Breastfeeding/Pumping question

Hello ladies,
I have a question in regards to pumping.  I am not sure those who might have read my post couple months before I had my little lady but I posted with concern of flat nipples and breast feeding.  Many of you gave me great ideas in regards to shield etc.  Well sure enough shortly after I delivered I tried breastfeeding; however, the problem I was concerned about (No nipple) appeared.  Well after getting the Lactation nurse to help- come to find out, what actually was happening is i had what they called fibrous (spl?) nipples.  So long story short, we tried everything to make breastfeeding happen (for example, pumping so there was something sticking out for her to latch on, etc), but it did not work.  Shields wouldn't work because they were so hard that pumping was the only way to even get them to come out a little bit.  Well, I began pumping.  I had several nurses (lactation) help me to get into the grove of pumping and feeding her bottle and breast milk etc.  Well I am pumping now and doing it every 2-2.5 hours all except in the middle of the night.  (I just couldn't maintain keeping up with Stajah and pumping, I would never get a wink of sleep).  So in all the pumping I am doing all day, I get anywhere from 2-3 oz on average per pump.  Well I am not getting enough to pump during the day to feed her completely on breast milk.  So here are my questions:
1) Any thoughts of how to get more breast milk per pump?
2) If you are pumping, how long do you pump at one time (min wise)?  I am staying on for 20 mins per pump; is that long enough?

Anyone else doing pumping and have any other advise?

Thanks, Stacey

I don't have much for advice unfortunately. I pump 3 times throughout my work day. I double pump for about 15mins. By the end of the day I can have anywhere from 14-18 oz depending on the day and how much Anberlin ate before I left for work. It was more like 11-12oz when I first went back to work and started pumping but its slowly getting to be more and more. Good luck!

-Ashlie

My experience has been that staying on the pump LONGER isn't going to help. You can try to pump more often, but it may not change anything at all, and it sounds like your pumping about as often as you can. I have never made that much milk either, and my flow has always been slow - it's now so little and so slow that Rowan doesn't really have the patience for nursing, so I am almost exclusively pumping. we've had to supplement him with formula from the beginning and he has done just fine.

Hello,

I agree, your pump times sound just fine.  But what are you feeding your body?  Are you drinking tons of water? I mean tons! I would be otally parched from BF & pumping! Are you on or have talked to your Dr about supplements? Fenugreek, (sp), or Mother's Milk Tea?  I would drink a protein shake everyday with powder oatmeal in it.  A lot of veggies and a lot of soups, (cuz soups added even more water).  I would pump once or twice a day and get anywhere from 14-20oz a day plus evening and nightime bf'ing.  Ya, I know, I should've gone to Jersey Maid and gotten a job...lol.  I bf/pumped for my son for one year exclusively-not easy lemme tell ya! Not sure if this is medically true but I also think what I ate affected the quality of my milk.  It was super thick like whole milk and the fat would be and inch or two thick on the top when refrigerated.  But I really worked at it, I mean really worked at it and got up and pumped when I didn't want to, drank the shake when I didn't want to.  Hope this helps and please let me know if I can answer anymore questions!

Good luck and keep up the great work!!

While I don't have any personal experience with this I did read a lot about it because I thought exclusive pumping may be something that I wanted to do with this baby.  I read tons of posts on this EP messageboard.  I am sure that you can get some tips there.  Good luck!

http://community.babycenter.com/groups/a4592405/the_exclusiv e_pumpers?

I was pumping also.  I pumped up until 3 days ago.  I was doing it the same time frame too, every 2ish hours, but sometimes not at night because I was too tired.  I was however supplementing with formula because I was only getting about 3 ounces every time and sometimes baby girl needed a little bit more.  About 3 days ago my milk dried up completely.  I was only getting drops from each breast.  IDK what happened but it hasn't came back.  She is completely on formula now.  I wish I could have kept pumping but it wasn't happening.

I think possibly the only thing you could do is pump more often (I know it seems like that's all you're doing right now) and that will stimulate more milk to come in.  Good luck let us know how it goes!

Breatmilk is like supply and demand. The more you demand the more supply there will be. So the more often you pump, the more milk that will be produced.

I personally would pump for 10 min on each breast max. Especially if you want to product more, so you can do it more often.

Stacy,
Are you using a double pump?   I can't pump both breasts at one time.  While I'm pumping I have to massage and squeeze my breast to get more than 1/2 and ounce out.   I pump until there isn't any more milk.  Then I switch to the other side and squeeze and massage.   I'd say all and all I pump for about 5 minutes on each breast.  I'm not getting as much milk as I would like either.   Here's one  thing I've been doing that seems to help me get more milk.  After I finish pumping the second breast, I go back to the first one and pump again until there's no milk.  It only takes 30 seconds or so before it's dry.   I'll still pump for another a minute or so, then I switch back to the other breast.   I done this about 3 times yesterday and ended up going from 3 ounces to 4. 

I get about 10-12 ounces from pumping each day.  Noah is taking at least 20 ounces during that time.   I wish I could make enough for him, but he's thriving.  Formula isn't the devil lol.
When I get to where I'm only getting enough for one bottle a day I might think about weaning him.  With Hannah I quit pumping during the day when she was 6 months old.   Surprisingly, my milk didn't dry up.   I was able to continue bf'ing of the evening (the weekends I would have to give her supplemental bottles during the day****il she was 11 months old.  I still had milk then, but she was biting me too much lol.

Increase your fluids.  I know it's hard to drink all the time, but the days I get 12 ounces are the days that I'm very hydrated.

I've also tried the mother's milk tea.   I can't say whether it helped or not.  I started having pain in my side and was afraid it was related to the tea.   I quit the tea, and the pain is still there.   I need to give the tea another try.

Good luck!
Amy

Yes, I am double pumping. I read online about a pumping technique where you power pump sounds similar to what you are doing just a little longer at a time. I also started tea last week cannot really tell any difference yet. Thanks for information. stacey