Hi Ladies, can I join?
My name is Desiree, I have a 2 year daughter named Adriana and a 2 month old daughter named Isabela. I am just getting ready to go back to work. With dd#1 I BF until she was 4 months old supplementing with formula. This time I would like to exclusively BF. However, whenever I pump I am lucky if I get 2 ounces. I am using the pump in style by Medla. I am not sure if it is a supply issue or something else. I am hopeing that you ladies might be able to offer your advise and suggestions on how to express more.

Thanks!

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My girls are the loves of my life!

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hi desiree, what beautiful girls. i am not a pumping mama anymore, but i was an exclusive pumper for my first child til he got the hang of nursing.

it probbaly isn't a supply issue, it is probably a pumping issue strictly. how often are you pumping?

things you might try are massage, visualization, breast compression and sniffing an item of your lil one's clothing/looking at a pic. also, if you cna get coordinated enough, many moms find that pumping while nursing on the other side encourages letdown and yields more when pumping.

don't worry about the baby not getting enough while nursing- a child who is nursing well gets out loads more milk than even the best of pumps (of which medela is one)

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Welcome to the board! Is your pump and all the parts new? Replacing the little white membranes often helps with dips in my pump output. How often are you pumping? I pump 3x during an 8 hour shift. How long are you pumping? I pump 20-25 minutes each time. Many times I will go 5 minutes or more with no milk coming out, then I will suddenly get another big letdown. Every once in a while I'll do a really long pump session to get some bonus letdowns. Good luck!

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Thank you! Maybe I am not pumping enough or long enough. I am pumping once a day for about 15 minutes. This is just to get some into the freezer before I go back to work. I just don't want to replace my nursing session with my pumping ones.

Thank you for your help!

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My girls are the loves of my life!

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Yeah, you should see an increase in output once you are pumping more frequently and on a set schedule. Once your body is used to the pump, it should respond better. If you are getting two ounces without cutting any nursing sessions, then that is just bonus milk! I find that my body knows now right when it is time to pump. If I'm late heading down there, sometimes I'll get a letdown anyway at the time that I should have been pumping. I think you'll be fine, and yay for building a freezer stash! Good luck!!

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I know my body is used to my pumping times at work too, since if I'm late, I will letdown too!!

I would pump on one side while nursing on the other. It does take some coordinating, I pump handsfree with the rubberbands in a figure 8 (from kellymom.com) and that helps to pump while he's nursing. Doing that from when he was 1.5 months old (I went back to work at 3 months), I got 275 ounces in the freezer for my return to work. And since my body is used to the pump, I get to bring home between 12 and 16 ounces of milk for my 8 hr shift, pumping 3 times. He only dips into my freezer stash about every other day, the other days they get to use my freshly pumped milk for him.

To ensure my supply was as good as possible, I'm taking lots of herbs. But if it helps me meet my goal of not supp with formula, I'll do it. I take fenugreek (5 pills, sometimes 4) 3 x a day, blessed thistle (4 pills sometimes 3) 3 x a day, and Reglan once. I also bought a brand new PISA from Medela, my old PIS had been through 2 kids and was just about 5 yrs old. Make sure you are hydrated, and you are getting enough calories. Sometimes not eating enough will drop your supply.

Good luck!

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