pumping challenges at ~2 years

[kati_kati]

I still want to pump when I'm at work or away for my 23 month old. My supply is definitely a lot less than it used to be, but he'll drink 8-12 oz of milk in an 8 hr work day. For the last few months I was able to provide at least half of that as pumped milk, the other half cow's milk. Now when I pump I get barely an ounce or two. He nurses plenty when I'm with him, occasionally drinks a couple of ounces of water, so I definitely have milk, it's just not getting pumped out well.

Is it possible that my breast size went down and that I need smaller flanges? I feel like I really have to crank the pump up high (much more than before) and it's still not very effective. My pump sometimes makes weird noises so maybe it's bad too, hard to tell.

Advice?
Thanks!

[belle.h]

I"m not really sure what to suggest, but want to say the you are certainly dedicated! I'm thinking your supply isn't as high. It's great that you want to pump for him at work, but in all honesty, I think I would stop the pumping, and just nurse him when you're with him. To me it would be stressful trying to pump enough, and I always found that I was never able to pump much milk when I was sitting there watching how much came out. Good luck.

[kati_kati]

I know it sounds crazy. I guess I'm motivated to keep going a tiny bit longer for a few reasons: 1) he has some delays and didn't start eating solids until around 17 months and I feel like he still relies on milk a lot. I'm probably being overly "protective" because of the issues we've had, 2) I'm mostly vegan so I'm not terribly keen on cow's milk, even though I gave in on that one a while ago, 3) I'm worried about keeping my supply up if I go for so long without him nursing. There are probably other things too, and hopefully I'll get over all this soon so I can stop worrying about pumping. In the meantime, I'm perplexed why the pump doesn't seem to work as well any more...

[Megan73]

Is it possible your pump is worn out? It hasn't happened to me but I've heard they only really last 1,000 hours or so. You could also need new membranes, or as you said, new well-fitted flanges.
I'm pumping for my 17-month-old and don't plan to stop anytime soon but I really admire your dedication, mama
I also don't pump enough for all my LO's needs during the day but I like to do the best I can, YK? I also think it helps keep my supply up for nursing when we are together since he STTN.

[New_Natural_Mom]

My DS is 21 months and I still pump twice a day at work. My supply is dropping too. He still nurses often at home, but I have no idea how much he is getting. ENough for wet diapers. He does not really drink a lot of water or water/juice blend. Very little actually. We do give him a lot of fruit - hopefully that will help.

We don't do cow's milk here, so I think I might try supplementing again. I probably would stop pumping at work altogether and just nurse in mornings/afternoons/evenings and weekends, but I am afraid he won't drink anything during the day. We already have issues with slow bowels, etc. so I don't want to make it worse.

I replaced the flanges. Sometimes you need to replace the hoses. Maybe my pump has died....not really sure. I'd be irritated though b/c it is expensive.

Curious to see others' experiences.

[kati_kati]

I got the smaller flanges and they are definitely more comfortable but I don't get any more milk. So frustrating! Only about 1 oz total each time I pump. The last thing to try is a different pump... and I suppose if that's the same, I will have to succumb to the fact that my supply has dropped and the pump can't handle it!

New_natural_mom - how much do you get when you pump? And what will you supplement with if you don't do cow's milk? Soy milk? I'm thinking we should try that for more variety.

My DS doesn't take much water when I'm home either (maybe 2oz? or 4oz tops), so he must be getting enough liquid from my milk and from food.

Giving him 1 oz of pumped milk out of 10 oz of cow's milk doesn't seem to be worth the effort... but I'm a little scared to think of stopping to pump. But maybe it won't affect anything at all in terms of my supply?

I guess it's pretty rare to pump for this long, but if there's anyone else out there, please chime in.

[iris777888]

My pump gave out on me around the 17 month mark. It started like you said, making funny noise, then intermittently quit working, then stopped all together. I hand expressed at work for a little longer (which worked surprisingly well), then decided to stop.

DS upped his nursing a bit after I stopped leaving pumped milk for him, taking more before/after work, but did just fine with it. We're vegan (he's got a cow milk sensitivity anyway which is what convinced me to give up the last of the dairy I was consuming) and he gets water, juice, hemp milk, soy milk, rice milk, almond milk, all sorts of alternative beverages. He likes the hemp the best, and it is probably the most nutritious, though expensive.

If you want to stick with it, I'd suggest you look at replacing your pump. Like a PP said, they're only supposed to work for a certain # of hours and they do wear down over time. Any chance you can borrow or rent one just to see if it makes a difference before making the investment?

[Thalia]

I stopped pumping around 18 months, and I don't think it really affected my supply much. But we do almost all of our nursing at night anyway (we bedshare). She nurses to sleep and still nurses several times during the night and early morning.

[bcrn]

The first thing i would do is call the manufacturer and find a local place to check the suction and valves,secondly rent a hospital grade pump for a few weeks it is a much better extracter of milk than the personal use ones. You may need to increase frequency of pumping to stimulate your breasts. Just back to the basics,I hope this helps!

[Fluga]

Dont really have anything helpful to say but wanted to say that it is nice to see that mommies with older nurselings are still pumping. I will be going to work in 2 weeks and my DD is 21 months. As of now she nurses 10+ times a day so I was thinking of trying to pump a bit and see what happens. I'll probably be doing it outside of working hours though.

[MammaFaith]

This is my first post on Mothering!
I am still pumping for my 17 mo (I didn't go back to work until she was just shy of her first birthday, so I didn't pump the first year). I too am vegan and my husband and I avoid giving her food prepared outside the home (so no formula/soymilk supplements). My production has definitely gone down significantly, especially since returning from time off over the holidays. When I first started pumping regularly in August, I was getting about 8 oz/day over 3 pumping sessions at 15-20 minutes each. Now I am down to less than 4 oz per day in the same amount of pumping time. Her pediatrician (a naturopath) said any breastmilk she gets is better than none and that we do not need to supplement with other milk. Granted the doc knows what health nuts we are and how dedicated we are to feeding our daughter right (and she is radiantly healthy as a result). My daughter *loves* water - has since she first tried it at 6 months, but I don't think it's from thirst or a reflection of low milk production because she was 75th %ile in weight until she started crawling and is still 75th %ile in height. But we can't count wet diapers to determine if she's getting enough milk.

She nurses to go to sleep and 2-3 times more during the night/before I leave for work the next morning. On the weekends, she generally only nurses to go down for her 1-2 naps plus night nursing - except lately with teething, she's been nursing more for comfort. I don't know that she's getting more milk from nursing during the day, but I do feel for my husband (a SAHD) b/c he can't nurse her and she doesn't get the same comfort from the bottle as from nursing when teething is really bothering her. :-/

Anyway, nice to see other dedicated moms out there and find solidarity in pumped milk production concerns. I hope I have contributed something positive here.

[kati_kati]

Thanks so much for all your replies and ideas, sympathy and support! (Welcome to MDC MamaFaith!) I got access to a hospital grade pump and tried it a couple of times. Same result! I also had to crank it to the highest setting! So I guess the conclusion is that my supply is just low. Sounds like other people are getting similar amounts of milk at this late stage. My pump is probably dying too, but when I crank it high the funny noises don't sound as bad (drowned out by the noise?), and I guess it'll hold out a little while longer. Not sure how much longer I will do this. I don't really have the time to pump more than once at work so I will have to gradually accept the low output and may stop when I feel like DS will be ok with that.

Keep up the great pumping everyone!!

[New_Natural_Mom]

Sorry, I didn't get back to this thread. I can get anywhere from 1.5 ounces to 3.5 ounces a session. I am not sure why the fluctuation. I just noticed this weekend my breasts seem to have finally shrank back to pre-pregnancy size . I was sure hoping I would keep the nice new ladies. Anyway, I wonder what would happen if I stopped pumping and just nursed when we are together....I don't want to lose the supply all together and make sure he gets enough. He really won't drink anything else, or much of anything else. He likes pure organic apple juice in boxes (which we only give in emergency situations).

We tried hemp milk and that went over like a lead balloon. I don't want to do rice/soy/cow milk and I don't know about almond milk...(don't know the rules for kids and nuts.) Sometimes he will drink water, but I really need him to drink more liquids. That being said, pre-pregnancy I was NEVER thirsty and could go a whole day on 32 oz or less.