difficulty in pumping?

Question

my 4month old usually nurses on one boob at night & fall back to sleep. she'll sleep a good 3.5 to 5 hrs before needing to eat again. right after she nurses, i pump the other breast, and empty out the one that she nursed on. 

i used to get 2-3 let downs on the "fresh" breast in 10-12 minutes on a medela electric pump (one let down usually = 1oz). but for the past week, i haven't been getting any letdowns. aaaaargh. no let downs mean that i've been pumping for 20mins and could barely fill an ounce. and my breast remains full.

the only change in routine right before the problem was around 4 nights straight of no pumping at all. my baby was soooo troubled she kept crying the whole night, even while asleep. i calmed her by breastfeeding. (she'd nurse for a few minutes, sleep for an hour & get on with the crying again)

Q1: any ideas on why i couldn't get a let down through the pump?
Q2: any ideas on how i could get let downs again?

maegs33 · Accepted Answer

I'm not sure why you're not letting down.  It's hard to say, I know for me, I had to get completely relaxed.  I did deep breaths and almost went Zen, haha.  I would close my eyes and think about my babies.  The more stressed you are about letting down, the harder it is to let down.  You can also look at a picture of her, or smell one of her onesies, those help as well.   

Sometimes, the older the baby gets the harder it is to pump, it's like your body has gotten used to the baby and doesn't respond to the pump.    So, if the relaxation doesn't work for you, why don't you try tandem pumping?  For the last feed, nurse her on one side and pump the other.  It kind of tricks your body into letting down for the pump since your body is truly responding to the baby.  Don't worry about if you'll have enough milk for next time, your supply might increase a little to meet the demand.  Plus, it's multi-tasking!

letshearitforboys · Answer

Have you checked your pump?  Made sure all of the parts are in their right places and that everything is hooked together right and nothing is worn out?  Once I knew the baby was eating and nursing okay, the pump would be where I looked to next. 

Medela has a help page with a 1-800 number - http://www.medelabreastfeedingus.com/customer-service they might be able to troubleshoot. 

Also, 4 months is about the time that your supply changes to a strictly supply = demand and sometimes pumping output can slip (though that doesn't sound like the problem).  But it could be that she's having a growth spurt and your supply is trying to keep up.   

Kellymom is a great site that has a lot of tips for better pumping.  http://www.kellymom.com/bf/pumping/pumping_decrease.html

Jessica · Answer

Can you nurse her on one side and pump the other side at the same time.  When my daughter got older it was harder to get the milk out unless I was feeding her.  It's a little difficult but it can be done it might help you.  Also what kind of pump do you have?  I always used Medela because of how strong the suction is.  You can rent the hospital grade pump from your local hospital if you don't want to spend the 300 dollars on the pump.

wundermom01 · Answer

i had the same problem my doctor told me to increase fluids water is the best caffiene decreases milk supply and make sure you are getting enough sleep your body needs time to reproduce milk and eat balanced meals and you have to take in more calories then mothers that aren't breastfeeding it work for me and i started making enough milk for the day in the morning and was keeping ahead

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difficulty in pumping?

4 Answers