Mommy's who expressed! Please help.

[Sakura-chan]

My LO is only a week old and I am finding reading through this helpful.

I started expressing on day 2 and was getting 2-3 mls by hand at first and then up to about 10mls each time until day 5. Then when I got home I started with the electric pump and I am getting 120-160ml or so each time I express so about 800mls a day. (2 days ago it was only 600mls a day so my supply is increasing)

My LO is currently only on 30mls every three hours but at least I am building a stock pile. I hope to breastfeed once he comes home but am not going to beat myself up about it if I can`t as I figure we will have enough to worry about.

 

[HCB]

How often are you pumping, HCB?

I was only getting a few ml to start with (I started at 3 days), and a friendly midwife suggested that I take the pressure off myself by downgrading from a 3hrly pump to a 4hrly pump. This seemed to suit my body much better, and the amount I pumped started to increase with each day.

Can you get somebody (midwife, HV, not sure where you are) to check that you are pumping correctly - that you have as much suction as you can stand (start high then turn it down). Double pumping is generally preferable to single-side pumping. And keep going for a while after you seem to stop, as you can get a second let-down.

I have been trying to pump about every 3-4 hours. I have had some people saying I should do it every 3 hours and some saying every 2 hours to get it going.

I did feel some pressure and probably, if I'm honest, still feeling there is some pressure because one of the twins isn't tolerating his feeds (with formula). It is one of the few things that I feel I can do for them at the moment and I can't even do this. Some of the nurses on NICU have implied I must be doing something wrong because I still haven't got any milk even after just over a week. I don't even feel that my milk has 'come in'. When I was pregnant I think I just assumed from what people say that when you have your baby your milk comes in pretty quickly after that, you get huge boobs and can't stop it leaking out!! None of that has happened to me.

It doesn't help that sometimes when I go in to see the boys the first thing that I get asked is what breast milk have I brought in (depending on which nurse is on). My husband has seen that they have got targets to meet with regards to breastfeeding and thinks a lot of it is down to that.

The amount I get doesn't seem to be increasing at all. I was told about the suction thing about getting it as high as possible and about double pumping (I've tried this a couple of times but it is too much of a juggling act and I just get nowhere). I have tried doing it for 10-15 minutes on each side even if there is nothing coming out. I am now trying 5 minutes on each side a couple of times each time I express, as suggested by someone else.

I have tried having pictures of the boys when I express but I don't feel any emotional attachment as they are just pictures not my actual babies. They have said that I can try expressing next to the babies with some screens up but I don't feel comfortable about that and with everything going on in the NICU room I don't think I'd feel relaxed enough.

I'm starting to feel that if it doesn't get going soon it will be too late.It all made me quite upset last weekend as I felt that I couldn't do anything and was a bit useless at this having babies business - couldn't keep the boys inside me for long enough and now can't give them something they really need, the one thing I thought wouldn't be difficult to do.

 

[HCB]

Maybe you can try hand expressing? When I first started using the pump, I barely got any milk at all -- so I switched to hand expressing, and have been doing that ever since, unless I'm at the hospital, then I use their pump. I'm just now able to get milk to come out of my right boob with the pump (ever since Elias breastfed).

I've tried hand expressing but don't seem to get on with either. One of the nurses taught me about massaging my breasts and how to start them off, so effectively hand expressing but it has been a bit hit and miss. I get a few drops and that's about it.

I won't be able to try breastfeeding for a long time yet unfortunately.

 

[Marleysgirl]

I'm starting to feel that if it doesn't get going soon it will be too late.It all made me quite upset last weekend as I felt that I couldn't do anything and was a bit useless at this having babies business - couldn't keep the boys inside me for long enough and now can't give them something they really need, the one thing I thought wouldn't be difficult to do.

Stop stressing!!!



Firstly, however much EBM you manage to express and feed your to your baby - on the basis that breast milk is better than formula - is better than none. Even if your baby only has EBM for the first few weeks, that's a bonus.

Secondly, you are NOT a failure if you switch over to formula. Babies would rather having a loving, happy mother than a stressed out nervous wreck.