manual express vs electric pump

[dumbocarebear]

mummies, need your advise...

I'm now trying to use the avert single electric pump.. but it seems to be less effective than me trying to express it manually (using my hands to squeeze the milk)...

im wondering if I continue to manually express, will it affect my milk flow as compared to the pump...??
I have to massage my whole breast when manually express to have the flow... as compared to the pump only stimulating the nipple...

TIA!

 

[PinkDiamonds]

You might want to massage your breast while using the electric pump to stimulate milk expression. Also when electric pump it may take a few times of pumping to know what type of setting is best for you.

 

[lyra]

Does it take very long for you to manually express? Actually I believe manual expression is better. Like you say, massaging and stimulating the breasts instead of just the nipple. I use Avent pump too but I gave up the electric coz its so mah fan, have to pluck in electricity and its heavy. The manual one is just right for me. I have fast milk flow so I can pump out a good amount pretty fast. You can try using the manual function of the Avent pump. Works better for me. Anyway, the electric motor was spoilt in about a month after I use it. haha

 

[dumbocarebear]

I have been massaging my breasts while using the pump....
it took me bout 30-40 mins manual express to get the 30ml....

is this consider low? considering that I gave birth a week ago le..
had been getting baby to latch on, pump a few times trying to keep the milk flow going, but yest he got diagnosed with high level of jaundice, so now mummy got to keep pump milk to bring to hospital....

lyra: mine avent pump is so noisy now lor... cannot stand it, and going to bring to service center for repair.....

 

[lyra]

[FONT=Arial, Calibri, Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif]If that's only 1 week then the supply is considered good! If i were you, I would stay with baby coz the first few months is crucial for her to learn how to latch. If shes better, you can suntan her or rent phototherapy machine. hope ur baby's jaundice level comes down soon. Total breastfed babies' jaundice takes longer to go down but it eventually will. Mine only goes down when he's ard 1 month. He had phototherapy for 24 hr in hospital, jaundice dropped to 14, we brought him home, suntan every day and breastfeed regularly. It's heart breaking to see him so yellowish but dun give up breastfeeding. It's for their long term health.[/FONT]

I have been massaging my breasts while using the pump....
it took me bout 30-40 mins manual express to get the 30ml....

is this consider low? considering that I gave birth a week ago le..
had been getting baby to latch on, pump a few times trying to keep the milk flow going, but yest he got diagnosed with high level of jaundice, so now mummy got to keep pump milk to bring to hospital....

lyra: mine avent pump is so noisy now lor... cannot stand it, and going to bring to service center for repair.....

 

[dumbocarebear]

went to see my baby today, and his jaundice has dropped to level 14.. doc advised to stay for one more day... they only allow discharge if the level is lower than 10...

I tried to latch him on juz now, but he so sleepy until I couldn't wake him up...
after 30mins of disturbance and coincidentally its his feeding time, den he woke up but doesn't want to latch on...

and now my avent pump is giving me so much prob...
manual express is so tiring...

so so stress now....

 

[dumbocarebear]

went to see my baby today, and his jaundice has dropped to level 14.. doc advised to stay for one more day... they only allow discharge if the level is lower than 10...

I tried to latch him on just now, but he so sleepy until I couldn't wake him up...
after 30mins of disturbance and coincidentally its his feeding time, then he woke up but doesn't want to latch on...

and now my avent pump is giving me so much prob...
manual express is so tiring...

so so stress now....

 

[lyra]

Hi mummy, I PMed u. Jia you! Dun give up!

went to see my baby today, and his jaundice has dropped to level 14.. doc advised to stay for one more day... they only allow discharge if the level is lower than 10...

I tried to latch him on just now, but he so sleepy until I couldn't wake him up...
after 30mins of disturbance and coincidentally its his feeding time, then he woke up but doesn't want to latch on...

and now my avent pump is giving me so much prob...
manual express is so tiring...

so so stress now....

 

[verieying]

Hi dumbocarebear,

understand how u feel... at least u try to latch bb, I bottle fed my DS after I had to monitor his feed intake to flush out bilirubin and when I tried latching again, he ok at times but rejects it at times, I am still trying to upmy supply which is on,y 60ml 3 or 4 hrly fr electric pump - after pumping for a month! pathetic vol. but still trying...

I find that my avert manual pump empties my breasts better but pump till hand hurts since both sides takes me 1 hr! so much better w Medela electric dual pump but just doesn't e pry as well as my manual one.

Jia you, feel free to get support and help here as there are lots of nice mummies around!

 

[dumbocarebear]

verieying,
now that my baby is home, but when he is charged from hospital for jaundice, his level was at 9.
so me now also got to bottle feed him to track the feeding... ensuring he got enough to eat..

also dunno if it's bcoz of the jaundice, he seem to be sleepy and also lazy to latch on after being bottle fed in hospital....

it's taking me more than hour to feed him !!!!

 

[MistyQq]

Hi dumbocarebear,

Initially I had the same issue as u..I also used avert pump & in the end found manual pump faster but very stressing coz every time I only managed to pump btw 20-40ml in like 1.5hrs that my hands r so suan! Then my confinement lady was like looking down on me that I only managed to pump so little in my first week till now, I totally agree manual express is v stressing n tiring!! I really feel like giving up breast feeding after my confinement period ( I'm currently at end of 2nd week liao).

As for ur bb jaundice, it is normal that he will feel sleepy n juz keep sleeping.. So it's really gona take u a longer time to feed him. But hang on there!! Once he's okay, u can slowly have him latched & continue ur breast feeding ya

 

[dumbocarebear]

mistyQq

the feeling when the confinement lady say so little, really feel so demoralizing right?
but yet that's the fact, and till now i haven't been able to increase the volume.. still stuck at 30ml... even though if i pump at 2 hrly or 3 hrly... still the same...

the manual expressing made me super tired, especially the hands, arm and shoulder!

seeing the volume so little now, is still making me hesitate to give up on breastfeeding too...
but for the sake of my little one, i'm still hanging on...

my baby is now 12 days old now...
the confinement part is killing me more than the 9 months pregnancy period...

the jaundice seems to be alot better now le..
but just that got to keep feeding him, making sure that he pass motion and urine...

i din really let him latch on now, because he seems to keep fall asleep... and its making me more tiring than pumping out...
am i a bad mummy of not letting him latch on?
bcoz after he latch on, i'll still have to pump out the remaining to keep up the volume and also to make formula milk for him, if not he keep crying for hunger....

 

[lyra]

Hi mistyQq, dun give up! Breastfeeding gets much easier and enjoyable as baby gets older. If you give up now, you might regret it later as its difficult to do relactation. The difficulty peaks at 3rd week IMO coz baby will have evening fussiness but the fussiness decreases by 3rd month and now at 4.5month, my baby has no evening fussiness anymore.

Persists with breastfeeding and you'll reap the benefits as well as your baby. Breastfed babies are really very healthy. My baby recover from cold very quickly and he didn't take any medicine. I took medicine safe for breastfeeding and I passed him the antibodies as I feed him. He recovered before I did! I also pumped out around the same amount and at 2nd week, 40ml,is very enough. Confinement ladies like to snatch bb away and feed them additional formula after bf but that's not gd for baby coz baby's stomach is very small, he dun need that much. He will seem like hungry and gulp down the formula but actually very young babies will just gulp down whatever u give him, it doesn't mean he needs that much. Moreover confinement ladies feed baby so much formula so that babies will sleep longer and they have more time to do other stuff. This is in their benefit but not to babies' benefit coz babies are supposed to wake up for milk and attention. This is nature's way to ensure babies' survival. Babies on formula r heavier but not necessarily healthier but we aim to give our babies best of health. Dun let the confinement lady bully you into giving up breastfeeding or sabotage your milk supply by filing baby with formula and decreasing baby's latching time. Baby need to latch to keep the supply up. Tell the confinement lady you have enough milk and dun allow her to watch you pump and feed. That's what I did though it's my mil who helped me did confinement.

Hi dumbocarebear,

Initially I had the same issue as u..I also used avert pump & in the end found manual pump faster but very stressing coz every time I only managed to pump btw 20-40ml in like 1.5hrs that my hands r so suan! Then my confinement lady was like looking down on me that I only managed to pump so little in my first week till now, I totally agree manual express is v stressing n tiring!! I really feel like giving up breast feeding after my confinement period ( I'm currently at end of 2nd week liao).

As for ur bb jaundice, it is normal that he will feel sleepy n juz keep sleeping.. So it's really gona take u a longer time to feed him. But hang on there!! Once he's okay, u can slowly have him latched & continue ur breast feeding ya

 

[MistyQq]

Dumbocarebear!

I totally same feeling as whatever as u had say!! Except tat my bb doesn't have jaundice probably become the confinement lady took gd care of her in the beginning. You had confinement lady too? My confinement lady is gd tat she put bb first interests at heart, that's y when I dont pump enuf she will say those comments (& really though it was juz a few comments, it was enuf to make me cry lor)

Till now i also manual express everyday tat my hands arm & shoulders aching!!! Told my hubby dunno how long I can hang on, now hanging on more to the pressure of the nanny. I also agree that this confinement period is much worse than preg period, really killing me each day & I'm juz counting dw my way dw..

Actually I rather juz do the pumping then feed my bb coz tat way can monitor her intake and becoz I pump every 3hrs, if in btw i let her latch, then later my pump will b harder & lesser which will somehow demoralize me again lor...but it's my nanny tat will ask me have her latch on. To let bb latch ppl say will increase milk supply coz they help pull while sucking and also have a closer bond lor..but now I rather juz pump so to ensure the amt of milk I can produce each time is more or less sufficient for her..


Hi Lyra,

I also hope breast feeding was much easier but it's really demoralizing that i have to pump so hard everyday making sure I pump every 3 hrs and squeezing all the milk I have but still not enough to feed my bb. Now dont know if its the pressure from my nanny that I feel stressed doing the same routine everyday and always before pumping afraid of the amount of milk I can pump already.

Will see how when my nanny is gone after my confinement, perhaps in a more relaxed mood I can still breastfeed at least without any pressure and if bb really not enough to eat then give her formula, but it's really the confinement period now that's killing me... Sobz..

 

[Jode]

Hi Dumbocarebear and mistyQq

Dont give up breastfeeding. Hang in there!

IMO, its not a good idea to pump now. You are just demoralizing yourself by looking at the amount of milk you are able to express out. Baby is able to extract more milk when you latch on, so you dont have to worry that she's not taking enough. There is no need to monitor how much she drinks. Your baby will know. As long as there is 6 to 8 wet diapers in a day, you should not be too worried. Also, the best way to increase milk supply is to latch baby on - especially during growth spurts. (If you keep pumping, you will tend to miss this useful period...)
Moreover, when you latch baby on, you can rest more. You can feed her lying down, and you can rest at the same time. No need to wash bottles and pump parts..

My baby also had jaundice, and she is a very sleepy baby. Have to keep waking her up to feed. So thats very normal.

Like Lyra says, breastfeeding will only get easier.. so hang in there! Start to latch your baby, cos this is a skill that both mummy and baby have to learn together.. better to start now than later.

I enjoy spending a private half hour with my baby when I nurse her.. its a wonderful feeling.. and its only you who can have this bond with your baby.. take advantage of that!

 

[dumbocarebear]

Hi Jode

if i tried to latch my baby, i'll take nearly an hour! because he keep fell asleep in between...
and also, those irritating people (the nanny, my mum) will keep knock on the door and ask if i'm done...

then worse off is, after spending an hour, my baby still doesn't seem full and still keep crying..
that made me so demoralizing.. that's why i used pump to ensure that he is well fed....

haiz....
not producing enough milk for my baby at day 13 still....

 

[lyra]

I agree with Jode. stop pumping, just latch on and stop supplementing with formula milk. Imo, this is the only way to be successful at breastfeeding. Babies cry may mean many other things, not because they r hungry. My baby took more than an hour to latch n feed at first too but the hardwork and perseverence will pay off. If u need reassurance, check whether baby is wetting 6-8 diapers and whether he is gaining weight.

 

[Jode]

Hey Dumbocarebear

This is what I did to wake my sleepy baby up while feeding:
- ensure that baby is latched on properly
- tickle baby's chin if it did not move in the last 3 mins
- take a deep breath or heave my chest if baby still did not suckle after tickling her chin (this is to disturb/move her a bit)
- stroke her hair
- tickle her feet
- if all the above fails to wake her, i will un-latch her and remove her swaddle cloth, stick my hand into her shirt and rub her chest
this will usually wake my baby.. and will latch her again.. and the cycle continues... =)

I must admit that this does not always work. As in, there are times when I will give up waking the baby. But I will monitor her and she will cry for milk sooner than usual. So, just feed on demand.

Also, there are babies, especially newborns, who feeds every 2-hourly. So, if baby cries for milk sooner than expected may not mean that mummy does not have enough milk. It could just mean that baby has a small stomach and cannot take in much milk at 1 go.

All mummies will have enough milk for their babies. Always believe in that. You got to change your mindset. Having enough milk or not is not determined by how many ml you can express out. Rather, it is indicated by how many wet diapers and baby's weight gain.

Jia You! =)

 

[maru]

please dun give up breastfeeding , my supply at initial stage also very low ... and my baby jaundice level when she 1 week is 28 .. heartpain .... but i keep give her breastmilk ( i use manual pump to express out ) .. in a week time her jaundice level drop to level 8 ..

to increase the supply, i consume fenugreek ( can find at guardian or gnc ) and drink fish soup every day ... it works on me

my baby now 15 weeks and exclusively breast milk. as i m a working mother, i totally express out for her ...

jia you ..... breastmilk is the best for baby ...

 

[pretty mum]

its on you, if whats the best fitting for you :0