I just had twins at 32 weeks along. Graham and Parker.....They will be 1 week old tomorrow. I started pumping with the medela symphony on the night they were born. I had a c-section with them because Parker's heart rate kept dropping down. They were born around 8:30 pm. Anyhow..my milk came in yesterday morning...I had just been getting tiny bits of colostrum out before. However I can not even get much at all into the bottles when I pump. I am pumping regularly, drinking lots of water, massaging my breasts around the pump to try to stimulate the milk to come out. I stop pumping after 10 minutes and massage around my breasts then try to pump again. and still barely anything comes out. I can not even fill half of each of those little sterilized nurser bottles they give you from the NICU. The pump we rented is the one they put in my room at the hospital. I can tell my breasts are filled with milk but it WON'T COME OUT!! Help!!!!!!
I am baffled on how to make this work. I feel like I am doing something wrong but not sure what. I keep my nipple centered in the shield...While I was in the hospital the nurses decided I needed the extra large sized shield so they got me to switch from standard to extra large and it seems to help some.
I get to a point where nothing is coming out of the pump after 15-20 minutes and I just turn the pump off and stop til 2-3 hours later. However my breasts are DEFINATELY NOT EMPTYING! I can tell there is still milk in there and I can hand express very very small amounts.
Is there some trick to make it all come out? I am so afraid I will dry up before my twins are released from the NICU.

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Mom of 5 kids age 12, 9, 8, and twins 3 months old!...

Kristen
http://www.openmommychat.com
http://www.a-mommys-world.com

you *may* have better luck if you try hand expressing to get the milk flowing first, and then use the pump, or if not, you can definately use breast compression to encourage it to come out, heatpaks or a hot shower right before pumping can help the milk flow as well. also, sniffing a blanket they've been wrapped in seems to help, as does looking at pics of them etc.

how are the lil ones with attempting to nurse?

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Ok great thank you for the advice!!
They have not attempted to "nipple" them yet. The nurse they have tonight says maybe possibly in the next few days and then I will get to try and nurse them for the first time!! I hope they take to it well I really want to be able to nurse them completely after they get out of the NICU and come home.

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Mom of 5 kids age 12, 9, 8, and twins 3 months old!...

Kristen
http://www.openmommychat.com
http://www.a-mommys-world.com

Hi I am just getting re aquainted with the boards, but I wanted to chime in as I had been in the same situation as you. I have to second all the above advise. I mostly wanted to cheer you on as I know how difficult it can be recovering from a c-section, pumping all the time, not sleeping and it too a while to get my guys up to breast efficiently. BUT IT WILL HAPPEN! Just keep up the hard work and you will reap the reward!

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Dina

Ask me how to provide childcare for all your children for $300/week westernmassaupair@gmail.com

You've gotten some great advice. I just wanted to stress the moist warm heat helps to get the milk out while pumping.
How are your twins doing?

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Hi there from Australia

I hope you are still at it. My twin girls were born at 32wks and I started pumping straight away.
It is a very stressful time and breastfeeding or pumping is something that needs to be learnt.
These are my tips - make sure you are in a comfortable chair, make sure you are not too cold, if your pump has different settings start of slow for a minute or 2 then speed it up, remember as you are pumping to relax and drop your shoulders - you would be surprised how many mums sit there all tense with their shoulders up around their ears, take a few deep breaths, close your eyes and think about your babies or you could look at their photo, pump every 3-4 hours to maintain your supply, double pumping increases supply so I was doing that every time, ask to speak to a lactation consultant if possible.

My girls were in for 4 weeks. It's hard and we all just do the best we can an take it day by day. I then went on to exclusively breatsfeed them for 7 months, then they went onto solids and were still breastfed until they were 1. I think the key is to learn about how your body and breastfeeding works and trust in our bodies ability to feed your babies.

I hope all works out well

Best wishes
Lea

oh and dont forget you can always increase your supply again or re-lactate if your supply has dwindled or dried up (dont think it would have completey gone this quick though).

And lots of skin-to-skin contact is great.

Good luck

Lea

I hope things are going better for you now! It took my daughter 5 weeks to really start nursing. Until then I had to pump all the time because she would not stay latched at all. I thought about quitting every single day, but I am so glad I didn't.

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Jodi, happily married to John
Mom to Maggie (March 23, 1993)
Ricky (October 1, 1994)
and Laci (March 21, 2008)

hopefully everything is working for you.... my daughter would not nurse for the first 2 months.... so she got exclusively breast milk pumped by me. then went on to nurse by herself, and some pumping for another 6 months.

Relax, that is the biggest advice I can give you....even try a hot shower before pumping... this helps you relax and stimulates the milk flow...it takes some practice. but make sure you are comfortable, and in a comfortable environment. Sitting in bed would help me.

best wishes, and all is possible!

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I would try pumping longer. I pump at least 20 minutes, sometimes more. I will often get another letdown past the 15-20 minute mark. Also, my first morning pump is usually my best, but other than that I often only get 2 oz per side. Generally 4-5 oz total. The first thing in the morning, I can get 8 oz or so, which is great, but I would say it's not common to fill those bottles at all. Your body should get more used to responding to the pump as you go along. Good luck!!

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