Breast Pump/ Expressing milk

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yuukalim0404

Registered User
My bb is only 3 weeks old and I have started expresing some milk once a day.
However, I can only get 2 ounce for 30-45mins pump or sometimes even less on both breasts!

I wonder if this is too early to pump at this stage since my milk supply is not stable yet?
I am using Medela Swing and I am wondering if I should also buy the Avent ISIS which seems to be better from reading this forum? I also feel hand express seem to work a bit better...

I am worried since I will be back to work after next month and need to build up some freezer stocks.
Thanks!
 
We were advised to wait until at least 6 weeks before we start pumping --to allow the milk supply to stabilize first. Also, it would help if you pump more often, but for shorter lengths of time (no more than 10 mins per session).

Easier said than done, but don't get too hung up on how much milk you are able to express each time. Stress affects your milk supply. Good luck.
 
I pumped from about 2nd week for both my daughters, exclusively pumping after 4 weeks, no formula supplement. One till 9 months old and pumping for the other still at 1 yr, so in my opinion, it is not too early to pump. However, since your supply is not stable yet and currently pumping is not yielding much, you will need to direct feed to build up your supply.

Do you need to supplement? If not, then it means you have enough, just not from pumping. I have found the Avent pump to be much more efficient, so maybe you can rent it to try out to see if it suits you better.
 
I have enough milk to feed direct - she is gaining weight and having more than 8 wet and solied diapers.
However if I cannot pumped enough this will be a problem since I will be away at work for at least 8-10 hrs.
Any idea if the milk supply will usually increase after 6 weeks?
 
yuukalim0404 said:
My bb is only 3 weeks old and I have started expresing some milk once a day.
However, I can only get 2 ounce for 30-45mins pump or sometimes even less on both breasts!

I wonder if this is too early to pump at this stage since my milk supply is not stable yet?
I am using Medela Swing and I am wondering if I should also buy the Avent ISIS which seems to be better from reading this forum? I also feel hand express seem to work a bit better...

I am worried since I will be back to work after next month and need to build up some freezer stocks.
Thanks!
Click to expand...

I had serious problems early on in breastfeeding so I started pumping at 2 weeks and there was no problem--in fact I pumped with a Medela Pump-in-Style for five months after that. If you are also able to breastfeed at regular intervals it may work out just fine for you too.
 
yuuk,

When you go back to work, you'll need to continue pumping. I'd say you'd need 3-4 sessions for 8-10 hours.

Of course, it helps to have an emergency supply in the freezer.

I didn't start pumping until 4-6 weeks with both mine. Way too tedious IMO.
 
i suggest u pump frm one breast while u r feeding baby frm the other...it is tough to do this but once u get used to it u will realise how much more milk can be pumped out.....the natural flow is at its peak while the baby is at yr breast....i did this and had amazing results.....i used a hand-pump avent isis but i am sure u can do the same with medela too.....when at work keep yr baby photo next to u and try thinking of her while u express...it does give more results.
 
I bought the Avent ISIS manual yesterday. Personally I must say it works better than the Swing for me....still same amount of milk but much less time and effort! Hopefuuly I will be able to get more a bit later down the road
 
Stress doesn't really affect your milk supply that much but what it does affect is the amount of milk you can get by pumping. If you feed directly your hormones, especially oxytocin, help the milk come from milk making glands into ducts and down to the nipple. The more oxytocin in your body the stronger the milk ejection reflex. The levels of oyxtocin are much lower when you pump and so generally you get less milk then when feeding directly.

One thing to remember is that when you return to work you will be pumping instead of breastfeeding whereas now you are pumping as well as feeding. This means that you are actually asking your body to produce more milk now - so it is bound to be tougher.

Getting 2 oz of milk is a very good start as you are just building up your stored supply to return to work. It is fine to add milk together for a feed later on. But we usually suggest storing the milk in small quantities as you don't know how much milk your baby will need at each feed yet.

Lots of short pumping sessions will help you increase the amount of milk you can pump and so will changing sides in the pumping session. So pump one side for five minutes then changes to the other side then change back to the first side again and then the second again and so on. You will get more milk if you pump three times for ten minutes then if you pump one for 30 minutes.

Other things that can help are three or four minutes of nipple stimulation before you pump. And trying to be in a cool and relaxed environment.

You might find the following article helpful,
I'm not pumping enough milk. What can I do? http://www.kellymom.com/bf/pumping/pumping_decrease.html

Best wishes,
SARAH
 
Hi Sarah,
Your information and advice has been constantly useful and very encouraging( from here and my other posts) Thanks!
Breastfeeding is not easy and we really need such support to make it work, thanks again.

I have one more question...as I will ty to increase my pumping sessions at home first, can I not sterilize my pump after every use? Usually I clean it and sterilize it before every use, but I was thinking if I pump at midnight then again at 4am or in the morning, its difficult to go and clean plus sterilize each and everytime. I have read somewhere it is ok to clean and sterlize ONCE, then store the whole pump in the fridge for later use without sterlizing again. If this is correct, how long can I continue using this pump before the next cleaning/sterlizing? Will that be one day eg 24hrs?
Many thanks
 
Avent manual pump is good. =) It works better than the Medela Electric Mini for me.

Most of the time I would hand express the milk, even when i go to work. I would stop expressing the milk until reaching certain amount of milk, instead of reaching a particular time. You can try pumping the milk until you have the second let-down and That would indeed help increase the amount of milk. It's a supply-and-demand "theory". ;)
 
I've been pumping for close on three months now (since returning to work.) A good pump makes a big difference so I would recommend renting a hospital-grade pump (Celki at 10/F Melbourne Plaza in Central) if you don't want to pay a lot of money buying an expensive double pump like Medela's Pump in Style. But double-pumping is a must for regular at-work moms. It not only cuts your pumping times in half, you also get more milk when you pump both breasts at the same time.

A word of caution on how you intend to use your freezer supply. I saved a stash before returning to work - and because i have a big baby who consumes a LOT (19 oz during the 10 hours I am away from home), I ended up using a bag of frozen milk to supplement the EBM I was pumping on a daily basis.

Occasional supplements with frozen milk is fine but if you are using frozen milk on a regular basis to make up the difference in what you can't pump, then what you're doing, is telling your body you only need x amt (in my case, 15 oz of EBM pumped daily) when you actually need x + frozen milk (in my case 19 oz - my baby consumes 3 5-oz fresh pumped EBM bottles plus 1 4-oz frozen milk bag). The problem is, once your frozen milk supply is gone, you will have a hard time trying to make up the extra milk again through pumping.
 
A new problem has since emerged...I am starting to pump more milk 3oz from one side in 15-20mins. I notice when I pump the milk comes out in small squirts and some in large explosive "fountains". I suspect this is too much for my baby to handle as she chokes and coughs at times and I see milk leaking from sides of her mouth.
So far, she is coping with this but yesterday it got so bad that she cried when drinking ( for the first time!) I am quite upset as she is hungry and I can't feed her direct. ( I had to give her expressed milk from bottle in the end)
I wonder if anyone has same problem, and what did you do?
She is 4 weeks old now, thanks!
 
Try the Medela pump. it's great! i used it since the first day my son was born and it's so quick and ease to use, i used to pump 6oz from each breast in 10 mins max. i breast fed for 6 months and stopped when he starts teeth....

It's a little pricy, it's about hkd5-6,000) but it's definately worthy the price or you can rent it from Annerley's at 6 to 700 a month.
 
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