Breastfeeding

[Stacie87]

Hi I give birth few days ago to a prem baby had her at 33 weeks she now 19 days old and it seems my boobs ant give much milk it feel full but wen I Express I only get 2oz from both boobs and this morning my boobs feel empty I'm Express every 3hours as she in special care

[Cheekymonkey85]

Please don't feel disheartened, pumping is no indication of supply. What pump are you using? Is it hospital grade? Is the flange the correct size for you? Sometimes it can help if you put a sock over the bottle so you can't keep checking how much your expressing

[MissSaoPaulo]

I'm sorry to hear your little girl is still in hospital. Hope she's getting on well and you can get her home soon.

Could you have a blocked duct? Do your breasts feel hard and lumpy? If that's the case gently massaging them in a warm shower can loosen it, and gently massaging any hard spots while pumping.

Even if you don't have blocked ducts, warm compresses and massaging your breasts before you express can help get the flow going. Good luck with it. My girl is 5 months and exclusively breastfed from expressed milk xxx

[Seb9]

Hi pumping can be really hard especially when you're going through the stress of baby being in special care.

Breast feeding and pumping both rely on the love hormone oxytocin being produced. If you're stressed out then you won't be producing much of this love hormone.

The best advice I got about expressing was to try and get into a happy relaxed state. Take a warm bath, get comfy, relax and try again. Or try when you're next to baby or looking at a photo of baby. Are you allowed to hold baby? Skin to skin contact is a great way to get your love hormone flowing.

Is your can't pump lots though and many people can't, any amount you can give is going to be beneficial.

Hoping she's out of special care and home with you as quickly as possible xxx

[ChrisWest1983]

Sometimes my breasts feel full, but if I can't trigger a letdown or two or three, then I can't get much out either. With baby letdowns happens so quickly, once on the boob, the letdown starts to me nearly immediately. Specially if she wraps her fingers around my finger, and I look at her and think : my little one I love you so much....

Sometimes it does not come after few seconds, she pulls off and makes some noise and then tires to suck again. And so on until she triggers the letdown.

Hopefully your baby will be soon able to use breast and it will ease your hard job!

Maybe try to look at photos or videos of your baby while you pump.

You're doing a great job!

Best of luck!!!❤️

[VloandKmp]

Have you tried mother’s milk tea? This is known to help supply and any you can give is an immense help don’t be harsh with yourself pumping is harder to do think happy thoughts of baby don’t worry you’re doing great xx

[NE90]

I know exactly how you feel!! My son was born at 32 weeks and spent his first month and a half in nicu. I always knew I wanted to try and breastfeed him but obviously had to pump as he wasnt able to latch until at least 36 weeks. Not sure if it was my diet but I had a poor milk supply! In the end I gave up breastfeeding. I lived in nicu and was pumping every 3 hours and even by the time he latched I was only getting about 30-50ml per boob! On a very rare occasion I got maybe 70ml during a pump but that was very few and far between. I wasnt producing as much as he was having per feed which really got to me! They discharged me from NICU once he was breastfeeding well and he had gained some of the weight he had lost but it got harder as I started to feed him at home as he wanted to feed every 45 mins and I just knew my milk supply wasnt good! Swapping to formula was the best thing I ever did for me and my son! He fed so well from the bottle and got exactly what he wanted and gained so much weight! I came to the realisation that I just wasnt cut out for breastfeeding! I tried fenugreek tablets which help increase milk supply but after a few days of using them I gave up breastfeeding, but you could try those?? It all depends on whether your baby latches and then her routine from then. I could have ridden it out with my son and things could have been different but I always knew that when I pumped my milk supply wasnt great. xx