Dear Michael,

could i be that the mother is so stressed about the 'lack of milk' that she
has no let down reflex anymore during pumping?

 i got several calls from women nursing exclusievely, who are trying to
pump a storgae milk for when they are returning to their work. Their
complaint is allways the same: no or hardly any milk.

They expect to pump a whole feed, but do not realise their supply is in
balance with their childs need. So when pumping, they pump only a little
bit. I suggest them to view the pumped milk as 'extra', and that several
extraas makes one feed.. If they would pump instead of a nursing session,
as they will after return to their job, they will nurse 'whole feedings'.
Usually they are relieved to hear this, and after a while the amount they
pump increases a bit.

They only need to pump once a day, usually in the morning.

I would suggest you to read Jim, Akre's "infant feeding; the physiological
basis", a book of the WHO. It is a small book, with very much information
in it, including the influence of the mother's diet on the composition and
the quantity of her milk. Her diet is not as important as we seem to think.

regards,

Annelies Bon
Lay counsellor of the Dutch bf organization "Borstvoeding Natuurlijk"
Breastfeeding resources http://utopia.knoware.nl.users/abon/bfbronnen.htm

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