I have already decided to breastfeed my twins, even before they were born. I have a Medela Pump in Style at home, tha t I used when I had my son. I used it during the first few months so that I could have a supply for when I went

Or so I thought.

My milk came 4 days after my twins were born, so before then, I wasn’t worried that I wasn’t getting much milk from my breasts. But after I felt slightly engorged on the 4th day, I knew I was finally going to be able to give my girls breastmilk.

Or so I thought.

Everytime I used the breastpump, I only got less than an ounce (approx. 15ml)  from each breast. After the second day, I knew I had more milk than I was able to pump because my breasts felt full even right after pumping. So what was going on? After 2 days of this, my breasts were starting to hurt. I even went so far as to manually expressed milk after using the pump, in order to get more milk out and relieve some of the pain I was beginning to feel.

On top of the pump somehow not being able to get milk out, it was making my nipples swollen. My nipples looked to be double in size after I pump. It didn’t hurt too badly, and It went back to it’s original size shortly after.

Finally, I’ve had it. I knew that my milk production would lessen considerably if my breasts didn’t get properly emptied, so I had to do something quick. I went online and searched for possible answers. I went to the medela website and found a page about breastshield attachments.

After what I read, I was finally able to diagnose my problem. I was using a breasthield that was too small.  All Medela breastpumps come with a standard 24mm breastshield. This worked for me before, with my son, but somehow my nipples changed after this second pregnancy.  By using a breastshield that was too small, my nipples were getting squeezed so tight, that no milk (or not much) was coming out.            

“A tight breastshield can affect breast emptying and lead to problems with milk supply.  During pumping, your milk flows out of the breast due to a combination of the pump's vacuum and your milk ejection (or let-down) reflex. However, a tightly-fitting breastshield does not allow good breast emptying--even with the best breast pump and a strong milk ejection reflex--because it squeezes the small ducts inside the nipple that carry your milk out of the breast.  Ordinarily, these ducts increase in size when you feel milk ejection so that the milk can flow out of the breasts quickly and easily.  However, if the ducts are squeezed by a tightly-fitting breastshield, some milk stays behind in the breast.  Eventually, this incomplete milk removal can lead to plugged ducts, mastitis, and problems with low milk volume."

                --- excerp from  http://www.medela.com/NewFiles/faq/breastshield_fit.html

By this time, I was so happy I had finally figured out the problem. I was excited to go out and finally buy a correct size breastsheild. Unfortunately, it was a Sunday afternoon and the specialty pharmacy close to me was already closed. The next day I bought a 27mm breastshield. I didn’t know exactly how much larger I should go, but I figure I would just try the next size up and work from there. Fortunately, the 27mm worked great.  I went from pumping less than half an ounce (approx 15ml) per breast to 2 ½ ounces (approx 74ml) per breast. I was happy! My girls could finally get more breastmilk, and I just saved myself from suffering from a bad case of mastitis.

The NICU nurses were amazed at the many viles of breastmilk I brought with me, so I told them of my experience about the pump. They were so surprised and amazed because they had never heard of anyone doubling their milk production just by changing the size of the breastshield that they said they will make sure and pass this on to other mothers in the NICU.

So here I am, sharing my experience with you. Medela breastpumps are one of the best out there, but if you find yourself having a little problem with the amount of milk you’re able to pump, I hope this article has helped you out a little in solving the problem.

http://www.medela.com/NewFiles/brpmpacc.html#personalfit_bs

http://www.medela.com/NewFiles/faq/breastshield_fit.html

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