Pumping: Low Milk Supply

The only way to increase your milk supply is to nurse your baby. For me pumping is only good for releasing engorgement when I am away from my baby. Make sure baby empties both breasts before giving any formula. Then only give a small amount to top off so it doesnt effect the next feeding. At 4 weeks old baby should be nursing every 1-2 hours so I will seem like all day constantly. When baby needs more than you are making they cluster feed, which means they switch from breast to breast without a break, during growth spurts, my baby once went for about 4 hours a stretch for 3 days until my milk increased to meet his needs.

Keep nursing, put the pump away and just count wet diapers instead. Your baby is much better at getting milk out than a pump. Talk to a lactation consultant or there are some good groups on Facebook, the leaky boob, respect the breast, la leche, are just some of the support groups on facebook. I.would check them out for breastfeeding advice.

You could try having a lie-in. Spend the entire day in bed, trying to get your daughter to nurse whenever you can, and pumping afterward each time (even if you don't get anything). The constant demand should jump-start your supply.

Other than that, I don't really have much...

Maybe it's not that she's pacifying but that that is her nursing style and she's trying to increase supply by asking for more. Remember, too, that by 6 months, your milk will change and that's kind of the high point on the mountain. You can choose not to nurse after that, but I thought of it as being halfway there, everything was going well, so why stop? If you think she's not getting enough, rather than measure ounces from a pump (which may not accurately show how much baby takes in), look at her output. Output says a lot about input. I wish I could find the poster, but newborns nurse frequently, like 12 times a day, and their stomachs are so small they only need a few ounces at a time. When DD first went to daycare at 3.5 months old, she took bottles that were 2-2.5 ounces each.

Kellymom.com has some excellent tips on nursing.

Remember that a baby is much, much more effiecient than a pump will ever be. Most women will always pump less than what a baby can actually get themselves. Also make sure you are feeding on demand and not on a schedule. That means whenever the baby is hungry feed her even if she just ate 30 minutes ago. The more you feed her and the more often you feed her the more milk you will produce. Go skin to skin as much as possible it will help with milk production. Try to find your local La Leche or a lactation consultant.

I pumped exclusively for my son (first born) for 12 months. It's absolutely doable. My supply came in a little slow for the first two weeks and I had clogged milk ducts often. I pumped every three hours around the clock for the first two weeks. After your milk supply is steady, you can skip once or twice and adjust the intervals without affecting the supply. Search for the list of lactogenic foods and avoid anti-lactogenic foods (you can also ask a lactation consultant). I was emailing a lactation consultant from Medela. Her name is Mary Bibb. For me, she was more quick-responding and convenient.

Oatmeal really helped me increased my supply. I loved oatmeal when I was pumping for some reason; not so much now. Eat nutritiously and get as much rest as possible. My OB also recommended that I stay on my prenantal vitamins.

When pumping, you have to find the "optimal" setting for extracting the milk from your breasts. Pumping can work effectively. It just takes some trials and errors. I had to use the hospital-grade (Medela Symphony) pump. I start on the second to the lowest setting then very slowly work my way up to the highest setting that my breasts can tolerate without being hurt. It varies a little each time. You should be able to see the effectiveness. If the higher setting hurts you or feel like it's extracting less milk, crank the dial down a little. Also the breast is not always shooting milk out so don't expect it to be like a water fountain. Let down happens in intervals.

Good luck!

First just calm down, its so easy to panic and think things are not going right when they are. Your baby is only 4 weeks so relax and just let her nurse and not worry about pumping just yet, you need to feel more comfortable with her at the breast before pumping, pumping is not natural to all of us and certainly not easy for all of us especially when we think we are suppose to be getting a certain number or if we compare ourselves to other women. Breastfeeding takes a lot of patience and time, if that is something that you do not have because you need to have baby bottle feeding because you need to go back to work, never feel like you have failed because you decide to bottle feed. Babies do tend to lose weight when you are breast feeding them but if the doctor is not too concerned then you are doing alright. Make sure you are latching correctly too she may not be trying to pacify but actually eat, breast fed babies eat often and tend to fall asleep easily and unlatch if you are not careful, keep her stimulated. Lastly sounds like you need some help usually the hospital will ask if you need someone to help you and a nurse or lactation consultant will come out to your home and help with all these question in person and give you a great pep talk to help boost your attitude about breastfeeding and give great pointers and options to try. Of course the LeLeche group i hear is wonderful. When i breastfed my first baby there was a breastfeeding group led by a pediatrician at the hospital that met every Friday so if it weren't for those ladies I dont know what i would have done! One is a very close friend of mines till this day! Good luck and ask for help in your community! Hang in there!

Drink lots of water limit caffeine and have baby nurse on you every wimper every cry or just snuggle skin to skin will make a huge difference,dump the pump for a week or two,recheck how your nursing her make sure it is belly button to belly button her mouth is opened wide for the entire nipple to go in.It takes practice heck i'm on 4 and my nipples are screaming she is a hard sucker but refuses a paci.

Try Mother's milk tea. Health food or Publix grocery. That seems to help.

I breastfed my son for 6 months and am now weaning my daughter at 3 months (only because it's too difficult to nurse or pump with the 2 year old running around). I didn't have too much trouble with my milk supply but I definitely got less milk with my first. I only got what he needed. I did find with both that when pumping, sometimes I had to pump for longer. When babies are fed on the breast, it signals your body to make more when they need more but unfortunately, pumping doesn't do the same so if I normally pumped for say 15-18 minutes and I realized the babies were eating more, I'd pump for 20-25 minutes to try and signal my body to make more milk. The other thing I noticed with both is that I had to drink a ton of water. I could tell when I hadn't had enough water when I was getting less milk than usual. I used a 24 ounce water bottle so I knew what I was drinking and tried to drink 3 of these a day. Hope this helps and best of luck to you!