfeeding as you hate it? Pumping is really exhausting. Stopping was the best decision I ever made.

If I only need to get 60ml to be beneficial for his health I can do that

So they reckon breastfed babies top out at about 750mL per 24 hours (ages 1-6months) with some variation between babies (570-900mL in 24 hours range). So 50mL is not nothing. Formula fed babies tend to drink a bit more than that. Breastmilk is digested more efficiently so they need less is the theory.
There is no possible way to pump once or twice a day and get enough milk to feed a baby exclusively. That’s not a realistic expectation. You might find stories or women who can pump a litre in one half hour session but they are the exception and that’s probably a massive pain to deal with in reality. Breastfed babies get more efficient as they get older and so take bigger quantities in fewer feeds, but they still might feed every 2-3 hours in the day and a couple of times overnight. 10little feeds a day is totally normal. - 10 feeds of even 50mL and you would possibly be getting close to enough milk to feed exclusively. But 10 pumping sessions in 24 hours is brutal and you might not get that much every time anyway since you haven’t been nursing/pumping consistently.
Everyone’s a little bit different. You might find you can pump once a day and consistently get 50mL or 100mL after a while. Or you might find your body decides that such infrequent milk removal leads to your milk drying up. Babies are also more efficient than pumps - lots of women get inconsistent results with a pump but have no trouble direct feeding.

Thank you.

So yes I got this the second pump,

I will have a try again in the night feed, see what I get.

I'm too busy tomorrow morning so will have to be afternoon or something.

I don't know if they mean 60ml is good for a newborn or can be supported for a baby who's also formula feed and a little older.

I've got the pump for two weeks, so I'll give it a week lol.

You can store it in the fridge for a few days and add several pumps worth together to make up a bottle if you want. Just put freshly pumped milk in the fridge separately until it’s cold and then you can combine them. NHS says you store it up to 8 days if your fridge is below 4’c, or 3 days if you’re not sure. It’ll separate a bit but that doesn’t matter - you can warm the bottle a bit under the tap and it’ll homogenize again. Or just add the small quantity to the next formula feed bottle (after you’ve made up the formula with the right powder to water ratio).

Just did it again and got about 5ml,

Oh well at least I'm putting in an order for tomorrow or something

Hi my baby is also tongue tied I was wondering if you got it cut? I still try to breast feed and pump but she still acts hungry after breast feeding anyway so I may switch to formula ( she’s 5 weeks)