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Wasted milk and dud question

73jewels73jewels member
in Breastfeeding
I don't post often, but something happened last night I knew you all would understand...  For some reason Righty has stopped responding to the pump.  It is not due to the pump or pump parts since lefty works fine and I switch up the parts from left to right, but for some reason I still get my normal output from lefty and from righty I get less then an ounce, even after power pumping, etc.

Anyway, all week I have had only made enough for 2 of the 3 bottles I send to day care, and have had to pull an extra bottle from my freezer stash.  Yesterday, I was determined to fix this... I power pumped at work in the afternoon (which netted me just over an ounce from the right one), and then used my manual pump after going to bed.  All I wanted was to send 3 fresh bottles to DC.  I was about 2.5 ounce short, and was able to pump about 2 ounce at night (which took me about 40 minutes with the manual pump), was just finishing up and detaching the pump and I DROPPED THE OPEN BOTTLE ON MY KITCHEN FLOOR!!!!!  I nearly started to cry and my husband looked at me like I was crazy! I tried to explain it to him, but he did not get it.  Needless to say, a frozen bottle went to day care again today.

Mostly, I just wanted to post this where people would understand, but also, any ideas as to why 1 boob would be tanking?  It's had a lower supply since I went back to work (4 + months ago), but nothing like this!  Some info about my situation... My son is 7 months old (yesterday), and has been EBF till about 2 months ago when I started introducing solids.  He has 2 "meals" a day (usually jar food, with some fresh fruit thrown in there), and he takes 3 bottles about 4.5 ounces each over 10 hours at DC and feeds on demand when home (usually 3-4 times on work days).

As I write this, I am finishing pumping and I have less than 1 ounce from righty and the normal 3 ish ounces from lefty.  I typically get more from the first pump (which this is) then any other pump.

Thoughts?
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Re: Wasted milk and dud question

  • lilies&orchidslilies&orchids member
    edited June 2014
    So sorry that the milk spilled!!! Ugh, I would be crying, too!
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  • arheinsarheins member
    My LO would not latch on at first and i was an EP. All night and all day i pumped to feed her and get a supply built up for when i returned to work. I was unscrewing the bottle from the sucker part to put it away when teh bottle hit the edge of the counter and spilled all over the floor. i sat and cried until my husband came into the kitchen and looked at me like i was retarded. haha. i totally understand! i have recently started noticing a supply dip as well (my LO is almost 7 months now) i usually get 2 oz out of each every 3 hrs :(
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  • 73jewels73jewels member
    I did think about the period return, @theresat858, but I have had 3 post partum periods already, 2 really light ones at 4 months and 5 1/2 months, then a real one at 6 1/2 months.  I suppose I could be getting it again, although if it was a true 4 weeks, it wouldn't be due for another 8 days, and this has been going on all week, seems like a little early for it to affect it.  Plus it seems so one sided!

    Thanks everyone for understanding my pain!!
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  • camedowncrushingcamedowncrushing member
    That is terrible about the spilled milk!  I would have cried too. 

    I have no advice on the dud.  My left is probably going to go dry.  It has always produced less (when DD1 got big enough to talk she would call my right boob the big boob and the left the little boob) and I have been aware of it, but DD2 HATES it.  I struggle to get her to nurse on that side.  I can feel the let down, and it takes WAY longer to let down on my left than my right.  It frustrates her, and she rejects it.  Luckily I think I could feed a small village with my right. 
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  • surpriseadditionsurpriseaddition member
    I have similar output to you. I'd get 4 oz pumping, with 3 oz from the right and 1 oz from the left. I would always offer the left first, but sometime she would reject it. I would give her some on the right, to appease her, and then go right back to the left. This never made any difference in my output from the dud. I've had the same issue with all 3 kids I've BF. My left always underproduced. What I resorted to was pumping MOTN to get the third bottle I needed when LO was STTN. It wasn't fun, but it helped me send 3 fresh bottles. I did rely on my freezer stash a lot to make up the difference. It had been as high as 300 oz but was completely gone at 1 year. I was glad I made the year without needing formula. So sorry about the milk! I had a whole days worth of milk spill....it was horrible!


    **DD1 - 7/9/98**

    **DS - 11/9/00**

    **DD2 - 4/30/13**

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