Case Study | Milkbar Breast Pump builds back decreased supply

First-time mum, Laura, welcomed her daughter to the world two months earlier than expected. What followed for their family was two months in NICU and a further three weeks in pediatrics, meaning that Laura’s journey with expressing unexpectedly started from day one. Laura’s daughter was also a tube-fed baby for the first six months of her life, which influenced Laura’s decision to continue expressing when they were finally able to head home.

Initially Laura was using a breast pump provided by the hospital, and was actually achieving an oversupply of breastmilk - even expressing up to three litres a day. However, once her period returned, she noticed that, month on month, her supply was decreasing dramatically. The week before her period, her supply would drop, and Laura found herself pumping to order, worrying about whether she’d have enough to feed her daughter.

“I did a lot of research on breast pumps and wanted to take my time to decide on what was right. I tried the Medela pump, both Unimom pumps, and a number of others through the hospital, but my supply was continuing to drop. It was then I discovered Milkbar, and it just had so many positive reviews about increasing supply. It was my last shot”, Laura says.

“I messaged Laura (from Milkbar) with questions, and she was quite phenomenal. I was in the midst of moving house, and was quite stressed at the time, but she was flawless. She went above and beyond to help me, and the breast pump was couriered to me overnight.”

Laura started using the Milkbar Advanced Flow Double Electric Breast Pump, and soon noticed her supply wasn’t dropping at all. After around two weeks, her supply started to increase, and she had the freedom to start dropping the number of times she was expressing a day - from around 10 times, down to 6-8 times a day.

“No other pump came close to what Milkbar was able to do. It was the only machine that was able to help me maintain consistent supply. This has to come down to the way the pump works. It mimics the way a baby breastfeeds, massaging the nipple to actually draw the milk out”, Laura explains. “The battery lasts for ages, it’s portable, and far more comfortable than any others I had tried.”

Because she was expressing so frequently, Laura decided to try the Milkbar Air Flow Suction Kit. “I started using it because I was doing a lot of expressing lying down - in particular, every three hours overnight. I would sometimes fall asleep and spill milk. The Air Flow cap meant I could lie back and just express without having to worry about that.”

Although Laura’s journey with expressing has ended, as her daughter decided at 15 months that she no longer wanted a bottle, she was able to continue to express for around 9 months longer than anticipated thanks to the Milkbar breast pump.

Her advice to anyone else considering buying a breast pump? “If you’re planning on expressing full or part time, make the investment in a Milkbar right from the start. And stick with the process - people tend to give up on pumps quickly, but it’s so worth it to give your baby this nourishment.”