New to newsgroup and motherhood

Hello, I am a new mother of a 4 week old. I have been exclusively pumping
since she was 1 week. Currently, I am pumping approximately 3.5 ounces a
session. I am taking Blessed Thistle to try and raise this amount. I have
a Medela Pump in Style and pump for 15-25 minutes. I would like to try BF
again. Yesturday, I tried it and she latched on well. However, I don't
believe she was getting any milk. There were no swallowing sounds and it
didn't appear that she was sucking. Does anyone have any suggestions I
could try? I would like to have her get breast milk in some fashion and I
am afraid that when she gets older I may not be able to pump as much as she
needs. I know that baby sucks more efficiently than a pump and your body
will recognize this to produce more milk. Now the trick is to get her to
suck to get the milk out.

I also wonder if there is something wrong with my let down. Sometimes (on
the pump) all I get are drops and sometimes there are streams. What does a
good let down look like?

Thanks for your help.

I pump and bottle feed exclusively and have since DD was about a week old.
I initially pumped every time she ate, so initially that was about every 1.5
to 2 hrs. How often do you pump? When I first start pumping, all that
comes out are drops, but after a few seconds, it turns into streams. My
letdown feels rather painful and like pins and needles. My daughter will
still latch on, and I will sometimes squeeze or massage my breast to
initiate a letdown. When she gets lazy and stops sucking, I stroke her
cheek or pull back on my breast and she usually starts sucking vigorously
again.

Betsy

"Marce" wrote in message
news:11Ayf.138957$WH.93614@dukeread01...
Hello, I am a new mother of a 4 week old. I have been exclusively pumping
since she was 1 week. Currently, I am pumping approximately 3.5 ounces a
session. I am taking Blessed Thistle to try and raise this amount. I
have a Medela Pump in Style and pump for 15-25 minutes. I would like to
try BF again. Yesturday, I tried it and she latched on well. However, I
don't believe she was getting any milk. There were no swallowing sounds
and it didn't appear that she was sucking. Does anyone have any
suggestions I could try? I would like to have her get breast milk in
some fashion and I am afraid that when she gets older I may not be able to
pump as much as she needs. I know that baby sucks more efficiently than a
pump and your body will recognize this to produce more milk. Now the
trick is to get her to suck to get the milk out.

I also wonder if there is something wrong with my let down. Sometimes (on
the pump) all I get are drops and sometimes there are streams. What does
a good let down look like?

Thanks for your help.

"Marce" wrote in message
news:11Ayf.138957$WH.93614@dukeread01...
Hello, I am a new mother of a 4 week old. I have been exclusively pumping
since she was 1 week. Currently, I am pumping approximately 3.5 ounces a
session. I am taking Blessed Thistle to try and raise this amount. I
have a Medela Pump in Style and pump for 15-25 minutes. I would like to
try BF again. Yesturday, I tried it and she latched on well. However, I
don't believe she was getting any milk. There were no swallowing sounds
and it didn't appear that she was sucking. Does anyone have any
suggestions I could try? I would like to have her get breast milk in
some fashion and I am afraid that when she gets older I may not be able to
pump as much as she needs. I know that baby sucks more efficiently than a
pump and your body will recognize this to produce more milk. Now the
trick is to get her to suck to get the milk out.

Contact an LC. Like last week.

Jess

Jess - Oh, I forgot to mention that I had been working with a LC. We tried
EVERYTHING. She is actually the one who suggested the Blessed Thistle and
to rent a hospital grade pump so that I could keep up my supply. The LC
made sure that my baby was latched on and she is latching on. It's just
getting the milk out that seems to be the main thing. So yes, I have
contacted a LC, like 3 weeks ago.





"Jess" wrote in message
news:PdDyf.8458$Dh.3125@dukeread04...

"Marce" wrote in message
news:11Ayf.138957$WH.93614@dukeread01...
Hello, I am a new mother of a 4 week old. I have been exclusively
pumping since she was 1 week. Currently, I am pumping approximately 3.5
ounces a session. I am taking Blessed Thistle to try and raise this
amount. I have a Medela Pump in Style and pump for 15-25 minutes. I
would like to try BF again. Yesturday, I tried it and she latched on
well. However, I don't believe she was getting any milk. There were no
swallowing sounds and it didn't appear that she was sucking. Does anyone
have any suggestions I could try? I would like to have her get breast
milk in some fashion and I am afraid that when she gets older I may not
be able to pump as much as she needs. I know that baby sucks more
efficiently than a pump and your body will recognize this to produce more
milk. Now the trick is to get her to suck to get the milk out.

Contact an LC. Like last week.

Jess

Hi Betsy... I pump every 2 to 3 hours. I have a stash saved up in the
fridge so I am ahead of her right now. I am not sure how long that will
last since she will be needing more as she gets older. My letdown also
feels like pins and needles and then I get more drops and some streaming.
So I guess I am on the right track with that. I will continue to put her to
the breast and see about contacting the local La Leche group to see if they
will be able to help. Thank you for your suggestions.

"oregonchick" wrote in message
news
I pump and bottle feed exclusively and have since DD was about a week old.
I initially pumped every time she ate, so initially that was about every
1.5 to 2 hrs. How often do you pump? When I first start pumping, all that
comes out are drops, but after a few seconds, it turns into streams. My
letdown feels rather painful and like pins and needles. My daughter will
still latch on, and I will sometimes squeeze or massage my breast to
initiate a letdown. When she gets lazy and stops sucking, I stroke her
cheek or pull back on my breast and she usually starts sucking vigorously
again.

Betsy

"Marce" wrote in message
news:11Ayf.138957$WH.93614@dukeread01...
Hello, I am a new mother of a 4 week old. I have been exclusively
pumping since she was 1 week. Currently, I am pumping approximately 3.5
ounces a session. I am taking Blessed Thistle to try and raise this
amount. I have a Medela Pump in Style and pump for 15-25 minutes. I
would like to try BF again. Yesturday, I tried it and she latched on
well. However, I don't believe she was getting any milk. There were no
swallowing sounds and it didn't appear that she was sucking. Does anyone
have any suggestions I could try? I would like to have her get breast
milk in some fashion and I am afraid that when she gets older I may not
be able to pump as much as she needs. I know that baby sucks more
efficiently than a pump and your body will recognize this to produce more
milk. Now the trick is to get her to suck to get the milk out.

I also wonder if there is something wrong with my let down. Sometimes
(on the pump) all I get are drops and sometimes there are streams. What
does a good let down look like?

Thanks for your help.

"Marce" wrote in message
news:JXEyf.138973$WH.22854@dukeread01...
Jess - Oh, I forgot to mention that I had been working with a LC. We
tried EVERYTHING. She is actually the one who suggested the Blessed
Thistle and to rent a hospital grade pump so that I could keep up my
supply. The LC made sure that my baby was latched on and she is latching
on. It's just getting the milk out that seems to be the main thing. So
yes, I have contacted a LC, like 3 weeks ago.

A good pump is essential, and double pumping apparently release alot more of
the hormone (is it oxytocin?) than pumping one breast at a time, and can
supposedly help increase supply because of the additional hormone release
and stimulation. Other things that help me to get more milk quicker is to
gently squeeze and massage my breasts while pumping...

If you want to go back to breast feeding, but also want to increase your
supply by pumping, you could bf her, and when she is done nursing or sucking
or whatever, follow with pumping. And the more you pump, the more the
breast thinks it needs to produce, so try to get as much out as possible.
Sometimes you can get a second letdown if you are patient...

Betsy

Hi Marce,

One thing I would like to add that no one else has suggested is that
if you want to try to get your baby back onto the breast, you should
wean her off the bottle immediately. A good alternative is an SNS or
Lactaid. You should ask your LC about it. As long as you are pumping,
you can feed the EBB via SNS.

Another suggestion is to try to initiate a let down just before nursing
when you try to nurse directly. This will teach you daughter to nurse
better and give her positive reinforcement for her effort. Finally, when
you are somewhat successful with this, you should allow your daughter to
stay on your breast and comfort nurse for a long as she likes at the end
of a nursing session.

Good luck,
Larry

Marce writes:
: Hello, I am a new mother of a 4 week old. I have been exclusively pumping
: since she was 1 week. Currently, I am pumping approximately 3.5 ounces a
: session. I am taking Blessed Thistle to try and raise this amount. I have
: a Medela Pump in Style and pump for 15-25 minutes. I would like to try BF
: again. Yesturday, I tried it and she latched on well. However, I don't
: believe she was getting any milk. There were no swallowing sounds and it
: didn't appear that she was sucking. Does anyone have any suggestions I
: could try? I would like to have her get breast milk in some fashion and I
: am afraid that when she gets older I may not be able to pump as much as she
: needs. I know that baby sucks more efficiently than a pump and your body
: will recognize this to produce more milk. Now the trick is to get her to
: suck to get the milk out.

: I also wonder if there is something wrong with my let down. Sometimes (on
: the pump) all I get are drops and sometimes there are streams. What does a
: good let down look like?

: Thanks for your help.

Marce wrote:
Jess - Oh, I forgot to mention that I had been working with a LC. We tried
EVERYTHING. She is actually the one who suggested the Blessed Thistle and
to rent a hospital grade pump so that I could keep up my supply. The LC
made sure that my baby was latched on and she is latching on. It's just
getting the milk out that seems to be the main thing. So yes, I have
contacted a LC, like 3 weeks ago.


Not all LC's are created equal. With my first daughter it took
2 hospital LC, 2 LLL leaders and finally a private LC. It was
the privat LC that came to my home, figured out what in the
world DD was doing, and showed me how to use my finger to suck
train her and a bottle to reinforce that. So, you may want to
try a different LC, sometimes it takes getting the one who has
seen your specific problem before.

And here's an article I've found interesting. I found it after
DD1 was born so I didn't implement any of it, but you may
find it useful:

http://www.ilca.org/pubs/jhl/j18h1l10.pdf

Good luck. Oh, by the way, wonderful work pumping and I really
hope you can get your baby back to the breast.

Mary W.