the mw and doctors have warned me that if my dd doesnt gain weight by tomorrow, i'll have to give her formula.

so yesterday, dh rushed and bought a medela mini, it pumped fine yesterday, but today it couldn't even get an ounce, plus i don't fill a strong vaccum, could it be that my breasts are empty, or the pump is broken?

Thanks!

Some women just cant pump.
My mom could not pump but I can!

I have that pump and it the pump turned up to max?
Or the battery's are going dead?

It's plugged to thr main, and yup, it's at max!

you should feel a vaccum sensation and a tugging feeling. if not then it isnt working correctly, check all the components are assembled correctly.

you may not get great results in terms of volume at this stage. when i started pumping at 2 wks i could only get an ounce every 3 hrs.

how often is LO on you? is latch good with rhythmic swallowing at each feed? its not great the pressure you are being put under. you could do with better one to one support from your MW on your feeding techniques not being told "if LO doesnt gain weight then your going to HAVE to formula feed."

i think thats awful.

http://www.drmomma.org/2010/08/breas...tch-trick.html

Great trick for latching! a better latch means more milk

double post!

Hun the doctors and midwives can advise that you give you baby formula and make you see a pediactric dietician but they cant MAKE you give your child formula my son didnt start to regain the birthweight he lost till he was nearly 2wks then he gained what he had lost really quick lol your LO isnt even 2wks yet both of you are just learning how to breastfeed

Thanks for all your replies , I'm so glad to find some support when I feel all the medical team is being horrible to me!

Breastfeeding consultants have seen me feed her, and they all seem to think that I'm doing it just fine. What the doctor said is that maybe she gets too excited when she feeds, so she doesn't get enough (sort of when you're hungry and we eat too fast, and feel full soon after you started eating, but you didn't eat that much).

I think I might not be producing enough milk... besides I had a c section 11 days ago!

It's not unusual not to be able to pump a lot of milk in the first weeks, I could barely manage 10 - 20 ml the first few times I expressed.

If you want to boost your supply by expressing though, I would definitely advise that you go and rent a hospital grade pump (like Medela Symphony or similar). The Medela mini doesn't have a very strong suction - it's meant for occasional use and doesn't remove the milk as efficiently as, for instance, a hosptial grade pump. It might suit you fine a few months down the line so don't chuck it, but right now I'd say you need a more powerful pump. I certainly did in the early days when I was expressing. Are you able to rent a pump from your local pharmacy or hospital?

There may be other ways to address your concern like loads of skin-to-skin, perfecting the latch, lots of patience while you and LO learn to become a great BF'ing team, etc... and I'm sure the other ladies on the BF forum will be able to give you great advice. As one of the other posters mentioned, it is normal for babies to lose weight in the first weeks - you might not need to turn to formula just yet (or ever).

Good luck

Just to add to my previous post - if you really feel your supply is low (it may not be though - lots of mummies think their supply is low in the beginning, I was one of them), then you could try some easy things to boost it like taking fenugreek and co-sleeping (if you don't already co-sleep). Sleeping with my LO definitely boosted my supply.