A mom of a 6 month old baby contacted my tonight saying that since returning
to work she has been pumping, but has not been able to effectively let down
for the pump.  She says that she has pumped for as long as 25 minutes at a
time without let down.  She is able to pump off her foremilk, but never gets
to hindmilk.  She says it is almost clear and she only gets about an ounce.
She doesn't feel the letdown.  She says she has tried everything she can to
relax and feels relaxed, but still no letdown.  She was away from her baby
for two days a couple of weeks ago and only pumped 10 ounces in the two days
and that included an overnight.  She felt pretty engorged the whole time she
was away.  She has been massaging her breasts while she pumps.  She said it
also seems to be taking a long time to letdown when she is nursing her baby,
but for him she does eventually let down.  As it stands now, she has stopped
pumping while she is away from him at work and is just nursing him when they
are together.  She has been supplementing with formula since she returned to
work in January.  He still does get some EBM because she pumps when she
nurses him and he just nurses on one side.

I really did not have any advice for this mom other than to relax and to
massage while she is pumping.  That isn't working for her.  Please send me
your thoughts.

Oh, one other thing.  I considered that it might be a supply problem, but
she said that she can increase her supply pretty easily by drinkink mother's
milk tea, but she feels like it is pointless because then her supply
decreases again when she can't pump out her milk.

Thanks in advance,

Alexis

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