Middle of the night pumping pals

Forums New posts
I'm a bit shocked that so far I haven't noticed much of a decrease in supply as far as the amount I've been able to pump at work. I did have to give DD formula in the evening last night and again between 2 and 3 this morning, which never happens. My supply had decreased some back to 8 oz for a while before mastitis and yesterday I managed about 7.5 oz. And Tuesday despite leaving early and having a bunch of blocked ducts I managed 6 oz. Hopefully this means I'll see an increase after everything is well cleared up, but I won't hold my breath.
 
My output is still down :( it probably doesn't help that I am having an insane pain flair :'(
 
Here is some reading material (not meant to make anyone feel bad, lol) but this is INSANE! Like I can't even wrap my head around how it works!

https://www.today.com/parents/mom-donates-breastmilk-gallon-help-babies-need-t114252
 
That's amazing!! Such a selfless thing to do for others! I sometimes wish I had an oversupply so I could do something similar. I know it's not easy having to pump so long and so frequently, but I'm already having to do exactly that just to have as much milk as I can for DD.

I'm debating trying goat's rue to see if that will work for me...
 
Goats Rue didn't work for me. But that doesn't mean it won't work for you!
My supply is tanking! :cry: I have no idea why. Mastitis has been cleared up for a while, I have been pumping at work and doing a midnight pump, Annalise has been cluster feeding more at night... it should be going up! It is 3:00 and I am about 3 oz down from what I normally pump at work! why????? :cry:
 
I'm sorry Kaja. Do you maybe have a clog you don't know about yet? Sometimes I don't know until they are massive and painful.

I hope you get it figured out soon!
 
I hate supply dips! It's impossible not to stress about them, especially if you make just enough milk and not more than enough (or in my case not enough). Clogs creep up on me, too. I don't feel a thing until well after the dip and only make the connection after I realize I've got a rock on my chest or suddenly bump into a painful spot. I'm not sure how far pp you are, but have you had your first period or might you be coming up on one? From what I've read it's common to have a dip in supply right before AF (and maybe during AF?). I've also read taking calcium/magnesium supplements help during that time of the month.

I'm hoping goat's rue will work for me! Yesterday I ended up with another massive clog, this time on the left side! I'm still taking my antibiotics from the last round of mastitis, so I'm really hoping it will keep infection at bay. This time it was thanks to DD not nursing well while we were on vacation with all of the family around and new surroundings to look at during the day... I've ordered some soy lecithin, which will be here Friday. It seems most of my clogs usually end up being due to milk blisters, though... I'm not sure what I can do about that other than maybe start applying nipple cream after each nursing/pumping session to try to keep the skin soft and hopefully prevent it from repeatedly growing over the same place over and over again. I haven't been using breast pads because I've never leaked, so maybe rubbing/pressing against my bra isn't helping things? Either way, hopefully the lecithin will help prevent clogs inside. The goat's rue brand Mommy Knows Best is running a special on Amazon that gives you a 50% discount on their lactation drink (with fenugreek, blessed thistle, goat's rue, and fennel) when you buy their goat's rue, so I ordered that as well. Maybe the combination will do the trick! I've read that you should not drink any water 15 minutes before or after taking goat's rue and those over 180 lbs should take a higher dose, so I'm going to go with that and see how things go.

A friend gave me her spare Medela PISA that she hasn't used and I used it for the first time this morning. It's stronger on a lower setting than mine was on the highest! I left work with not even quite 4.5 oz yesterday and I have 3.5 oz already from one session, and I haven't even gotten the clog out of my left side yet! I don't even have to use compression the whole time just to get it to get something out of me. There just may be hope yet! The ENT doctor we were referred to still hasn't called me to schedule an appointment to check for a tongue tie, so I'll have to call them today. I didn't want to call and schedule until after the craziness of packing and driving and unpacking for vacation was over.
 
I used to get blisters a lot too. I ended up using Newman's Nipple Cream. It's a prescription and expensive. But it really made a difference in my whole breastfeeding experience. I would recommend it for sure.
 
Good to know! I'll try out the creams I have first (setting a reminder on my phone because I guarantee I will forget all about it in 5 minutes), but if they don't help I'll talk to my doctor about it.

I think the clog in my left breast was actually inside, so there's a silver lining! That side doesn't seem to have as much trouble with blisters. It's usually the right side. It's like my body is convinced that shouldn't be a hole! :haha:
 
I suppose I could have a clog and not know it. You know, because I know I don't have one that I do know about but that is all I can be sure of LOL. And yes, AF could be squaring away to make an appearance. Sometimes I think she might be coming but then I just spot a very little bit for a day or so and it goes away. My baby is 4 months old :) I have been applying heat when I pump and trying compressions. I think I probably get about 6 drops more by doing compressions LOL. But hey, I'll take it!
My supply is down again today :'( I could just cry. I was barely making just enough as it was. :( Suppose I better buy some more formula *sigh*
 
Im sorry Kaja. I hope you get it figured out. It's so frustrating.

But with your spotting it does sound like it could be hormonal.

Good luck.
 
Ugh, I'm feeling you, Kaja. I hate having to buy more formula! :cry: I hope your supply picks back up very soon!

My right side was an overachiever yesterday and gave me 6 oz to work with (compared to a grand total of 40 ml from my left!), but then this morning it only gave me 1.5-2 oz during my first pumping session. I only realized after I saw how little I got that I had another milk blister. :dohh: So I cleared that up and pumped a few minutes and got another 5-10 ml. Got the lanolin cream on both nipples now, so I'm hoping that will keep me from having a milk blister every stupid day! :trouble:

Thankfully DD cleared up that nasty clog last night like it was nothing. I was able to see the clog all day yesterday and it was like it was too big to make it out of the pore! :saywhat: So it was just stuck there all day and I couldn't get it to budge no matter what I did. DD was very happy with all of that milk she got last night, too! :haha: That's about as close to milk drunk as she's been since she was a newborn. Hopefully now I can move past all of this clog business and get my supply back up.
 
Glad DD got that clog out for you! I used to be able to count on DS to get any clog out, but he just doesn't have the power anymore.

In other news: we have 2 teeth that have broken through! Not as bad as I thought so far. But we will see how it goes! There are plenty more to come still.
 
Hooray for teeth! I guess I sorta expected somewhat steady progress in the teeth department. I can still feel two bumps when she bites down hard, but I can't see anything yet and they aren't really raised, so it's impossible to say when we'll actually see teeth.

I swear my pump is either preparing me for toddlerhood or encouraging me to clean. Depending on the speed it's set on, I either hear "but why?" or "vacuum!" over and over again. :rofl:
 
my home pump says "bacon" and my work pump says "what now" LOL Funny thing is they are both PISA - my work one is just two years newer.
 
It's funny because all of ours (with the exception of Kaja's older pump) probably sound the same, but our brains are interpreting them differently! We might all be using different speeds, though. I seem to end up turning it up higher toward the end of the day than at the beginning.
 
Hi ladies! It's been quiet in here for a while.

I haven't gotten more goat's rue yet, but after the initial drop in supply when I ran out, my supply has continued to increase! For the first time I pumped 5.5 oz during my first pumping session! Maybe the goat's rue helped or maybe it's the combination of a better pump and DD's tongue tie being fixed or maybe it's the combination of the three, but regardless of the cause things are improving. I can't begin to say how happy this makes me!

Even if I never get to exclusively breastfeed this baby (now that she's on solids that's kind of not a thing anymore, but it would be nice to not need formula!), there may be hope for future babies! I'll be insistent next time around that they check thoroughly for all tongue and lip ties before we're discharged from the hospital so we don't have to do this again. And I'll probably take goat's rue from the start next time around and start pumping much earlier to make sure we get off to a good start.

Now if we can just get DD's sleeping habits sorted out... She doesn't keep me up quite as late as she used to, but I find it so difficult to stay awake long enough to get her back in bed when she does wake up. She doesn't really wake up to eat, just to nurse back to sleep, using me as a pacifier. So we're going to be working on some better sleep habits for her so she can get back to sleep without me. For the past week+ she's woken up without fail when I'm supposed to be getting up to get ready for work and it takes at least an hour to get her back to bed, so I'm rushing and running late for work. We have some ideas to try out to get us there, now it's just to decide when to start the sleepless nights...
 
Hooray for your supply Lenora!! That is super amazing! I am so happy for you!!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Users who are viewing this thread

Total: 3 (members: 0, guests: 3)

Members online

No members online now.
Total: 494 (members: 0, guests: 494)

Latest posts

Forum statistics

Threads
1,650,308
Messages
27,145,020
Members
255,759
Latest member
boom2211

Share this page

Back
Top
monitoring_string = "c48fb0faa520c8dfff8c4deab485d3d2"
<-- Admiral -->