I want a divorce from my pump!

PregsterDD

I am ready to stop pumping. It has been 3 weeks of every 3 hour pumping (skipping one through the night for my sanity) and I am only producing 15-30cc each time. My right breast only making 5cc or less of that total.  I am exhausted, sore, frustrated and I cringe at even the thought of another pumping!  I have tried fenugreek, kangarooing, pumping @ bs in the nicu, even a beer!  I feel as though I have done all that I can.  Any advice on stopping the pump? I have found some info out there but could use some advice from someone with experience. Thank-you in advance. 

katie4253

I had a really hard time getting my supply up.  My milk didn't come in until day 10, then I got almost nothing forever.  It was hard.  Eventually things worked out and I pumped 8 months. One last thing you could try is power pumping.

If you want to quit, then you can reduce the amount of time you pump and pumps total.  But, you have to wean down carefully because mastitis sucks BAD and so do clogged ducts. 

In your case, I'd probably stop pumping over night (so you can get some sleep) and then reduce the number of pumps gradually.  

IncogNeato

I don't have much advice, but if your baby's adjusted age is over 36 weeks, does that mean he might be able to start attempting to nurse soon? That could really be a game changer.

If you want to quit, by all means, and don't feel guilty, but if nursing is something you really wanted to do, it seems like you might be getting close to the point where you could switch from mostly pumping to mostly nursing. 

My LO was born at 36 weeks so I'm no expert on earlier preemies but even thought LO was LBW and a very sleeper eater for the first few weeks, we ended up BFing (and pumping at work) to 15 months. I have a good friend who's daughter was born at 32 weeks and she ended up nursing past a year, too, so don't give up unless you want to.

urbanflowerpot

HAH! Your subject line gave me a wry smile. I remember feeling that way - I wanted to smash my pump. It's up to you - if you want to quit, ease out. If you want to keep going then three weeks is still early for having had a preemie. Our bodies know we've had a baby early but sometimes it takes longer than 'normal' for us to produce milk. However, having a preemie can also make it impossible to BF.

I'm not sure how long you'd have to try fenugreek and all that stuff for it to increase your supply - maybe someone else can answer that - just be sure you're sure.

gringa78

I hear ya.

pinksandbermuda

Amen!  As I sit here pumping lol

snoangel79

I have been divorcing also! I fed my daughter for a month (breast pumping only, she got the feeds because she was IUGR). I didn't have enough to give my son full feeds and only gave him 10-50% whenever I could. He is on formula fully except sometimes I put him to breast. At most I made 80ml per pumping. Since the demands have gone up I have only been able to provide my daughter with 2 breast "feedings" per 24 hour period. She started formula the day we left the NICU. I try to give her some to keep her regular as breast milk helps keep things moving.

I cannot do it anymore with twins... The pumping, and feeding them I wouldn't get any sleep. I was not a "happy" mom but a stressed one!! I basically only pump 2-3 times now in a 24 hour period to get enough to keep her regular (formula can bind because of the iron). It was a little painful at first but now my supply has gone down to about 50ml a pump and I hardly leak unless one of my kids is screaming for a bottle. I feel ok about doing what I am doing. I did all I could and my original plan was "doing what I could do" and giving the breast thing a try. Well I did! 

lpichach

I have been pumping for the last 5 weeks every 3 hours, including the middle of the night (this is the most important pumping time unfortunately). I have been very lucky to have a good supply, and even I worry when sometimes the amount i pump decreases.  If at all possible (likely not), try to relax before pumping.... don't worry about what you will produce, just breath, think about how you are able to help your baby by pumping, whether it's a big amount or small, grab a book even, I find the more relaxed i am and not worrying about what i produce, the better I do. 

I wouldn't recommend stopping unless you truly want to. when it comes to the point of breastfeeding, yoru doctor can prescribe you something to help increase your milk supply. obviously right now that's not an issue since baby isn't at the boob yet, and in the meantime, they can supplement some formula if needed. 

 If you genuinely want to give up and saw screw the pump (*hail you* lol ), then I'd recommend wearing a bra at all times. If you have the velcro wrap from the hospital that they gave you after delievry to help relieve some abdominal pain, wrap this around your chest and the tightness will ease the engorgement pains.

brknwings0313@yahoo.com

were your twins born early, my identical twin boys were born at week 30 and are now 33 and i barely get 20ml a pumping(2-4hrs in between pumps) and that isnt even one boys feeding, and i am getting so frustrated because i was wanting them to have my milk, but they are in the nicu and are able to get donor milk, but when they come home they will obviously be on formula bc my supply is not keeping up with their demand!

SushiNoMore

One other thing to consider is to be sure your flanges / horns / cones (whatever you want to call them) are the right size.  If you're sore, those could be too small.  A LC should be able to help you with that.  I ended up with BIG ones (XL Medela ones), and I was never really sore from pumping.

All that being said, pumping sucks.  If you want to stop, I think you've done a great job making it this far. 

DenaRenee78

If you stop you need to make sure you don't stimulate your breasts at all, wear a tight bra. You can use cold packs several times a day to help dry up what milk you do have trying to come in. I used frozen pea's for my ice packs .. they worked great! If you keep pumping its only going to keep stimulating the milk to come in. You need to keep a bra on even at night until all the milk is gone. 

From experience .. if your milk does come in and your trying to quit it can get painful. Just stick to the cold packs .. and it pain hits use tylenol and motrin together.

Good luck!