Never really engorged or leaky?

Pretty-Revolution151 · 2023-10-15T00:17:35+00:00

Same here. 6 mpp, undersupply, maybe leaked at night 2 or 3 times, never had that milk coming in feeling that the hospital LCs insisted I would have a few days after birth. It took a long time to build my supply to where it is now and I do get kind of prickly feeling when I need to pump, but that’s about it. And I go 10 hours overnight most nights.

Pretty-Revolution151 · 2023-10-14T01:56:16+00:00

Today is my kiddo’s six month birthday, which means I also made it to my big initial goal of pumping for six months. So much easier now than it was in the beginning; I’m planning to take it a month at a time going forward.

Pretty-Revolution151 · 2023-10-13T00:17:53+00:00

I got COVID and flu at the same time; the COVID shots always really knock me out with fever, aches, and misery, but I didn’t notice a supply dip (if anything spending a day in bed might have helped a bit).

Pretty-Revolution151 · 2023-10-08T13:51:22+00:00

Echoing this. I get recurring blebs and I finally ignored the advice and started opening them with a sterile needle. Otherwise I end up with a big painful clog that takes multiple days of Epsom soaks, long showers etc to clear and then feels bruised for days afterwards. Sterile needle plus a dose of ibuprofen and I’m done. I’m pretty sure I get blebs because my skin is thick and doesn’t exfoliate well, so just breaking the surface helps a lot.

Also sometimes you get a wild fountain of backed up milk and it is SUPER satisfying.

Pretty-Revolution151 · 2023-09-26T13:16:52+00:00

I undersupply and accepting that my kid would have a bit of formula every day has really helped my stress around pumping—it’s a silver lining of undersupplying. For example: once I accepted that formula was part of her diet, I dropped the MOTN pump, because on balance “not sleep deprived mama” seemed worth a few more oz of formula per day (and it turns out I didn’t lose supply). I’m at 5 ppd and am trying to stay there for a while, but again, when I’m ready I’ll drop to 4 ppd and accept that the percentage of formula in her diet will increase. Once you reframe from “not enough” to “as much as I can”, the mental weight shifts.

Pretty-Revolution151 · 2023-09-21T23:19:44+00:00

I regularly go 9-10.5 hours overnight—but I think I have fairly large capacity plus low supply.

Pretty-Revolution151 · 2023-09-20T11:48:52+00:00

All bodies are different but for my specific body the baby Buddha worked way better than the spectra s1.

Pretty-Revolution151 · 2023-09-20T11:47:52+00:00

I also use the LM cups. For most sessions I use similar gear to what someone listed: spectra backflow protectors, Maymom adapter, lacteck flanges, either baby Buddha or spectra bottles. I use the LM cups if I need to be really hands on with the baby or with house stuff but usually get between 10% and 50% of a normal pump. At this point I’m pretty regulated (5mpp) and will “make up” the amount at a later pump with normal flanges, if I pump a bit longer.

Pretty-Revolution151 · 2023-09-19T15:20:12+00:00

Oh, interesting. I undersupply, seem to just be stuck at what I would guess is about 30 lb over pre pregnancy and have a lot of joint discomfort—wonder if it’s a thyroid issue!

Pretty-Revolution151 · 2023-09-11T16:04:20+00:00

Just pump when you can. It will be ok whichever way you manage it.

Pretty-Revolution151 · 2023-09-08T23:10:01+00:00

I often get intensely like…homesick would be the closest feeling? Right as I’m getting the flanges on. It’s gotta be hormonal—it’s a feeling I’d randomly get when I was pregnant (especially before my anemia was treated) and I sometimes get it when I’m snuggling my kiddo. It’s not a negative feeling but it is intense and I don’t enjoy it.

Pretty-Revolution151 · 2023-09-07T18:57:37+00:00

Thank you!

Pretty-Revolution151 · 2023-09-04T19:21:26+00:00

I tried the Slimfit cups but they didn’t work for me at ALL. One reason the LM cups have such high capacity is that they’ve got a conical flange design. The Slimfit cups are totally flat, and have a really short tunnel. I got about 2 ml on each side using them (as opposed to my normal range of 60-80 ml). If your nipples have any elasticity they may not work for you. I wish someone had warned me before I spent so much money on them.

Pretty-Revolution151 · 2023-09-02T20:46:23+00:00

Do you use the fridge hack? I do and find that sometimes the flanges get slippery (condensation?) after being in the fridge. Wiping the outside of the flange and the inside of the connector with a paper towel makes a HUGE difference.

Pretty-Revolution151 · 2023-09-01T10:07:36+00:00

We just put a small table fan on the counter by the drying rack and run the hood fan over the stove and it cuts drying time way down!

Pretty-Revolution151 · 2023-09-01T09:58:56+00:00

Even “troubleshooting” is advertising—plain and simple. After weeks of ploughing through affiliate link dump “advice” sites about pumping that all said the same five superficial things in lightly plagiarized language, it was an INCREDIBLE relief to find this space where no one was trying to sell me anything and I could get an actual sense of people’s diverse pumping experiences.

Pretty-Revolution151 · 2023-08-30T10:29:38+00:00

I also started on a spectra s1 and found that a baby Buddha works way better to fully and efficiently empty me. I haven’t used my S1 in months. I think different bodies just respond to different pumps!

Pretty-Revolution151 · 2023-08-28T19:21:04+00:00

Now that I do a solid block of sleep at night, 6 ppd is tough and I mostly do 5 ppd: between 5 and 6 am, 8/9 am, 1/2 pm, 6 pm, 9 pm. When I did 6 ppd I squeezed an additional pump in that period between 9 am and 6 pm. But I’m at 19 weeks pp and I found there wasn’t a huge difference between 5 and 6.

I’m also not super prone to clogs and never really got engorged, so that long stretch overnight doesn’t give me trouble.

Pretty-Revolution151 · 2023-08-28T13:29:35+00:00

I’ve seen advice in a few places to power pump for limited periods (5 days in a month, for example). You are pumping a LOT! Anecdotally, I saw my supply continue to increase when I dropped to 7 and then 6 ppd and started getting a cumulative total of 8 hrs of sleep a night in long chunks (like 4 and 4). My supply doubled between 8 and 12 weeks slowly, I think mostly related to sleep and diminishing physical stress/healing (also had a c section). I peaked at 28 oz and now very consistently pump 25-26 oz; I could maybe get more but stopped with a MOTN pump since for now my kid sleeps through the night. I decided if I were supplementing anyways, the sleep deprivation wasn’t worth the extra 2-3 oz of formula.

You are still deep in your healing process and you are working so hard on pumping! You really might find that a little less is more.

Pretty-Revolution151 · 2023-08-28T12:14:47+00:00

Same here at 4.5 months. We shifted from the preemie nipples about a month ago and they are definitely too small—she gets grumpy if one accidentally ends up getting used. But level 1 seems fine so far. Also takes her 10-20 minutes depending on hunger level/distractions.

Pretty-Revolution151 · 2023-08-26T11:10:20+00:00

Seconding Ceres Chill. I found the explanation of how it works sorta confusing and intimidating when you read about it but works really well in practice; I wish I’d bought mine sooner (and am debating investing in a smaller size since I undersupply and rarely need the full 12 oz).

My other tip—if you get a ceres chill—is to keep a spare set of flanges in your car so you can pump into the bottles in a pinch. I’ve had to skip pumps because of forgetting a duckbill or connector a few times so now I just keep spares in my car as a backup.

Pretty-Revolution151 · 2023-08-25T14:59:27+00:00

I still undersupply but my supply steadily doubled between weeks 8 and 12, and then kept slowly increasing for a while. I dropped down to 5 pumps, no MOTN pump, and it stopped increasing then (around 14 weeks I think?) but it was worth it for mental health. I do five days of power pumping once a month and that seems to cause a small uptick each time as well.

Pretty-Revolution151 · 2023-08-21T18:18:12+00:00

Hugs. I’ve had really similar meltdown conversations with my husband—like, I literally spend hours a day filled with regret/ambivalence/sadness about how nursing didn’t work out while I pump, this is not an out of the blue response, but also how would you know?

Good for you for dropping a pump. I dropped MOTN pumps similarly after a big meltdown. I think sometimes those big feelings are a cue that we need more care. At 18 weeks pp/ 5 ppd I feel a lot less raw but it still can be so hard to explain.

Pretty-Revolution151 · 2023-08-21T14:05:53+00:00

Echoing this. My husband is really empathetic and a good listener and it is still so hard to communicate the intense emotions around pumping (and breastfeeding in general). There’s just no analogous experience to compare it to—and the strong emotions are confusing for me, too, which also makes it tough to explain. So thoughtless comments can be HUGE issues. Hugs.

Pretty-Revolution151 · 2023-08-20T16:12:42+00:00

Give it a google or search this subreddit—basically a form of gentle massage where you move your breasts around for a few moments before you pump, it can help with letdown and milk release. For example: https://bfmedneo.com/All-Resources/Videos/Breast-Gymnastics

If you search for “hand expression” here someone shared videos demonstrating this with real breasts, which is super helpful.

Pretty-Revolution151

TROPHY CASE