I am still express feeding Oliver and I have taken in the Health Visitors advice to up his feeds to 120ml but he struggles with it and is saoking through nappies and clothes at an alarming rate. He now weighs 8lb 8oz (after losing a lot in the first week) so he's a good weight but 120ml seems an awful lot for feeds that we have down to every 4 hours (dare I say we're in a routine?!)
So my question to you all is this..
How much can/do you manage to express in one sitting, with both breasts pumped. I am struggling to hit 110ml every 2 hours and it takes 45 minutes and a bad back to get it. My left dominates over my right still but combined it's just not enough.
I am off to the clinic this afternoon to collect a pump. For £10 I can rent it as long as I need it and it's the Medela Symphony - the same I used in hospital so I know it should work. Hopefully it'll work better than the crappy electric hand held pump I have.
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I'm sorry you're struggling with BFing too. It's really hard. I'm a bad person to compare to, since I'm getting less than half of what you're getting every two hours. Please feel free to completely ignore the following advice, but thought I would share just in case it might help. I'm just wondering if you're getting a lot of milk in the latter part of your pumping session. I told my lactation consultant that I was pumping for 15 minutes, and she suggested that should be the absolute maximum I should pump (and that I should stop after I get down to just a trickle every few pumps.) I've gotten to the point where I only pump for 10 minutes or so, because I don't get any more out after that time. That being said, our pumps may be very different. Hopefully the hospital pump will help you to pump more efficiently so that you don't have to take so much time to do it. I'm sorry about all the time it's taking and the pain in your back. Good luck!!
ReplyDeleteI have the Symphony as well. I can't compare it to anything else but it seems to work well.
ReplyDeleteI hate pumping with a passion at this point but I tend to be able to pump what I need in about 10 on an average day... on a bad day, less. It wouldn't do to compare amounts since my baby probably needs to eat about twice as much as yours per feeding. :)
I have the Lactina which is a step lower quality pump at $40/month, so very jealous of the 10 pounds for the Symphony.
ReplyDeleteUnlike Lucky, I jumped up from 15 minutes to 20 every 3 to 4 hours and got more milk, so take that for what its worth. As you know I have also been pumping for (wow) 2 months now and I still struggle to get more than 90ml total per session and we're now feeding about 120ml per bottle so it takes a session and a half to pump for one feed so she's also getting some formula supplementation.
Fenugreek & Mothers Milk tea are both supposed to help, but I have not tried either.
The rule of thumb for the typical baby according to my lactation consultant is 2.5oz per pound of body weight, so that's probably where the 120ml suggestion came from. (1oz = 30ml)