new mom struggling with pumping

msucollin - 04:56am Nov 29, 2010 EST

Hi All,

My name is Collin, and I'm fairly new to this site. I'd been hanging out in the other section for women on bed rest, but that's no longer an issue since we weren't able to stay pregnant any longer. Our twin boys were born November 16 at just under 30 weeks. They weighed about 3lbs each. Looking through the site, I can see that they were older than a lot of the posts on here. It's been hard for my husband and I to have them in the NICU, but I can't imagine what some of the parents on here must be going through. My prayers are with every single family out there for happy, healthy babies.

Our boys are both very healthy and stable. One is still on the slow flow nasal prongs at room air, and our other guy breathes fine on his own. I received the steroid shots when I first went into labor last month, which have made a tremendous difference.

My problem is with breast feeding, or should I say pumping. I've been told they will let the guys try breast feeding at 34-36 weeks gestational age, depending on how they're doing. That's another 2.5 to 4.5 weeks, and it kills me to say this, but sometimes I wonder if I'll make it that long!

I'm pumping 8 or 9 times a day and doing everything all 5 lactation consultants have told me to do. I'm massaging, drinking tons of water, taking fenugreek, eating oatmeal, pumping at their bedside, everything. Literally... Everything! We're 12 days out and I'm only getting about 8ozs a day. I'm exhausted, my nipples are sore, and I'm completely devastated.

I read breast feeding was hard, and I know that preemies and a c-section can make it harder, but I'm so disappointed that I haven't been able to establish a supply. I know how important it is to breast feed, esp for a premature baby, and it breaks my heart that I can't give them much. I feel like I already failed them by not being able to keep them safely inside of me longer, and now I can't even feed them. I'm crushed.

Has anyone else out there been through this? Did anything help? And if it didn't, how did you get through it? I'm going to ask my doctor to write a prescription for Reglan this week, but I don't know what I'm going to do if that doesn't work either.

Anything would be helpful. I'm desperate.