Pumping basics

What's the duration of your pumps? I found that I had 2 additional let downs if I pumped past 15m per pump (I pumped 30m each pump but that allowed me to drop pumps with no impact earlier). Power pumps are the best way to increase supply, in my opinion. Chenage your pump parts religiously and ensure your nutrition is on point (IE, eating enough- many moms under eat). Also flange size yourself often as it can change many times through your pp journey which can affect your output and your comfort. I pumps 8ppd until ~2.5-3 months pp. Then I dropped to 6, let my supply level out, then to 4, and then I weaned completely at 8m pp. My 1st leveled out at 27oz per day at 2 months old. My 2nd, she is 9m and still not feeding on a predicted amount. Check out PumpMommaPump. She has a webpage/blog and it's an extremely helpful resource. I dropped my MONPs first. Hated to do it as they were my best output but I was exhausted. I had zero regrets; I was a much better person for it lol

I’m 6 months pp have been exclusively pumping from birth I currently pump over 40 oz a day and only pump 3 times a day! I used to barely make enough pumping 8 times in a day my girl was having every last drop and I was worried about her wanting more as she grew so I started trying to increase my supply with power pumping and drinking electrolytes. She feeds about 5 oz 5 times a day now and sleeps through the night. But she only really started drinking more the last month I think it is common for breast fed babies to drink little and often even from a bottle.

Pumping is so hard and draining especially when your doing it so much and just scraping by so many times I thought about quitting for my mental health but I persisted and came out the other side and it definitely does get easier!

For reference I do a power pump in the morning, 20 mins in the middle of the day and another power pump before bed

You can start looking to drop pumps once you’ve established your supply I started at 8-12 pumps a day and now do 4-6 and get about 50oz (I usually do a 3am 11am 4pm (sometimes a 6pm and/or 9pm) and 11pm my 3am and 11am are power pumps I wouldn’t start dropping pumps till you are getting a pretty consistent output that you are happy with then you can slowly start dropping a pump at a time I also started with an under supply and it slowly went up it’s definitely exhausting but it isn’t for long

@Georgia how long did you power pump for before you saw an increase? What pump do you use? I often find pumping quite uncomfortable and my nipples and breasts feel sore after if I do pumps too close together. I’ve had my measurements done multiple times and bought flanges for my spectra but still struggle sometimes which along with low supply makes it hard to keep going!

@Tammie how long did it take to get your supply up?

I started having an over supply around 10weeks and started consistently hitting the 50oz mark at 12/13 ish weeks

I started to see a difference within a week but it kept increasing probably for a few weeks until I got to my desired increased amount. I use the spectra s2 I find it’s the best one I’ve used also tried the momcozy m5 that I didn’t get along with and didn’t get the same output. I had very sore cracked nipples also you can use the lansino nipple cream before and after pumping and I’d recommend getting some silverette nipple cups they really are a lifesaver you can also use coconut oil to lube you pump up. The other thing I used to put a flange insert in the spectra and after a while it was feeling like friction on them I took it out and it was much better I think my nipples got bigger 😩

I also still power pump twice a day now as it gives me enough out put to only have to pump one other time in the day

I don't think i have ever pumped 8 times...I've always done every 3 hours and once at night (I don't do sleep deprivation well). I produce 5 to 6oz every 3 hours on average (first morning pump and night pump are always double). I produce about 12 oz more then what mine will eat.