Increasing Milk Supply with a Manual Pump?

First, I think it's wonderful that you are breast feeding! I am too, and I know what a wonderful bond this is for you and your baby. My baby is 8 months old and also taking solids, and breast feeding, and supplemented with formula as needed because my baby had suck issues from birth and because of her slow weight gain, it was necessary to supplement.

So, how do you know that you are not producing enough milk? Your baby is taking in 24 oz a day. Wow, I say wow because I prepare 8 oz a day and some of that is used to make my baby's cereal in the morning, she breastfeeds throughout the day (about every 2-3 hours), and she eats dinner in the evening and while my baby is still gaining weight slowly, she is gaining. I'm curious how much your baby lost. How often do you weigh your baby? I have a baby scale and I was weighing my baby daily until my lactation consultant told me to weigh her weekly because I was truly driving myself nuts with the daily fluctuations of her weight.

If your are concerned about your milk supply, I would suggest you find yourself a double electric (hospital grade is best) breast pump. A manual pump is very time consuming and you will grow tired of pumping one breast at a time. Also, you must not use what you pump out as a gauge for what you are producing. A baby nursing at the breast the the best pump, as a mechanical device cannot effectively pump a breast the way a baby can while breast feeding. Since you are a SAHM, not sure of the time constraints you deal with daily, but if you can manage it, pump after each nursing session and then pump at night just before you go to bed. I'm taking Goat's Rue, an herbal supplement for lactation.

I might also suggest you find a certified lactation consultant to assist. Is your pediatrician an advocate for formula?? To me, it sounds like he (or she) is pushing you to use formula. The more formula you give, the less your baby will take from you. I would also supplement AFTER you breastfeed. Nurse your baby on BOTH breasts and switch nurse. Do you know what switch nursing is? Nurse baby on both sides three times. When baby seems lazy, sleepy, or stops sucking, switch sides and after baby has nursed on each side 3 times, then offer a supplement. Can you increase your supply? Yes! With a manual pump? It's gonna be a challenge so think about an electric pump instead, one that pumps both sides simultaneously. Eat oatmeal, take herbal supplements (Goat's Rue, Fenugreek, or Blessed Thistle), drink liquids, and get enough rest. And nurse the baby as often as possible, even have a nursing holiday if you can manage just laying in bed for a weekend and do nothing but nurse. I know, hard to do if you have other children, or even with an older baby. Good luck!

I had a lot of success with getting my temperamental milk supply to cooperate; however, I have to say that although I am forever grateful that I had access to a pump with my first child, I probably will take a more laid back approach to milk regulation with baby #2.

First off, manual pumps are not nearly as effective as a good electric one. Since I had received the "hardware" for using Medela's Symphony pump while in the hospital, it wasn't such a cost-burden to rent it from Babies-R-Us. This pump is far superior to the very popular Medela's In-Style pump that I later purchased and used.

Secondly, your milk supply will go back up with more frequent pumping/nursing; however, it depends on WHY it went down in the first place. For example, when my child would sleep 6+ hours at night - my supply would drop. I remedied this by pumping at night. It took almost exactly one week for my supply to return. Night nursing can be really key for some women in maintaining a good milk supply because it is when prolactin levels are the highest - this is not true for all women.

If, however, my supply dropped because my baby wasn't effectively nursing throughout the day (getting distracted - missed feedings) - I literally would pump every two hours for a couple of days and the milk would be right back up.

Lastly, since I was a nervous wreck from my yo-yo supply - I finally went on Domperidone, which I ordered online. It began working in 4 days and gave me the confidence I needed to continue to nurse to this day.

I stopped using domperidone around 18 months and realized that my milk supply stayed strong (as long as my son nursed at night - which he still does at 2.5). However, now that he isn't consistent with nursing - either at night or during the day and I am in my third trimester with baby #2, I produce almost no milk, but he is still comforted by the process.

I hope this helps.

S.

My best suggestion is drink more water and nurse her more often (like 1.5 hrs or every 2 hrs?). I don't think a manual pump, perhaps not even an electronic pump will do it for you.

Best advice to give is stop using the formula and let her nurse on demand, even at 9 months old she can nurse a lot. She may be losing weight because she is getting more active, not spending as much time at the breast. Nurse a lot and pump after every nursing session with an electric pump. My doctor also told me to supplement and I refused and did this and my daughter ended up in the 90th percentile for weight. But I pumped after every nursing session, and fed her anything I got, which was not much, most times not even an ounce. what I learned was that even though the pump could not get much out it was stimulating my breasts to produce more milk and my daughter could get it out. She was also drinking most of what I made. After a few months I was getting more and was able to stop pumping. And she was gaining weight. I know electric pumps are expensive but they are worth it. You will have to do a lot more pumping with a manual pump, and it will tire you out. I could offer you my old pump, but I see you are a bit over an hour from here. If you want to drive the distance to get it and you will use it, you are welcome to it.

An infant losing a bit of weight at the time where crawling, cruising and standing are common and working hard towards is NORMAL - I'd be concerned about why your Pediatrician isn't putting it into consideration and perspective.

If I were in your shoes... I'd completely stop the formula and go back to only breastfeeding with a few meals with solids. Weight loss at the time where infants are much more active than usual is a given. The less you allow her to nurse, the more you are sabotaging your own milk supply with the full approval of your Pediatrician!!

Does she have flat, hazy eyes? Is her skin very dry or does it tent when you pinch her skin (look up skin turgor), does she have less than 4-6 wet diapers a day? Is she not alert and curious? Are her eyes sunken into her head? Does she LOOK ill, underweight or unhealthy?

If the answers are 98% NO - then there is nothing wrong with your daughter's nutrition.

Allow her to nurse ALL THE TIME, ANYTIME she wants to, only offer solids AFTER she nurses. Cut down half the formula for 2 days, then half again for 2 days then NONE the 5th day.

I'd be flabbergasted if you could actually pump anything worthwhile at the stage of 9 months old... pumping usually drastically tapers off between months 4-6 - because your body had gotten used to your INFANT's needs and doesn't make much extra until stimulated by the baby to do so.

Start drinking a lot of water, eat well, maybe start supplementing with fenugreek and Blessed thistle together - but definitely wean her off the unnecessary formula.

I might not be a lot of help since I never really had any supply issues. My daughter never lost any weight when I was nursing her & I never had to supplement with formula, but I did experience a couple of dips in my supply. My supply has always been just enough, never an over abundance...my body adjusts very quickly.

My daughter miraculously started sleeping through the night at 2 months old and my supply adjusted accordingly. Then at 4 months she must've hit a growth spurt because she started waking at night to nurse and it seemed like I couldn't keep up with her. I started pumping every chance I got and built my supply up enough for her, though she still continued the night feedings (once around 1am-2am and once around 5am-6am).

The second dip was around 6 months when she started solids. At this point I didn't see the need to try to increase my supply because she seemed to be getting enough between nursing and the solids. However, the most noticeable difference was that it became difficult for me to pump enough out to have a full bottle for her if I wanted one. I was rarely able to pump to store milk after that, although I didn't bother trying to build up my supply for the purposes of storing milk.

At 9 months she started sleeping through the night and never stopped, so there was another natural dip/adjustment in my supply.

After that my supply continued to dwindle until it was nearly gone when I weaned her at 13 months. The only time I attempted to build my supply back up was at that 4 month mark because she seemed as though she needed it. After that all of the adjustments seemed to be happening naturally because she didn't need to nurse as much, so I never bothered to try to increase my supply.

All that being said I only used a manual pump (Medela Harmony). I did have an electric pump (also Medela) that was given to me, but it never seemed to do anything for me. The manual pump always worked much better for me and always expressed more. I guess it really just depends on the person. I still have the electric pump so I'll give it a try with my new baby when he gets here.

I also recommend getting a lactation consultant. She should be a great help in determining what kind of pump, how often you should pump, etc. In the meantime nurse and pump as much as you can since that's what stimulates and increases supply.

the best way to up your supply is make shure your drinking enough water and eating enough, and put baby to breast often. try a suplamental nursing system so baby is still getting formula the dr ordered but your getting the breast stimulation to produce more. dont stress that only makes it worse. even if your not able to produce more your still doing a awesome job mama . also maybe since shes 9 months have you started solids? if you have a few good ones are avacados sweet potatos and yobaby yougert have good calories to help her gain :)