I suck at pumping!

[ChelseaWantsOut]

But I'm pretty good at punning unintentionally.

I have an Ameda Purely Yours and I can only get tiny drops!  I tried for ten minutes last night and seriously got a negligible amount - like less than half an ounce!  Is it possible I could get more with a different pump?  Am I doing it wrong?  Am I just not producing enough milk?  

My babe (almost 4 months) is following the 10th percentile curve on the CDC growth chart for weight, which in and of itself is a little worrying to me, since breastfed babes are supposed to gain more in the early months.  He nurses all the time, like every hour minimum, sometimes for 10-15 minutes, sometimes for 2.  I frequently hear/see him actually drinking and swallowing, he pees plenty and poops once a day or so.

I wanted to pump to even out my production since the babe prefers the left breast, so I tried it and then got worried.  I tried the left breast, too, and same thing: drip...drip...drip...and eventually nothing.  The pump is a hand-me-down from my SIL, could that be the problem?  I have very small breasts, is that relevant?  Just throwing stuff out there.

Thanks for reading this.

[Anna Phor]

Did you pump to replace a feeding or did you pump between feedings? If the latter, you might not get much at all--your body is used to the amount of nursing baby does and might not have any extra milk for the pump right now.

Here are a few strategies that might help you get more, if you are looking to build a stash to store:

Pump first thing in the morning after waking up--you have more milk then

Try compressing the breast tissue as you pump

Follow up pumping with hand expression--the pump doesn't get all the milk out, typically.

I'm not familiar with that brand of pump, but could some of the parts have worn out?

[ChelseaWantsOut]

Between feedings, so maybe that's it.  I will definitely try the things you suggested.  Thank you so much!

[Quinalla]

Yeah, that sounds very normal for a between feedings pump. Definitely try in the morning, that always helped me! And pump motors don't last forever, so that can be an issue if your SIL used it a lot, but my guess is between feeding pumping is causing most of it. And fit of the flanges does make a difference, are you getting a solid fit? And you may want to look at replacing the rubber parts (very inexpensive) if you didn't already as those do wear out pretty fast. You also need to find a good suction and cycles levels that works for you, the suction shouldn't painful for sure, but other than that, try different suction levels to see what works. And highest cycles all the time worked best for me, but some find high cycles then slowing cycles down once let-down starts works better for them.