Best Breastfeeding Tip EVER: Power Pumping

The past week has been rife with life lessons for me.  1.) When you plan a romantic weekend away whilst breastfeeding, make darn sure your pump is working well and that you're working well with your pump.  2.) Having not heeded lesson one, when you get home on the brink of mastitis (romantic, I know) and your milk supply is demolished, power pump.  3.) When your toddler, who has a pernicious stomach virus, mentions poop even in passing right before a bath, save the suds for later.

I think lessons one and three are pretty self-explanatory, but I have to share the best breastfeeding/pumping tip I have ever heard during my 20-month (over two babes) breastfeeding tenure.  Let me repeat: ever. 

Three days after returning from said romantic getaway (during which I lost most of my milk because I just couldn't seem to let down for the pump), I called the lactation consultant at the hospital where both my boys were born to see if there was any hope--my poor little guy was hungry and my milk seemed to be dwindling further!  With precipitously plummeting prolactin levels and on the brink of tears (Rants aside, I'm a breastfeeder.  I don't ween until my kids can talk and walk.  Period.), I nodded through all the advice--pump after every feeding, fenugreek supplements, etc., and then she hit on a tidbit so priceless I can't even believe I'd never heard about it before: power pumping.

It's difficult and super time consuming to essentially double your nursing time by pumping after every feeding, particularly if you have an active or sick toddler on your hands in addition to an infant, so when the lc told me about power pumping, I saw light at the end of tunnel and got straight to work.  She told me to pump for ten minutes, rest for ten minutes, on and off, for a total of one hour (of course I did two), to simulate a growth spurt.  The best part: you can do it whenever you have time, so I was able to rebuild my milk supply after my guys were already in bed for the night. 

I power pumped and took fenugreek three nights in a row and saw a huge increase in my milk that I hadn't seen with the fenugreek + sporadic pumping regimen I'd been futilely practicing for most of the week. For three days,Little Lou had been taking full 8 oz bottles at bedtime after 20 frustrating minutes of succor-less suckling.  After the first power pumping session, he nursed for 20 minutes and took 4 ounces.  The second night, he nursed for 20 minutes again and took a 2 ounce top up.  The third night, he nursed 20 minutes and fell fast asleep, milk drunk.

Power pumping would not only be great for re-gaining a lost milk supply, but would also be a stellar way to stockpile milk if you're going back to a paid job or on a trip away from the kiddos.

Power to the pump, mamas!  Let it set you free. (And thanks much to the fab lc at St. Joes!)

- M

 

Comments

[Tegan and Tage]

Awesome suggestion. I wish I had known that a year ago!

[Kate]

funny - i'm at work and pumping while i read this. gee, can you tell i'm typing one handed?

[jayme]

wow, love the pic you chose for this one!

[Shana]

Mol, this is the best tip ever. WHY hadn't we heard this before??? Will keep it in mind for #2. Great pic. Just so very scary.

[Amy]

Thank you, thank you, thank you. The info is in my hip pocket to be taken out when needed...

[Maria]

You might want to consider the Hygiea pump in future. It has a recording button that plays your baby crying, or cooing helps much with letdown. Might have helped your problem with pump letdown,

[Andrea]

Awesome advice, thank you so much. So many women have quit breast feeding because their supplies were dwindling. . . I wonder if this would helped them?

[Shana]

Andrea - I agree! We had latch issues initially, so I spent quite a bit of time at a breast-feeding support group....but power pumping was never mentioned. So strange. Spread the word!!

[Elizabeth]

I just tried this! I remembered reading it when you posted and my baby was born a week ago. She had jaundice and I had to supplement with formula to try to flush out the bilirubin and trying to nurse, feed THEN pump was just too much. My milk was fast drying out and I remembered this tip. I only did it one time and we are back in business :-)

Thank you so much!

[Alisha]

I just read about this. How many times a day is recommended to do the 1 hour power pumping?

[Molly]

You can do it once a day.  I liked doing it after the babies were in bed for the night so I wouldnt be interrupted.  I only had to do it for 3 or 4 days with no problems whatsoever, but a friend who did it longer had trouble and had some bleeding, so pay attention to your bodys signals : )

 

[Lisa]

GREAT tip! I have never heard of this and was just perusing your new layout when I found this under New Here. I am totally going to use this. I need to build up the ol' milk stash. Thanks!

[Molly]

Yeah, I couldn't believe I'd never heard of it, but please do be conscious of your body's needs--one friend had sensitivity/blood in milk after only three sessions, which did not happen to me, but it's good for
people to be aware. Best to you!

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[Bonnie]

Thank you for this. I've been in tears because my supply has suddenly dropped and nothing has worked to bring it back up. I'm going to try power pumping tonight!

[Sara]

Molly, I just read that power pumping is futile unless you are also up pumping at night every 3 hours. Is that what you were doing? Or were you getting a good night's sleep when you made your attempt? Just wondering if it's actually going to work unless I'm up at night also...

[Molly]

I was also nursing 4+ times per day, probably once or twice a night. It worked for me! : )

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