[~Kris~]

For those of you pumping, are you having a harder time lately?

It seems like for the past few weeks I am having a harder time. There's milk there though. I always feed her on the right in the morning and then pump afterwards. I used to be able to get 6+ oz in 15 minutes, then it became 20 minutes...now I'm lucky to get about 5 oz in 30 minutes. Since I use about 3 oz of it for cereal, there's not much extra and I want to be able to start giving her milk in a cup.

Even though I have a big freezer stash, I know that when I stop pumping in the morning, my overall supply throughout the day takes a hit. It was around 7 months with Lukas that I stopped my morning pumping with him, but I had more milk in the freezer than I do this time around. Plus he was eating a lot more solids (abut double) that what Teresa does so I want to make sure my milk supply is good. Even though it seems like a lot of milk, it does get used up quickly it seems once she'd start drinking from a cup.

If I try to get her to eat off the left side too, she usualy ends up spitting up quite a bit.

[TanyaMM]

This is one of the reason's I had to give up nursing. All of a sudden it was like my boobies didn't want to be pumped anymore. I knew I still had milk in there, but the pumping just kinda stopped working. This happened for us around 7 months. I have no idea why this happened though.

I hope maybe for you it's just a spell or something.

I pump. I have never gotten more than 3 oz at a time, from BOTH breasts combined. Guess my breasts just don't respond to pumping. I thought it would be easier with him eating less, but nope!

I use whole milk in Jay's cereal, we've been told this is completely fine, but not as a drink. He does awesome on it with no ill effects.

[Kumii]

Same here, I gave up. I used to pump some for Milan's cereal. I never pumped much, but lately I feel like my supply is dropping. I guess it is not quite what your problem is...

[sassysarah]

My supply seems to be dropping slightly now too. I pump first thing in the morning about an hour before I feed Rachel. I used to get 6 oz in about 8 minutes and then I would stop so I would still have plenty in there to nurse Rachel. Now I get about 4 1/2 oz in 10 minutes. Rachel takes 18 oz while I'm at work and I only get to pump twice at work so I really need my morning pump to make up the difference. At this rate I'll probably have to start giving her one formula bottle every other day or so pretty soon. I have heard other people in the pumping room at work say after about 7 months they started getting less milk when they pumped so it seems to be pretty common.

[Mrs.Mikey]

I am still getting 15-20 oz pumping 3 times/day for 10 min. It depends on how many times he is up and eats at night though- Sunday nights are the worst for some reason and I will pump much less on Mondays (14-15oz)- sorry that isn't much help I suppose....

[The Heather]

I have been having a much harder time letting down. I seem to have to keep switching the pump back to the let down mode.

[~Kris~]

Originally Posted by The Heather

I have been having a much harder time letting down. I seem to have to keep switching the pump back to the let down mode.

That's totally the problem I have. I mean, my boob is rock hard, I know there's a ton of milk in it, it just doesn't want to come out. I even changed my values a few times, but that didn't seem to help. Maybe I will try letting her nurse on that side for a few minutes to get things flowing and then pump.

[TXErinC]

I've noticed a change in the last few weeks too. Letting down takes forever now and when I look down to see how much I've pumped, it is such a small amount, even after 10 minutes.
I've started supplementing again with Mothers milk tea and oatmeal and that seems to be helping some. I know the research shows otherwise, but I can't help but think if I'm barely pumping 5-6 oz, is that all he's getting when he eats?