Does power pumping really work for low supply ?

[Jenhahaton9]

Feeling so down about my supply & wondering if power pumping can actually work

Have you tried having baby on the breast suckling for a day? If you can?
Skin on skin, cosleeping for a nap?
Drinking lots of water, and trying to get a bit of rest also used to help me...

Sorry I haven't tried power pumping. Pumping wasn't great for me...

Hi op. I'm not sure about power pumping but I had low supply after ds1 (traumatic birth) and what worked for me very quickly was taking fenugreek. I brought a pack off Amazon. After 24 hours I had much, much more milk. Took for a few days and my milk was established and I could stop taking it. Whenever I struggled with supply thereafter i took it for a couple of days and went back to normal. I bfed until 18months when Ds decided to stop. Only downside was it makes you small like maple syrup! No idea why...

It's here on kellymum (an excellent resource for bfeeding)

kellymum link

Sorry you're feeling down - are you exclusively pumping or feeding directly from the breast too? The amount you can pump isn't an indication of your supply. But of course if you're exclusively pumping (and hats off to you if you are because it is HARD) then you will know exactly what baby is getting. Milk removal is the only way to increase supply, so power pumping should help to increase the milk supply by upping the demand for it. I could never pump much at all to be honest so I just fed directly instead. I've heard of putting a sock over the bottle to hide the amount that's in there whilst you pump can help! How old is your baby? The first 12 weeks are tough. Sending all best wishes to you

I also second kellymom mentioned by @EverydayIsPJday it's a really helpful site. I also called National Breastfeeding Helpline and they couldn't have been nicer. For me, my DD had an undiagnosed posterior tongue tie and feeding started to get really difficult at about 5 weeks, and she was really sicky and gassy after feeds and super unsettled at the breast. Once it was cut at 9 weeks there was no problem anymore. It took a lot of researching and soul searching to find the issue though!

Didn’t for me. I did it for 4 months then gave up.

Worked really well for my cousin who was pumping litres (well, almost) by the end of the month.

You can ask for medicibe from gp, or buy nursing teas .. but yea it should help to continue pumping, putting baby on breast and night time too xx dont get down tho if all fails, thats why they sell formulas xx

We might be able to help more with a little more information - how old is baby/are you EBF/background to the low supply etc. But in the meantime, in addition to Kellymom, La Leche League has a great page on increasing your supply - www.laleche.org.uk/how-to-increase-your-milk-supply/

And yes, power pumping is a way of increasing supply because it demands more milk! Basically you need to be asking your breasts for milk as frequently as possible, but ideally not in a set routine (essentially mirroring the feeding pattern of a newborn: milk, all the time, but not when you expected!) Good for you for wanting to persevere and do the best thing for your baby. Keep going!

Yes it can, I'm in a La Leche League FB group for people inducing lactation and relactation and it works for many members (not always on its own, but in combination with loads of skin to skin and/or supplements etc).

Didnt work for me at all. I found i was spending the whole day either feeding baby or hooked up to a pump and not enjoying being a new mum.
Its hard going.
Some people also cannot pump milk and I am one of them. I could sit there for an hour on each breast and only achieve 10mls of milk. But DD would feed from me for ages and be settled. Pumping doesnt work for everyone.

I still breast feed but my supply isnt enough to sustain DD on its own. I feed her myself and then top up with a bottle afterwards. Some days i have more milk than others and can feel the difference.
A private midwife advised me that your breasts dont have to feel full/hard to provide enough milk for your child. Everyone is different.
Is there a specific reason you feel you dont have enough milk available?

Congratulations ❤️

We had problems establishing breastfeeding due to tongue tie

I used to pump from the other side while feeding her (tricky ro juggle the first few times but you’ll strategise)
I found pumping when she wasn’t feeding just produced the tiniest drop of milk but with the stimulation of feeding on the other side I filled a bottle

It’s hard to trust the process of breast feeding, especially if you’ve had actual reasons to doubt it

I started going to my local breastfeeding group when she was 8 weeks and I really wish I’d gone sooner!

It helped to see the problems other people were having with older babies before we got there and it was a much more supportive environment than the usual competitive baby groups

Oh and I meant to say, by the time she was 16 weeks we didn’t need to top with the expressed milk anymore and I rarely pumped again as my shitty partner wasn’t interested in feeding her (gave her the first ever bottle of expressed milk propped up with cushions on the sofa!) and I wasn’t going to bother defrosting milk when I could just latch her on

Lucy ruddle - relactation book

Really useful - best of luck x