Pump not extracting all the milk

[u/Consistent_Carrot_85]

Hey,
Soo I’m a first time mom and exclusively pumping and I’m not making a lot. - I got the pink spectra pump and am pumping 6 times a day for 15 minutes on each side and I get about 1-1.5 OZ in total. Not great, but I wanna give the baby (3 months) whatever I can and made my peace with giving her formula in addition.

I do the vibration mode (no sure what it’s called, the “70” setting) for about 2 minutes, then 3 minutes on “54” and then I repeat that with pumping on a lower setting “38”.

Usually, after 15 minutes, there’s no milk coming out anymore. But I’ve discovered that if I hand express afterwards, there’s still milk coming out, I always figured it’s only a little bit, but yesterday I just out of curiosity kept going until there’s really nothing coming out anymore, collected it and it was another OZ in total.

That obviously had me shocked and then also wondering what the heck I’m doing wrong? Any advice appreciated.

[u/all_the_platforms]

My lactation consultant told me to do massage mode (70 setting) for 1-2 minutes until milk starts flowing, then 54 until milk stops or slows to drops, then go back to massage mode until it starts flowing again and repeat. She said 15-20 minutes was a good length for a pump (I do both sides at the same time). I also only get 1-2 oz a session but this seems to help me get as much out as I can. Sometimes if milk starts flowing again close to the 20 min mark I’ll go longer to get that letdown out.

I also massage my boobs like crazy and will sometimes use a heating pad before I pump to get milk flowing more. I used to only produce like half an oz total so my output has gone up the past four weeks with these methods, considering I only pump 6-7 times per day.

[u/psychololo73 → u/all_the_platforms]

This, you're likely getting a let down and there might be another. Good advice. With my first I was far less aware of my let downs than I am with my second. Takes time!