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November 2015 Moms
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can a pump get less effective over time?

nycmommy13nycmommy13 member
in November 2015 Moms
Right now my 6 month old eats 6 liquid meals of 6 oz. a day (all breast milk.) My schedule is as follows - for the milk only; he also eats 2 solid meals a day:
4:45am - pump
6:00am - feed LO from me
7:15-4:00 - LO has 3 bottles; I pump 2x
6:00 - feed LO from me
7:30 - feed LO from me
I'm finding that my supply is slowly starting to decrease. I now need to rely on at least one of the two bottles I pump on the weekend (I still wake up before him to pump but then he just feeds from me the rest of the day) to supplement the stuff I pump during the week. LO is satisfied when he feeds from me and he hasn't been losing weight, but I'm not pumping 6 oz. per pump. Is it possible that the pump is becoming less effective over time from natural wear and tear? I have a Medela Freestyle. Or is it that I have to drink even more water than I already am? Maybe it's stress? Anyone else having this problem?
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Re: can a pump get less effective over time?

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    doodleoodledoodleoodle member
    Pumps can definitely become less effective over time. Try replacing the pump membranes to see if that helps.
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    PocoHRPocoHR member
    Call Medela customer service and let them know you think your pump is less effective, they might have some great suggestions or even offer to replace some parts for you for free. I had an issue with mine, and they over-nighted me a new power cord. Hope you can get this sorted!
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    kfry22kfry22 member
    @nycmommy13 I am having the same problem. I feel like my son isn't getting enough to eat anymore and that I'm not pumping enough. I work full time and travel for work and used to go home with 15-20 ounces of milk a day and have been struggling to come close to that. I already have replaced my pump membranes and started using new tubing as well. I personally think that part of my problem is that I was gone for work for four days and pumped the whole time I was gone. I know more milk is produced from nursing then pumping so I may have hurt my supply.

    My son is 6.5 months old and has had breast milk the whole time. I'm getting frustrated with my decreasing supply and the stress of pumping while working. I've seriously considered switching to formula. 
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    VexedMommyVexedMommy member
    This has nothing to do with the pump itself, but if you are struggling with a decreased supply I'd suggest trying to manually massage your breasts as they're being pumped.  That fully empties the breast and for me (when I was pumping and struggling with low supply) doubled my output. 
    If there's something strange underneath the hood.  Who you gonna call?  Your Doctor.  If there's something weird and it don't look good.  Who you gonna call?  Your Doctor.  Immediately.  If it's new, painful, and possibly pregnancy related get your ass off the internet and call your doctor.  It's for your health and your child's. 




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    Escheffler34Escheffler34 member
    I had my pump tested and it was definitely less effective, so I called medela and told them. I told them I used it 6x a day, and went through the a whole thing w them on the phone (take off faceplate etc) but in the end they overnighted me a brand new pump and I sent the old one back to them. It was great customer service. A decreased pump can definitely lower your supply because you are relying on it for a chunk of the day to give you enough to stimulation to tell your body to make more milk! 
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    Peanut1128Peanut1128 member
    How do you test your pump to know if it's less effective? 
    I also emailed Medela and a LC sent me an email of suggestions to try and increase my output. I have noticed a little difference. 
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    Ceridwen77Ceridwen77 member
    edited May 2016
    It could be your pump so it's worth calling medela. I had this same situation occur about 6wks ago. I tried everything - rented a hospital grade pump, power pumping, supplements (fenugreek, oats, Brewers yeast, mother's milk tea), etc. 

    In the end after research I read it's actually notmal to not pump more that 2-4oz per session and more than that can be an oversupply. This all came from kellymom, so I just had to come to accept that I was going to pump that much, 3x a day, which wasn't going to keep up with DD. 

    I I went through basically all of my freezer stash and started supplementing with formula. DD still gets mostly breast milk but when she's in the care of others they add an ounce or two of formula to her breast milk bottles. At home if she's particularly hungry I may offer an ounce or two after she's done feeding from me. 

    At first the mom guilt was strong but now it's no big deal and DD is doing great. A fed baby is most important and I feel like I did everything I could to up my supply before making any changes. 

    Lastly remember your supply will begin to decrease now as baby takes in more solids. It's still early for that at 6 mo but something to keep in mind. 
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    Escheffler34Escheffler34 member
    @Peanut1128 the ibclc in my area has a little device that she puts in the breast shield (where your nipple would go) and it reads the suction. There is yellow, green, and red so each time it "sucks" a needle will point to yellow if it's not hard enough, green if it's good, or red if it's too strong 
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    aubreybouskillaubreybouskill member
    This happened to me with my pump around 3/4 months. I was so frustrated because it totally killed my supply, and at first I thought it was me and I wasn't drinking enough fluids but I made sure I was drinking plenty and changed out tubing, membranes etc and not much difference. I did a bunch of research/reading online forums Etc and noticed many other people having the same problems. I guess I could have called Medela and had them try to replace but I just went a head a started reading reviews on amazon and got a new pump by spectra that I ended up loving SO much more. It's a hospital grade pump for a very affordable price. It's not as portable, but it didn't matter to me as long as it was effective and comfortable!
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    nycmommy13nycmommy13 member
    Medela customer service was a dream to work with. They sent replacement parts for free as long as I send my original parts back. We'll see how it works out with increasing my supply over the next few weeks.
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    grapesoda1111grapesoda1111 member
    I gave up on pumping and now E is getting a formula bottle before bed. EBF during the day tho. It would take me all day to pump 5 oz for her and I just don't have the patience anymore :neutral:  feelig guilty about it but it makes me a happier person having the pump put away

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    nycmommy13nycmommy13 member
    @grapesoda1111-I hear ya! I'm a school teacher, though, so I just have to make it until the end of June and can hopefully pump enough over the summer to last me from mid-September through mid-October at which point he'll just switch to whole milk. 
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    GoogleMDGoogleMD member
    grapesoda1111 said:
    I gave up on pumping and now E is getting a formula bottle before bed. EBF during the day tho. It would take me all day to pump 5 oz for her and I just don't have the patience anymore :neutral:  feelig guilty about it but it makes me a happier person having the pump put away
    I hear you, I have decided to drop down to only 1 pump session, I was pumping on the way to work, twice during work and occasionally on the way home. He has only been drinking about 9oz while at at work now anyways. I have a ton of frozen milk that we occasionally supplement with, which I think will get us to or close to November. I feel do much better jot being strapped to the pump constantly.
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    grapesoda1111grapesoda1111 member
    nycmommy13 said:
    @grapesoda1111-I hear ya! I'm a school teacher, though, so I just have to make it until the end of June and can hopefully pump enough over the summer to last me from mid-September through mid-October at which point he'll just switch to whole milk. 
    Will your LO be a year old then?

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    nycmommy13nycmommy13 member
    @grapesoda1111 - Yes, on 11/6. We'll start switching him over right at the beginning of November. Through the summer I'll just pump once in the morning before he wakes up. I'm hoping that between me continuing to pump once a day through the summer and him drinking less the more food he eats, that I'll have enough stockpiled to continue needing only the early morning pump until he's on whole milk completely.
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    nycmommy13nycmommy13 member
    For all those interested, the pump was definitely becoming less effective over time. I received all new parts except for the battery, which has been working fine. I'm sure my supply has decreased slightly without a pump that works 100%, but even so I went from pumping 5oz to 7oz in the morning and from pumping 4oz to 5.5oz during work. Hope it might help some of you, too!
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    Peanut1128Peanut1128 member
    Glad I saw this post. I have been having an issue where I still have milk after I pump and I can't hand express it all out. I called Medela and they said it sounds like it could be the pump and they are overnighting me a new one. 
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    smnewbysmnewby member
    I thought my pump was a tiny bit less effective and had been making a funny sound recently so decided to call medela, they were amazing and overnighted me a new pump as pp mentioned. I should have called sooner because i have been able to immediately pump about 30% more per session. I wrote them positive reviews on a few different sites.
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