Expressing problems

[Geordiebabe85]

hi
My LG is 10 days old. There were a few issues after the birth which led to me not being able to establish BF and now she won't latch.
I'm trying to express (electric pump) but I'm really struggling. I'm only getting around 20ml per session (total for both breasts). Am I doing something wrong or is that normal??? I'm pumping for about 8 min per breast and then the milk stops flowing.

How many sessions are you doing each day? What timings are you doing?

I'm trying to do it roughly every 3 hours.

Every 3 hours is good. Are you doing an overnight express as it’s really good for your supply to do it around 2-5am?

You still have plenty of time to establish breastfeeding if you want to. It’s definitely not too late at ten days 😊 Are you getting any help? I would recommend la Leche league.

You could also try going to bed for 24 hours and having your daughter skin to skin the whole time and keeping her close to your breasts.

I fed my eldest son exclusively with expressed milk for 18 months so it’s perfectly possible - but bloody hard and I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone who can BF direct. It was a whole lot easier when I was able to BF my second child direct.

Good luck whatever you decide to do

Thank you. I'm really hoping to BF and seeing someone on Wednesday to try and help. I kind of thought I'd missed the boat so its reassuring to hear otherwise.

That’s good that someone is coming over to help. In the meantime do give your daughter lots of opportunities to try to feed. It’s not a problem if you don’t manage to get an actual feed but any time she spends there is beneficial. You’ll get there x

I'm 8 weeks on and still struggling with this OP so you are not alone and I've been told it's not too late for my baby to latch. Here are my top tips from 8 weeks of going through this and trying everything:

Hire a hospital grade double pump (Medela symphony) - life changing - and use a pumping bra so you're hands free. Pump for 15 mins a time.

Read about power pumping and try that once a day to boost your supply.

Phone your local la Leche league counsellor for support.

Try lots of skin to skin with baby, in bed and bath together. Keep trying her on the boob, before, during and after your feeds, but don't do it if you're feeling stressed.

Try nipple shields.

Get a tongue tie specialist to check her for tongue tie. (Note- not all doctors have the training so find a specialist)

Good luck OP x

Thank you. At the moment I'm just using a bog standard pump so I'll look into a better one.
I'm trying to do lots of skin to skin but she doesn't seem to be comforted by it