Forum home Babies Breast & bottle feeding

Pumping breast milk - am I doing this right?

Hi my baby is 5 weeks prem and 8 days old I found it hard breastfeeding her as her little mouth was under developed so I decided to exclusively pump and bottle feed it was going really well with pumping 100mls from each breast. I pump every time my baby needs a feed but lately I'm not getting enough milk I'm expressing about 70mls in an hour out of one breast is this normal my baby wakes every 3 hours so I pump every 3 hours ATM she is drinking 50mls but I like to be a feed ahead just in case can anyone help or give me some asvice please my baby is 8 days old x do people pump both breasts at the same time? I pump from one breast when she due a feed then the other on her next feed. 

Replies

  • Hi, congratulations on the birth of your little girl, I hope she is doing well. I am exclusively breastfeeding my three month old daughter, I am also pumping to donate and to build up a freezer stash for when I go back to work  

    Well done on what you are doing so far, it sounds as if you are doing a brilliant job. 

    The amount you pump varies widely from mum to mum, and doesn't always reflect accurately how much you are actually producing, but it sounds as if you are doing great. 

    I know a lot of mums worry about having enough left in their breast in case their baby is hungry; but this only really applies if you are pumping to use for later. As you are exclusively pumping, I would imagine pumping both sides would be sensible. Using both sides for each feed should also help increase your supply. 

    Are you managing to get a good let-down (or two or three per session)? If not, you can pump for hours and barely get a drop. 

    My main piece of advice would be check of your hospital has a breastfeeding/lactation midwife or support group as they can go though things a lot more thoroughly and make sure you don't end up with any problems like over-supply as you are having to pump from so early. 

    Let us know how you get on and if we can help any more. Good luck! X

  • You're doing great ! One tip I can give you is when you pump from one breast and you expirience let down ( when lots of milk comes out , you also feel like a little pressure in your breast) once the let down is over immediately change to the other breast and pump ( so this is crucial you want to see the milk flow in the first breast as you come to the end of the let down phase ie, the milk flow is slowing down immediately shift to the other breast ) after a few seconds of pumping you should tap into the let down milk of the other breast.I noticed that doing this gave me the most outcome in one sitting of pumping. Hope this helps . Take care

Sign In or Register to comment.

Featured Discussions