3 days away from starting to pump...again

I always had more milk on one side than the other...even when I breastfed my bio DD.

So I'm sort of stuck at the same amount of milk and I'm frustrated. I'm at 80mg of dom, more milk plus supplement (6 pills/day) and pumping every three hours. In the morning I get 6 drops or so and the rest of the day I get 1 drop out of the left and 1 from the right. By the end of the night I can hardly get anything. What else can I do?? We're six weeks out and I feel like I'll never have a decent supply at this rate. :thanks:

Im sorry things arent going so well for you. I know its frustrating. i cant remember exactly, but i think for about the first 3 weeks or so, i didnt get more than 1/4 of an ounce per day. I was so mad sitting in the NICU pumping and getting barely enough to get in the bottle. it did come after a while. Once the baby came, it picked up a little. I also uped the Dom to 160!!! Not all at once of course, gradually, but i had NO side affects, some people the higher the dosage, the worse the side affects. You could try it. For me, i did help get things going and then once i thought i was well established i cut it down to 120, then 80 then 60. But that was over the course of 2-3 months. other than that, i dont know what to tell ya. Just keep going, your doing a good job!! -Rach

What is the highest you can go with Dom? I don't want to take an unhealthy amount of medicine just to get milk in ya know? I've been trying hand expression and I've been getting a bit more than I was. Maybe double the amount of drops? Total through the day doesn't even cover the bottom of the bottle. Hoping baby girl is an amazing nurser so she can help this production!

I'd ask a dr about medication.It took two or three weeks for me to start getting much milk. After that is when it started to pick up weekly.

Oh my gosh I have blisters ALL OVER my left nipple. Even on my pumps lowest setting it kills! I am still not getting much. Not even enough to cover the bottom of a bottle each day. I am so discouraged. Baby's due date is four weeks away and I feel like I'll never have enough milk. I can always hand express much easier than I can pump. Milk droplets just keep coming out when I hand express. I hope that means that there is more in there than I think there is? At this point I should be up once a night to pump correct? What if I just go to bed at 1am, does that still count?

OUCH!!! i am hurting just reading that. Im sooo sorry things arent going so well. I dont know what to tell you about how to get rid of the blisters, only that I used the Medela brand lanolin and i LOVED it over the other ones. Its really soft and creamy instaed of stiff and rough. Just what someone wants, to rub stiff cream on SORE nipples!!! Keep at it, you are doing a good job. It will come i think. Not so sure if going to bed at 1am counts :evilgrin: I bet you are getting excited since the baby is due in only a month. keep us updated!! Rach

What am I doing wrong? I am not able to get ANYTHING out by pump anymore.I can hand express only now. I pumped for thirteen months before, it's not like my boobs don't know what this is?!?!!? :hissy: I'm so peeved at my boobs right now! I don't have time to do this with 3 kids......

Are you using the same pump and shields that you did before? If so, I wonder if the shields are too big...I would assume the girls are a little smaller than they were last time you were breastfeeding :) Hand expressing is fine for now too. I was always able to get more milk by hand expressing and used the pump more for convenience.

Well I am hand expressing but only able to do it like 5 times a day. At this point I think I am getting maybe 2 ounces a day? The pump is just not getting anything out anymore. I have no idea why but here I am. Bmom is 37 weeks today and lost her mucus plug the other day. Hoping baby comes soon!! Does everyone else continue pumping after baby starts nursing full time?

What is going on with you now? Has the baby been born? I have always felt like it is best to concentrate on nursing the baby full time (or at least the vast majority of the time) and not worry about pumping. Especially where you have so many little ones to care for, and aren't having that much luck with the pump, I don't think it would be of any benefit. When I was nursing my younger kids, there were times that I tried to pump in addition to nursing. Every time I did, I would measure what was left in the Lact-Aids after a while and realize that they had actually taken more supplement, not less. I know you are surprised that you haven't gotten more of a response from pumping, and I am too. However, I think once you have a baby at the breast, you'll feel a lot better about it all. Focusing on that beautiful experience helps a great deal in letting your milk down and producing more. With me, and most adoptive moms who did this until relatively recently, it was just that experience that started us lactating. Of course, we would all like to have great milk supplies, but don't forget that just a few ounces of breast milk a day provides a lot of protection against illness. With other little ones in the home, that is especially beneficial. Try to relax and let the Lact-Aid provide whatever additional nutrition the baby needs. I always tried to see the Lact-Aid not as a reminder that I didn't have a large milk supply, but as a wonderful friend that made it possible for me to nurse my babies, when I wouldn't have been able to otherwise. Keep hanging in there! If you have any questions about using the Lact-Aid, or anything else, feel free to email me at noelani54@hotmail.com. Just put something catchy in the subject line because I get a lot of junk mail. Darillyn

Biomom is being induced today, wish us luck!!!

Im wishing you luck!!! i hope everything goes well. Both with the baby and the breastfeeding. Im sure things will come better once the baby is at your breast nursing. Good luck, Rach

She is finally here!!! And I can't say that nursing is going all that well. I am having a super hard time with the sns. Anyone have any tips on the best ways to use it? Thanks!

How exciting! How much did she weigh? I'm sorry nursing isn't going better, but I am sure you can do it. It is a great deal more challenging to need to supplement, but if you can stick with it for a while and work the bugs out, it can become very manageable. The Lact-Aid is much, much better than the SNS. I've seen quite a few moms who have been ready to throw in the towel with the SNS, who have switched to the Lact-Aid and kept nursing until the baby self-weaned. I have never met anyone who had used both of them enough to get used to them, who did not prefer the Lact-Aid. That is in 22 years of being in contact with many other adoptive moms. If you can, I think it would help a lot to get the Lact-Aid. I would start with the Deluxe kit, which contains two complete units, along with the things you need for cleaning and filling them. Then, you can order a unit of four more of them. With six, you only need to wash and fill once one day and twice the next. Unless you have help with that chore, lots of units is a great help. Here are some tips for the SNS, though. I spent several years nursing with a supplementer. Even though I didn't like the SNS nearly as well, I used it enough to really get to know it because I wanted to be able to comment intelligently on it and help other moms with it. There were times I just alternated it with the Lact-Aids I had and other times where I just kept it clean and handy in case I got stuck with only dirty Lact-Aids and a screaming baby. First, use the small tubing. Medela suggests that adoptive moms use the medium, but it flows too quickly for the baby to suck well. Some moms keep one tube wrapped up and use the other one alone. It seems that two would be easier but since they are so long, they get tangled very easily. Keep both tubes open while the baby is sucking. If you keep one closed in the slit on the cap, the supplement will stop flowing from the other, after a while, unless the baby lets go frequently for air to go into it again. An older baby will figure out that they need to do that, but, of course, not a newborn. If the baby is not on the breast, you need to close one of the tubes, or they will leak a lot but, as soon as the baby gets on the breast, open them both. Tape is a big problem, as I suspect you have found out all ready. With the Lact-Aid, taping for the first few times, or in certain special situations, can be helpful but there is no need for tape, otherwise. The longer tubes of the SNS, and the way they have to be positioned, make it difficult to use without it. Wearing a nursing bra style that has a frame that goes all the way around the breast helps. Some moms put a small band-aid on the edge of their areola and then leave it there and just flip the tube under it. It doesn't hold it as well as taping it down, but it isn't as hard on your skin. Another thing moms have done is tape the tubing on and leave it there until the next day. In between feedings, they wash the bottle, attach it to the tube with warm water, lean over the sink and squeeze the water through it to flush the tubes. I have heard of one mom who did that with detergent in the water, too. Will she suck without the SNS? Most newborns will and you are producing some milk all ready so I would try to do that quite a bit. You could try something like nursing first and then offering a couple ounces in a bottle. I think it is usually best to try to work toward getting used to using a supplementer and do that most of the time, but you can try other things, especially while you are getting everything figured out. I would also try to give priority to having her to nurse, with or without the SNS, over pumping. You could also alternate nursing with bottles. If you do something like that, you can always go to nursing more of the time, later, after you and your family get a chance to adjust to the new situation. If you really want to breastfeed, it is important to do what you can to keep from getting overwhelmed enough to give up. I am really of surprised that you haven't had an easier time producing milk and I know you are too. With your history, I thought you would be one of those who would be able to work up to a full supply relatively easily, with domperidone and pumping. I guess it is just more evidence of how difficult it is to predict how anyone's body will respond. I still think it is likely that you will produce quite a bit more if you can get the baby nursing on demand, rather than pumping, though. Regardless, you are definitely producing enough to give her the important immunities, which are even more beneficial when you have a houseful of little ones. I hope some of that is helpful. I am sorry it isn't terribly well organized. If I think of anything else, I will post it. There was a booklet written by a lady I met an a LLL conference in Germany about using the SNS, but it was written in German. They were at least talking about having it translated into English, but I don't know if they ever did that or not. If you really want to use it, I will see if I can get in touch with someone and find out for you. Hang in there, try to get some sleep and hug all those babies for me! Darillyn