Breastfeeding

Long... getting conflicting advice

Here's the backstory.  I've been EPing for about 4 months now.  DS just didn't want to nurse after starting with daycare (in hindsight I should have been more persistant).  The pump seems to be pretty hard on my body and the schedule is sometimes hard to handle.  I have had some issues with bleeding and with supply.  I blew through my freezer stash and have been supplementing with formula for about 2 months now.  Off and on I have some pretty severe cracking.  It doesn't normally hurt, but it's unpleasant and I toss a lot of milk because it's bright pink.  Fixing the cracking generally impacts my supply further.  I talked to a LC last week and her suggestions were to lube with olive oil and if that doesn't help with the bleeding to contact my doctor about some anti-bacterial ointment.  So far the olive oil seems to be helping, but my supply is lower than it's ever been.  Yesterday I got 10 oz in 7 sessions (normally I get 20 oz in 5 sessions and when I first started I would get over 30 in 5 sessions).  My first pump normally yields 6-8 oz but today I only got 3 :( 

I got in touch with a second LC today and she also said to lube before pumping.  She said to pump for longer each session at a lower suction because the suction level is what's causing the trauma.  She also said to power pump twice a day for 5-6 days to help up the supply.

Last week I had decided that my plan was to start adding more formula so that I could freeze more and quit earlier, but now I'm adding more formula and still using everything that I pump.  Current ratio is 12 oz of formula and 15 oz of BM (approx) per day.  I was pumping 20 a day but now it seems I'm barely getting the 15.  So now, the freeze more plan doesn't seem to be viable.

More background - I pump 5 times a day for about 20-25 minutes.  I do use the massage-stroke-shake technique and that seems to help.  I'm starting to wonder if I have the most effective pump (I use a Medela Freestyle) as sometimes I can hand express 1/2 to 1 ounce immediately after pumping -- maybe replacing tubing would help?.  I chug water and my diet is pretty healthy at this point and I've bumped up my calories.

Now I'm more confused than ever.  I've gotten advice from lots of places including 2 LCs.  General consesus is to lube before pumping (some say with lanolin, some say with olive oil, I hate lanolin, so I'm going with olive oil).  I'm doing that and it's working out fine.  But... lots of people say to pump for shorter duration more frequently, but 1 of the 2 lactation consultants said to pump longer so that I could reduce the suction.  So I was thinking I would try to up the number of pumping sessions to 7 so that I could pump for just 10-15 minutes at a time, but now I got the new advice to pump for longer at a lower level, I'm not sure what to do.  The second lactation consultant also suggested power pumping.  I've done power pumping in the past, but her method was slightly different.  Normally I do 10 minutes on, 10 minutes off for an hour.  She said to do 5 minutes on followed by 1 minute off three times and then pump to empty.

At this moment I have absolutely no idea what to do.  I haven't had any bleeding for several days now, but I am really getting worried about supply. I will likely do the power pumping as that should help with supply.  I don't know whether to do more shorter sessions, or longer sessions with less suction though.

Any advice?  The goal is to boost supply without causing more trauma to my nipples.

image

~Working Mom~Breastfeeding Mom~Cloth Diapering Mom~BLW Mom~

Blog - No Longer on the DL ~ The Man Cave
Shawn and Larissa
LO #1 - Took 2 years and 2 IVFs ~ DX - severe MFI mild PCOS homozygous MTHFR (a1298c)
LO #2 - TTC 7 months, surprise spontaneous BFP!
Baby Birthday Ticker Ticker Baby Birthday Ticker Ticker

Re: Long... getting conflicting advice

  • I have no idea if this will work for you but what about pumping every hour you are awake for 10 mins each hour?  I did that coupled with Fenugreek, oatmeal and lots of water and my supply went back up.  Maybe try it for a few days and see if that tricks your body into thinking your baby is needing more supply and it may not cause as much friction as the power pumping.

     Also I've found that the Motherlove cream for thrush and diaper rash really helps soothe my nipples when I get blisters.  Maybe that will help you and be less messy than olive oil. 

    Whatever the case, I commend you for being willing to go the distance to keep up a nursing relationship with your LO.

  • imagemrs. sage:

    I have no idea if this will work for you but what about pumping every hour you are awake for 10 mins each hour?  I did that coupled with Fenugreek, oatmeal and lots of water and my supply went back up.  Maybe try it for a few days and see if that tricks your body into thinking your baby is needing more supply and it may not cause as much friction as the power pumping.

    Normally that wouldn't work, but I could try that over Memorial Day weekend.  Thanks for chiming in :)

    image

    ~Working Mom~Breastfeeding Mom~Cloth Diapering Mom~BLW Mom~

    Blog - No Longer on the DL ~ The Man Cave
    Shawn and Larissa
    LO #1 - Took 2 years and 2 IVFs ~ DX - severe MFI mild PCOS homozygous MTHFR (a1298c)
    LO #2 - TTC 7 months, surprise spontaneous BFP!
    Baby Birthday Ticker Ticker Baby Birthday Ticker Ticker
  • Loading the player...
  • I saw your post farther down about trying to go back to nursing. If you can get that to work, that will probably help more than anything else -- my supply generally is at its highest when I've been nursing Zack for longer periods of time.

    Failing that, I would do more sessions at the lower suction speed. Everything I've read stretches that frequent sessions are better than longer ones, and hopefully that would be enough to offset any loss from the lower suction.

    It's tough when pumping causes problems, because short of weaning, stopping long enough to heal really isn't an option. I had eczema on my areolas for months that got worse every time I pumped at work -- it was awful. 

    imageimage
    Baby Birthday Ticker Ticker Baby Birthday Ticker Ticker
  • I don't have any clear answer but want to express my support for you to keep up BF. I am EP myself trying to move 'back' (LO was only BF for 4 days initially before I had to move to EP) to EB. What I find work for increasing supply is to pump more often, not longer because after 15 minutes my breast is usually empty anyway. I haven't tried power pumping simply because I am working hard on going back to EB instead and hope that this will automatically increase my supply. Perhaps you should try another pump for a while, like a hospital grade one? I use the Medela Symphony rented from the hospital. 

    Good luck. 

    Single mom of DD (2010), TTC #2 since June 2013.
    Occasionally I'm blogging about my life with flybaby.
  • imageLouiseB2001:

    I don't have any clear answer but want to express my support for you to keep up BF. I am EP myself trying to move 'back' (LO was only BF for 4 days initially before I had to move to EP) to EB. What I find work for increasing supply is to pump more often, not longer because after 15 minutes my breast is usually empty anyway. I haven't tried power pumping simply because I am working hard on going back to EB instead and hope that this will automatically increase my supply. Perhaps you should try another pump for a while, like a hospital grade one? I use the Medela Symphony rented from the hospital. 

    Good luck. 

    I have thought about trying a different pump.  Would something like the symphony be portable enough for taking to work?

    image

    ~Working Mom~Breastfeeding Mom~Cloth Diapering Mom~BLW Mom~

    Blog - No Longer on the DL ~ The Man Cave
    Shawn and Larissa
    LO #1 - Took 2 years and 2 IVFs ~ DX - severe MFI mild PCOS homozygous MTHFR (a1298c)
    LO #2 - TTC 7 months, surprise spontaneous BFP!
    Baby Birthday Ticker Ticker Baby Birthday Ticker Ticker
  • I pumped and BF when I went back to work with DD.  One thing that helped me was getting a different size flange - the part that actually goes on your breast.  My breasts and nipples are kind of oddly shaped and I ended up going to a breastfeeding store and figuring out which flange would work better for me.  If you are bigger than a C cup, then I would at least consider it.

     Never hurts to change out the tubing.  I also found that if I just kept pumping for 2-3 minutes after all flow start, I'd have another letdown.  Good luck!  

  • Hey there - sorry things are rough right now :( I'm working on increasing supply and did some research yesterday, Kellymom suggests more frequent nursing/pumping so you can keep removing milk from the breast.  It's the removal of milk (versus the storage of milk) that spurs milk production.  HTH!
    Warning No formatter is installed for the format bbhtml
  • imagesmilelari:

    I have thought about trying a different pump.  Would something like the symphony be portable enough for taking to work?

    In theory you could bring it to work, but it is very large and heavy, it will not fit into your average handbag. My rented pump came in a plastic container with a handle, which is half the size of a small carryon suitcase.

    Single mom of DD (2010), TTC #2 since June 2013.
    Occasionally I'm blogging about my life with flybaby.
  • lari - it's a small point, but have you changed the membranes recently (the little white plastic disks)?  They could have miniscule holes that would seriously affect the suction power of the pump.  I've been done pumping for a couple months now, but I switched those near the end and my supply bumped a bit.

    Good luck and way to go for being so persistent.  It's clearly important to you to keep going, and I hope things improve soon.

This discussion has been closed.
Choose Another Board
Search Boards
"
"