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Offline Fionabee

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CANNOT EXPRESS ANYMORE!!
« on: July 09, 2012, 20:36:57 pm »
HI, I've been BFing for 11 months, expressing sometimes in the early days in order to allow Daddy to feed, or if i had problems with pain etc.
The breast pump has been sitting idle for about 6 months now and since my boy chomped down a little too hard recently, I thought I'd express milk from that side until it stopped hurting.... but nothing came out!! I pumped and pumped and pumped and nothing. It was feeding time, I had milk, VERY STRANGE. I ended up BFing on that side anyway for lack of alternative.

Could it be:
- as Tom is so much bigger and stronger, he sucks harder than before and my breasts are used to this now and the pump isn't strong enough?
- the pump needs replacing after 6 months? It's broken??
- I've lost a lot of weight since birth and my breasts are much smaller (read TINY!)... could this be preventing good suction with the pump? It's a Philips Avent manual pump, which I've always found to be very good...

Has anyone else encountered this? Any thoughts on why? How to address it?
Thanks.
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Offline anna*

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Re: CANNOT EXPRESS ANYMORE!!
« Reply #1 on: July 09, 2012, 20:40:50 pm »
Not there yet but expecting it soon. Once my oldest turned about 10 months, I really couldn't get anything from expressing... don't know why, but know it's not that unusual.
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Offline Fiver

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Re: CANNOT EXPRESS ANYMORE!!
« Reply #2 on: July 09, 2012, 20:58:01 pm »
As Anna said, it is pretty normal.  The way your body makes milk changes at around 3-4m post delivery, so where there may have been an abundance in the early days (where milk production is based on hormones), it will often be more difficult to pump after that as it is working on a supply/demand basis, especially if you haven't pumped for a long while.

It does seem that if you have a regular routine to expressing that it's sometimes easier than if it's a once in a while thing.

Do you NEED to pump (apart from to let your nipple heal) or is it more a point of interest now?
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Offline amayzie

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Re: CANNOT EXPRESS ANYMORE!!
« Reply #3 on: July 13, 2012, 11:55:07 am »
Hugs hon- this happened to me- later than most people, but i was still panicked when nothing came out!! And I had lost NO weight since having the baby- and there was - ahem- plenty of flesh to fill out the pump ::)

BUT- as amanda suggests- at 11 months you may not need to give EBM- your LO should be abe to go through the day on the odd day without BM- offer other dairy like cheese and yoghurt instead, as well as water to drink.
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Offline Fionabee

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Re: CANNOT EXPRESS ANYMORE!!
« Reply #4 on: August 15, 2012, 20:34:36 pm »
Hi everyone. Thanks for the reassurance and "technical info"!!
Good idea to substitute with food too... Hadn't thought of that. Thankfully the pain cleared up quite quickly and was no longer an issue.
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Offline Fiver

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Re: CANNOT EXPRESS ANYMORE!!
« Reply #5 on: August 16, 2012, 18:20:06 pm »
Good news :)
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