Pumping.... supply is drying up. Help!!!

[wtbmummy]

How do you know/what do you do if you think your supply is drying up?

I express (but dont bf) I do so 3 times a day giving 6oz a day roughly. However its dropped to 3oz last couple of days n today.... i have expressed twice and each time got less than 0.5oz!!!!

Does this mean I can no longer express at all for my baby girl? She has been combo fed all this time. She was 5weeks yesterday.

I just want to cry I overcome a lot to express and now it seems I cant!

I tried bf but baby girl never got the hang of latching due to having a bottle first. So expressing was working well for us as she was still getting breastmilk and I felt so happy.

Is there anyway I can keep expressing or am I just going to get more sore. Im very very upset what with having the 2 to take care of its hard to find the time to express so 3times is all i was managing.

Today we are not going out so i am going to try n pump asmuch as possible to see if it helps.
My boobs do not feel full at all either. Just feel soft

 

[MindUtopia]

Read this: https://kellymom.com/mother2mother/exclusive-pumping/

I found it really informative and it's what I wish I knew about expressing when I was doing it. Mine was BF (from the breast) until about 6 weeks, but then I developed a really rare allergic reaction on my breasts and could no longer latch her until it healed (basically a form of dermatitis that meant all the skin peeled off so it was bleeding so badly that it was too painful to latch her). I switched to expressing with the hope that it would heal and I'd be able to get her back on the breast in time.

What I didn't know at the time is that you really need a double pump (if you don't already have one) to keep your supply up at that stage and you really need to be doing it regularly, about 8 times a day on both breasts. I was using my single pump (all I had, since I had never planned to exclusively express), doing each breast 30 minutes at a time, so 60 minute sessions total, 6 times a day. It wasn't enough to keep my supply up. It dried up by 10 weeks despite continuing to pump 6 hours at day at that point.

What I would have done instead is shorter sessions (20 minutes) with a double pump, 8 times a day, including through the night. I was pumping during the night, but only when my daughter woke for a feed and not if she didn't. I know now that when my supply started to tank, I should have been setting my alarm. There is a great exclusive pumping thread in the BF section here too which I found really helpful (in retrospect, didn't find it at the time) and that's how I came to the link above.

Hope that's helpful. It is possible and actually I really liked expressing and it worked for my lifestyle (sadly, just not for my body the way I was doing it). If you can devote a few days to it, where you really pump 8-12 times including through the night, I've read you should be able to boost your supply again, so keep positive about it all.

 

[Teri7489]

Drink plenty water and pump as much as you can, especially during the night.

3 times a day isn't much, even when my son as a year old I still expressed 4 times a day at least. To boost your supply you will have to either intense pump for a week or so to really boost your supply. Once you gave established it again out can relax how many times you do it again gradually. Tey to express during the night as this stimulates the milk producing hormone. Exhausting I know but it works. Doing it more shouldn't cause you pain, it's just tiring. Just make sure you are drinking enough water (at least 2l) xxx

 

[pompeyvix]

I exclusively express and have been since my son was born. He has never had a drop of formula, so it's working well for us. I was producing around 50oz a day but now I produce around 32oz a day.

When he was little , I used to express 6 times over 24 hours including one session in the middle of the night. I done that without fail to establish my supply. Now he is 4 months I've dropped to 3 times a day which is working well. I use a manual hand pump (started using MAM , now using Medela Harmony) on one breast and a silicone suction pump on the other (it's called a Haakaa).

There has been occasions when I've pumped and not got anything out and I started to worry my milk was drying up. It turned out my milk was taking a lot longer to start flowing. Initially my letdown started immediately but now it can take anything up to 20 mins. I keep pumping even when the milk stops flowing as sometimes I will get another letdown and another load of milk!

My boobs are rarely rock hard and 'full' these days. They are almost always soft and squishy even when I express out 16oz of milk! So I wouldn't go on that alone as a sign you're not producing.

Therefore my advice is ;

1) Up the frequency of pumping sessions immediately and make sure you do one in the middle of the night
2) If the milk doesn't start flowing straight away, keep pumping as your let down may just be taking a while to get going
3) When pumping keep doing it until well after the milk has stopped flowing. If you don't get another let down, you're at least telling your body that it needs to make more milk
4) Some people take supplements to help with supply. I don't have first hand experience, but have heard fenugreek is good as is domperione (prescribed by a GP).