HELP! Pumping questions!!!!!!

Ok, so I have an Medela Pump in Style Advanced pump and tonight I sat down for 3 horus and got a whole 2 oz out of both breasts....like, I mean, I got no milk out of one after an hour and a half of pumping, and 2 oz out of the other!!!!!! Now I'm panicking!
I go back to school on Feb 4th. My schedual is from 10:00 am to 2:00 pm, so I wanted to have at least enought for 3 feedings while I'm gone, plus about another 5-7 extra for a backup. How the heck am I going to do this if I can only pump out 2 oz in 3 hours!?!?!?!
The health nurse warned me of this the other day...she said that I can expect to put Xavier on formula since "pumping doesn't really work." I chose to ignore her since so many other moms do this....but now I'm afraid she's right!!!!! The thought of a bottle of formula coming near a prefectly well breastfed baby makes me want to bawl right now!
How do other mom's do this? I'm just freaking out here...I hope someone has some good news for me!!!!! :bigcry:

 

Have you tried nursing him on one breast and pumping the other simultaneously, to help with let down? Plus, having his scent right there will help trick your body into producing more.

Have you tried MDC for advice yet? LLL?

 

tons of knowledgeable, lovely, helpful mamas over at MDC



http://www.mothering.com/discussions/forumdisplay.php?f=23

i'm sure they can get you through this little bump in the nursing road!

 

Definitely find your local LLL leader. I'm she's anywhere as good as mine, she will be extremely helpful.

 

yeah, I made a post just like this one at MDC, lol
Holly, I thought about doing that this morning, so I'm going to try that today. the biggest problem seems to be the let down, I just can't get it. That's so odd, too, because usually just thinking about him makes the milk flow....but last night, nada. It's such a different feeling from him nursing, that I think that's not helping either.
I'll look up LLL today.

 

Please don't give up and start supplementing!!! We're rooting (!!) for you here

 

so, I have some fairly good news now.
This morning I got 2 oz in about 5 minutes out of one breast after Xavier ate on the other side. I then pumped later on while he was eating, and got another 2 oz out of the other breast. The next feeding after that, it was only an ounce and a half, but it's still better than yesterday.
I posted the same post on MDC, and one woman told me that I should pump for only about 10 minutes at a time, which should increase my supply. So, that's what I have been doing.
The worst thing I find is that I'm staring at the damn bottle, and when I do that, the milk stops. But i catch myself thinking about it and looking at it without realizing it. Oy!
I am hoping that this increases over time, though. I haven't pumped enough for even one day yet.
Xavier has been super dooper fussy today, though...he goes to eat, and there's almost no milk. Poor kid. And he's hitting another growth spurt to boot.

 

A friend of mine was telling me today (Holly, Jess from APU) that when her son was a baby, she was pumping one day (an advent manual no less) and was talking on the phone while pumping. She was so distracted, she didn't notice how much she pumped until the bottle started overflowing! She got 11 oz!

 

oh wow! I really do need to find a way to distract myself!
This morning I got 5 oz out of the one side with xavier was nursing on the other in about 15 minutes!!!!!!!! yey!!!!!!!!! I hope this keeps up! It's been rough on xavier with my low supply like I was saying...he was up almost all night, and he's been sleeping through the night since the day he was born.

 

Aww, I'm glad you figured it out! I'm afraid this is one of those things I NEVER got the hang of. (((((((((hugs!!!))))))))) Good luck in school!
love,
mom

 

I had this same problem... my little one stopped latching on after a week so I had to pump...
DO NOT PUMP FOR A VERY LONG TIME...it will just get your sore and no where... for about 2 weeks i would get 2 maybe 3 ounces i had to supplment with formula then one morning it just flowed...
distraction is the best way to do it...
I also would pump every 2 hours on the hour come hell or high water to get my boobs used to the thing....
by the time i weaned her i could sit and pump for about 15 minutes and get close to 20 ounces...
also i pumped more then she would eat and trained my body to produce more so there would be more just in case i was away from ehr for an longer time!

 

wow, 20 oz!!!!! I so wanna get to that!
I need to remember that not pumping for very long thing. Did you pump until you were comepletely done seeing milk come out, or did you time it instead and stop after a certain amount of time regardless of whether there was milk coming out or not?
I have no idea how often I should be pumping. After I got 5 oz this morning, my next pumping session was down to 2 1/2, then to 1 1/2 and it's been at that since.
I'm afraid to pump more since I have not been able to keep up with feeding Xavier, and he's been attached to my boob all day for the last 2 days. I just have no milk left for the little guy it seems and he's miserable. His wet diapers have gone from about 15-20 per day down to about 5, but he's still having lots of poops.

 

To help establish a higher supply, look into fenugreek. It will help you get your boobs used to feeding "two" babies, which is essentially what you will be doing.

 

I actually wanted to ask about that. do I need a perscription for it or do I get it from a health food store?

 

any HFS should carry fenugreek.

 

Once I got it started and moving along fine I pumped untill I was out of milk and once the milk stopped comming pumped for 2 more minutes timed that way my body thought the baby was still hungry

 

i started taking the fenugreek this morning, and I'm already noticing a difference! Later this afternoon I did my first pumping session of the day and got 3 oz....in the afternoon I used to only get about 1/2 an ounce. Hopefully it'll keep picking up at this rate!

 

yay!

i'm sending lots of milk vibes your way! you are doing great and we are all here to support you!

 

thanks

 

o kirstyn hang in there Sister...

I drank a couple of cups of Yogi Tea: Woman's Nursing Mom 100% organic caffeine free

ingredients: chamomile flower, fennel seed, stinging nettle leaf, anise seed, fenugreek seed and english lavender flower

it tastes divine hot or iced. even drink it diluted to included your daily fluids.

vibing milk your way!