Home Forums Induced Lactation aka Adoptive Breastfeeding Medical Interventions to Induce Lactation/Increase Milk Supply pumping diary - hopefully this will help someone

Day 21:

~45 ml. That's an ounce and a half! I wonder if the brewer's yeast I took this morning helped.

Day 22:

What happened to my milk? I fought for 37-38ml today. We're supposed to be accelerating, not going backward!

Day 23: 52ml today but I haven't been able to nurse much today so it isn't as good as it seems. Definitely a poor start to the morning.

Day 24:

The good news is that I pumped 60ml today. Unbelievable. But I forgot the nursing bags so my daughter didn't really nurse today, so it isn't quite a fair comparison. Worse though is that it makes me wonder how much my daughter is really getting if I am only producing 10-15ml more than when she nurses on demand as well.

Day 25:

Great start to the morning - 30ml by lunchtime. I spent about 5 hours in the car and then nursed when I got home so I don't have a clear idea on volume, but I think I was around 60ml again.

Thanks for the ongoing updates. It's been great to see your pumping volume increase. Don't forget though, that pumping volume is not representative of what you're producing or what your baby is able to remove from the breast. On days when you're pumping lower than expected volumes, it could just be that she has taken more that day. Have you watched the Stanford video on maximizing milk production through hands-on pumping? I work as a Lactation Consultant and have found this to be very helpful for many moms. Keep up the good work! http://newborns.stanford.edu/Breastfeeding/MaxProduction.html

Day 26: Back to 40-45ml. My daughter nursed today so it is not surprising that it went down, but I wonder how much she is really getting. I would have estimated the difference between non- pumping and pumping is more or less what she is getting, but that would suggest she is only taking 15-20ml from me.

I'm glad that I have increased vs the last time I tried the protocol, but I still don't think I am getting what I wanted out of all of this. I just don't think it is worth all the negatives, especially for a 5 month old starting solids in less than a month. I am supposed to return the pump by Saturday and I don't know if I will bother to extend my rental. We'll see though, I haven't made up my mind yet.

How is it going Mollysmom?
Jennifer

I have been pumping for about 6 weeks now and I am getting 2.5-3 oz/day on average in addition to whatever my daughter takes herself. I don't think that she actually drinks that much, although she did manage to nurse bare in the middle of the night last night.

I was really close to scrapping the whole thing when the pump was supposed to be returned (30 days) but in my heart I wasn't quite ready to give up yet. I extended my pump rental for another 30 days and reordered the dom.

Despite the improvements I'm still pretty disappointed at the lack of increase. The doctor recommeded that I increase my dom dosage to 120mg 2 days ago. The doctor said that she would expect to see an increase in production in about a week so I guess we'll see.

Have you looked into buying a pump? Most insurance will cover it with the new healthcare laws. It may not be as good as a hospital grade, but I liked my PIS.

I would not be surprised if she is getting more than you think. It is really hard to tell. Have you ever tried weighing her before and after?
Jennifer