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r/HumansPumpingMilk•
badradley

How do I tell if my breasts are empty?

I’m new to breastfeeding and even newer to pumping. My baby is just about a month old and I’ve been pumping for a week (and supplementing with formula) to help combat jaundice and poor weight gain. Baby’s been doing great, but it’s got me questioning my supply.

I am pumping each time the baby feeds, so every three to four hours even through the night. I average about 1.5 oz total with each pump session. I’ve been using a Willow Go, although I replicated the same results with my Spectra.

Ideally, I’d like to stop supplementing with formula and mostly give my baby pumped breast milk and nurse on occasion. But my supply isn’t enough yet.

So my question is this: how do I tell if the pump is emptying my breasts? Not to be graphic but I can still hand-express like a water gun 🔫 after pumping. The other night I hand expressed half an ounce after pumping and only stopped because it was uncomfortable. I don’t think I’ve ever been engorged but they do feel more full if I haven’t fed recently. So how do you know?

I’m drinking about 90oz of water a day. I’m drinking body armor and having a smoothie with coconut water. I’m doing my best to eat healthy, but there are a lot of granola bars going on. I have properly sized flanges (as of yesterday). I’m not very comfortable taking supplements. Do I just need to be patient?

Thanks in advance :)

Posted Jul 29, 2022, 3:56 PM UTC

87
lemurattacks•

  1. Your fluid intake is excellent. I'm almost 9 months pp and my fluid intake is similar to yours (90oz water, body armor, and coconut water). Keep it up!

  2. How do you know you're empty? I'm sure there are other ways to tell but I'm able to tell because my breasts no longer feel full and are no longer releasing milk during pumping. When I first started pumping i pumped for 15kin, took a 10min break, and pumped for another 15 this is how I was able to fully empty. Now, I'm able to pump to empty in 20min. If you were able to hand express half an ounce after pumping then you did not empty the breast.

  3. How much you pump each time/how often you are pumping. I was told to think of the breast as a factory rather than a warehouse, it produces what is demanded. If you are exclusively pumping try to pump every 2.5-3 hours, if you are closer to four sometimes that's okay but if you are frequently doing every four you are not demanding your supply increase.

  4. I can't tell if you are nursing and pumping. Are you pumping after you nurse or exclusively pumping? If you are doing both then it sounds like LO might be struggling to empty the breast (which could result in a variety of factors).

  5. If you are able, I think finding a lactation consultant would be beneficial to you. Some insurances cover this, mine did. They can help you understand if you still need to supplement with formula (may not have to due to weight gain but idk), help you with how long you should be pumping, if you're pumping effectively, etc. My LC saved my breastfeeding journey and I always recommend if it is in the parent's ability.

I hope this helps or others have good advice as well!

5
badradleyOP•

Thanks for such a detailed response!

I’m worried that my supply isn’t increasing because I’m not emptying the breast. I’ve been mostly using the Willow Go which runs through a 25 minute cycle- two minutes massage followed by expression. I feel like I stop producing milk around the 15/20 minute mark. I’ll try pumping a little more often than he’s eating and see if that encourages things to increase.

I’ll let baby nurse sometimes after I pump or between feeds if he’s still acting hungry. I pump less on the breast he’s nursed on afterwards. When I was only nursing he was having trouble gaining weight and clearing his jaundice so I wasn’t sure it was a supply issue or a milk transfer issue, so that’s what got me started pumping. I’d like to still be able to nurse (it’s convenient!) while primarily pumping.

My pediatrician said I could stop supplementing from a jaundice perspective, but he’ll eat 3 or 4 oz at a time so I need to get my supply up before I can keep up with that.

I’ll look into the LC, thanks!

1
BureaucratGrade99•

Are you pumping for a set number of minutes, or until you stop seeing milk come out? I had better luck with longer pumps and middle of the road settings. Are you going back and forth on your Spectra between massage and express?

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badradleyOP•

The willow go runs through a 25 minute cycle. Two minutes massage and the rest is expression. Do you think switching back and forth might help? I would say I stop producing milk by the 15/20 minute mark. I pump while bottle feeding so I prefer using the wearable pump and have only used the spectra a handful of times.

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BureaucratGrade99•

I have no personal experience with wearables, but everything I've read seems to say that they're not as powerful, not as good at emptying, and shouldn't be your primary pump if you're EP.

Alternating cycles might help - One side responded way better to massage mode vs. express mode for me.

I fed while pumping too, and had to sit my baby in a bouncer while I pumped + fed.

5
LaGuantanamera•

Yep! I tried using a wearable but it didn't empty me nearly as much as my spectra. Just this morning I pumped 12 oz total with my spectra. Mind you i pumped for almost 40 minutes total. I use the massage mode/the first mode until i have a consistent flow then switch to expression. And once I'm only getting like barely a drop with that I switch back to massage. It's helped me a ton in getting it all out/90% of it. I've also been taking sunflower lecithin from legendairy to help empty the clogs too.

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Kduckulous•

I would echo what others have said about not relying on the willow for EP. The spectra has a wide range of settings between massage and expression mode and different suction levels, as well as frequency in expression mode. People respond differently so it’s worth playing around and figuring out if certain settings give you better results.

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