The saga continues...

My son was born 2/28 via C-section in which I had a C-Hyst after. Anyways…

In the hospital (2/28-3/4) the LC measured my right nipple and said I measured 15mm. Okay. The hospital electric pump was Ameda (so?) and she gave me a 22.5mm flange.

At home I have a Medela In Style. I’ve been messing with flanges. I’ve used 21mm, 19mm and 17mm.

When I left the hospital they gave me all the pump parts and a hand pump to go with them. I’ve been trying desperately to pump. The most I’ve gotten is 14mL using the 21mm. The past couple of days it’s been going down. Today at two pumps using the 19mm for one and 17mm for another time. Each time I’ve gotten drops or a couple mL from the right and nothing from the left but that side had felt firmer. So I’ve hand expressed and barely gotten any more than drops.

So I got out the hand pump and the parts the hospital gave me. Using the hand pump and in just a couple minutes I got over 15mL from the left side. That was with the 22.5mm flange. I got less from the right side but I got a total of 30mL from both sides!!!! Plus the 2mL I got from the right side using the Medela I got a total of 32mL!!

So why is the hand pump working better for me than the electric? Also the flange size. I have short and flat nipples. I’ve never been more confused in this journey. 😅

First photo is after 20 minutes on the electric pump and the second is using the hand pump. I’ve never gotten that much from the large flanges on the electric pump.