breast pump no longer pumping (?)

[schomer]

Hi, my wife's Medela electric breast pump doesn't seem to be pumping much milk at all. Baby is feeding just fine. Anyone know if these pumps can have problems? I'm thinking of taking it back to see if I can get it exchanged for a new one.

[ksummy]

How old is the baby? Has the baby started eating any solid foods? Once my infant started on some solids, my milk supply decreased. Breastfeeding is a supply and demand effect and it may be that the baby is not needing as much milk, so now the mother is not producing as much.

[schomer]

Well, I think you said it. I think her milk supply is decreasing. We visited the pediatrician recently and found that our baby actually lost half a pound since his last checkup. This was his six month checkup. The doctor said it's nothing to worry about. We've started some of the solid foods (cereal and fruits) since then, so the need for having a backup supply of breast milk isn't as great as it used to be. Until I had heard our baby lost weight, I was thinking it was the pump...

Thanks for your reply!

Todd