Author Topic: pumping causing supply to decrease??  (Read 1721 times)

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Offline nicolemca

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pumping causing supply to decrease??
« on: July 25, 2013, 22:44:55 pm »
Hello. My DS is 9.5 months old over the past week I have been pumping his mid-afternoon feed to give to him in a sippy cup in order to get him off daytime breastfeeds in preparation for me going back to work in 3 months, and also so I can have some time to myself through the summer by leaving him with my sitter. He's taking really well to the transition thankfully!  I have noticed that the first few times I pumped (manual pump) I was easily able to get 150ml in one session from both breasts. The past few days I'm lucky to get 100mls and that is with a combination of manual and hand expression.  my plan is to get him onto the sippy for both his daytime feeds and wish for him to have the expressed breast milk until at least one year old. I still plan on doing breastfeeds in the morning and before bed. He's never taken to bottles well so my experience with pumping is pretty limited. I did pump a bit for the first three months for weekend morning feeds. I've always had great supply but am now down to 4-5 bf per day including the mid-afternoon pumping session. Does pumping decrease the supply because baby is more efficient and will demand more milk from me, and therefore my supply will decrease because of the less efficient pump??
« Last Edit: July 26, 2013, 03:45:07 am by nicolemca »

Offline *Ali*

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Re: pumping causing supply to decrease??
« Reply #1 on: July 26, 2013, 21:11:28 pm »
Yes you could be losing supply because the pump is less efficient. Can you pump for longer or does the milk stop? Have you tried breast compressions? Breast compression

What about pumping for 10 mins after the morning feed to add up the ounces?
Cadan Dec 2009 and Colby Aug 2011


Offline nicolemca

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Re: pumping causing supply to decrease??
« Reply #2 on: July 26, 2013, 21:26:54 pm »
Thanks for the reply Ali. Yes I'm doing breast compression and the milk just stops after a couple of ounces. I could pump extra after the am feed but I'm not sure how much DS will impact that...he's at the stage where he's into everything and I'm constantly chasing after him. haha as I'm writing that sentence I'm also saving my plants from digging fingers and also just witnessed my piggy bank get broken into!! LOL! Bottom line it it is so much easier to pump while he's napping and I was also thinking that if I kept pumping close to his usual feed time then I wouldn't have any supply issues. I was planning on starting to pump the mid morning feed in the next couple of weeks and now am really wondering how my supply will be...

Offline *Ali*

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Re: pumping causing supply to decrease??
« Reply #3 on: July 26, 2013, 21:34:53 pm »
Yes it can be difficult to pump with a little monkey around can't it!

What about trying some measures to increase supply? I had great success with fenugreek and oats when I wanted to start pumping for some extra to mix with solids at 6mo.  "I'm worried I may have a low milk supply"
Cadan Dec 2009 and Colby Aug 2011


Offline snhill

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Re: pumping causing supply to decrease??
« Reply #4 on: July 27, 2013, 01:35:03 am »
I found this...

Moms who work outside the home and pump their milk sometimes find, after a few weeks or months, that pumping produces less and less milk. Their milk supply is indeed dwindling, and the culprit is likely to be their pump. Pumps that cycle at a lower speed than a baby nurses (fewer than 60 cycles per minute) and are used more than twice a day may cause your milk supply to gradually become mismatched to your baby's needs, and produce less milk than your baby wants. A hospital-grade electric pump will fix the problem, and can be rented from a lactation consultant or hospital pharmacy.


via http://www.babycenter.com/404_i-think-my-milk-supply-is-dwindling-what-could-be-the-proble_8872.bc

Offline eva026

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Re: pumping causing supply to decrease??
« Reply #5 on: July 28, 2013, 17:25:53 pm »
You can also try pup till dry, take a 15min break and pump again, break and pump again - to simulate a GS





Offline nicolemca

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Re: pumping causing supply to decrease??
« Reply #6 on: July 31, 2013, 18:07:19 pm »
Thanks for the info! Do you think that if I'm hand pumping at 60/min would that be as effective as an electric pump?

Offline *Ali*

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Re: pumping causing supply to decrease??
« Reply #7 on: August 01, 2013, 20:23:16 pm »
Hand expressing can be very effective yes. Many studies show it is more efficient to hand express than to use a pump.
Cadan Dec 2009 and Colby Aug 2011


Offline nicolemca

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Re: pumping causing supply to decrease??
« Reply #8 on: August 01, 2013, 22:44:50 pm »
oh I meant I'm using a manual hand pump...either way the last two days have been much improved I have gotten 4-5oz from both sides in one session so hopefully I can maintain that! here's hoping!

Offline *Ali*

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Re: pumping causing supply to decrease??
« Reply #9 on: August 02, 2013, 07:41:21 am »
Ah, sorry I misunderstood. I think manual can be effective as long as our hand doesn't ache too much and you can keep it up. Sounds like sounds like you are doing fine.

Doing breast compressions while pumping can help too.
Cadan Dec 2009 and Colby Aug 2011


Offline Fiver

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Re: pumping causing supply to decrease??
« Reply #10 on: August 03, 2013, 20:27:45 pm »
Doing breast compressions while pumping can help too.

Couldn't agree more with this.  A baby "milks" and "sucks" the breast.  A pump just sucks (in so many ways ;) )  Hand expressing "milks" and gives skin to skin stimulation which gives a similar oxytocin release as BF.  So mixing pumping and hand expressing/breast compressions is the optimum way of expressing milk.
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