Pumping Help - Feeling letdown but no milk in bottles

[divajane]

Lurker here, in need of some help with pumping. My daughter is almost 7 weeks old, exclusively BF when I am with her.  So far she has been gaining weight fine, was 7.1 at birth and 10.3 at her 1 month appointment.  No problems nursing, she is satisfied after a nursing session and having the appropriate number of wet/dirty diapers.

I went back to work last Wednesday and am having trouble with pumping.  With both of my other children I had an oversupply, so I was getting 8-10oz (total) in my morning session, and then 4-5oz (total) from my lunch and afternoon sessions.  Last week I was able to get 5-6oz in my morning session, and 2-3oz in my lunch/afternoon pumping sessions, so less than what I was used to before, but I figured it would increase.  This morning when I pumped I only got 1oz total, and I am starting to freak out!

I am using a Medela freestyle pump, I used it with my last baby but bought new tubing and valves.  I am pumping for minimum of 20 minutes, although last week it was more like 30-60 minutes to get those amounts.  No matter how long I pump, I never seem to empty my breasts, there is always still drops of milk coming out.  I am also having an issue where I can feel my milk letting down, sometimes see drops on my nipples, but nothing comes out/flows into the bottles.

Any ideas what might be going on here?  I am somewhat blindsided by this issue as I have never had a problem with pumping in the past (pumped for 14 months with DS and 15 months with DD).  I did buy the pumpin' pals breast shields this time around (used the Medela Softfit shields last time and I am so bummed they don't make them anymore), maybe I don't have the correct size?  After the 1oz total this morning I totally broke down and cried, I am so scared that my milk is going to dry up if I am not able to pump!

[Deleted]

Hugs. I'm sorry that's happening. I noticed a dip in supply when I used the Pumpin Pals so I had to stop using them, which sucked because they were so comfortable. I would get the plain Medela shields and see if that makes a difference. Are you massaging your breasts? My Freestyle motor burned out at one point (I was exclusively pumping) so if the shields don't make a difference I would call Medela and they will troubleshoot over the phone. They sent me a brand new pump overnight.

[jennistarr1]

Any war lines from local hospitals to call?

[undecidedowl]

I would look into whether or not the pump is working well. Maybe you could rent one from a local hospital for one week to see if there is a difference. Other than that, just throw all the regular stuff at it- switch shields, drink lots of water, massage, look at pictures/videos of baby to see if you can get back into the pumping groove.

[Deleted]

I bet it's your pump and/or your flanges. My pump motor crapped out after a few months and I called Medela customer service and they were able to verify over the phone. It was past the warranty so they weren't able to replace it for free but it was helpful knowing that the pump was the issue.

Does your insurance cover hospital grade rentals? That might help while waiting for a replacement.

[ringstrue]

To me it sounds like the suction of the pump itself is bad. Something similar happened to me when on mat. leave and all the valves and membranes where fine. I got insurance to cover a new pump and the suction was much better - same model too.

[ringstrue]

IDK if you have seen this store. You just order the pump and it bills your insurance. The transaction doesn't happen if its not covered. I've ordered from them twice now and it was amazingly simple.

yummymummystore.com/