sounds like you're doing all of the right things. the only thing that came to mind right away was anxiety. if your supply is dropping despite herbs and everything else, then maybe your anxiousness (is that a word?) is affecting your supply. i know from my experience that a few days when i was SUPER stressed at work and worrying about pumping that my supply dropped dramatically. i used my pain-coping techniques from birth, breathing from yoga, and anything else to try to stay calm and focus on siena. a couple of days and my supply was up again.

also, after my 2-day weekend my supply is always at it's highest. is a 5-day week a possibility? or can someone bring you pilar in the middle of the day sometimes? i know these things might not be a possibility, but they would probably help a lot.

one more thing, i always have a picture of siena in front of me when i pump. i even visualize her nursing when milk is flowing like it should.

i hope these things were of help to you, heather. i'm sure other mamas will have more advice as well. just keep doing it, and relax and breathe. much love.

aitche, I can totally empathize with you! I too, had problems pumping enough milk for my little one when I returned to work - It was quite frustrating that I could supply of milk at home, but yet not be able to provide for her while I was away! It's very true that you that a pump is never as efficient as you baby, as you and I both know first hand! Here's my list of suggestions for you, some of which you may already know, or are already doing:

Use a good pump, like a Pump in Style or something similar, because will definitely pump more with a better pump.

I think I saw the method of doing this on kellymom - something like massage like you're doing a self exam, rake your fingertips from the outside the breast to the inside, them bend over, and give the ladies a little shake. I know it sounds totally weird, but it actually does help the let down process. Also, just massaging and squeezing your breasts also helps with the let down while you pump. This, along with the good pump probably helped me the most.

At one LLL meeting, a leader suggested that I pump on one breast while I fed PK on my other breast. I never did it but I'd love to know if it would work, so if you do it, let me know how it worked! It supposedly works well in terms of the let down.

And try to, relax, relax relax! Try to do something fun on your break, or better yet, do something that is baby oriented. I likes to organize my pictures online while I pumped.

there's also a yahoo group called pumpmoms, they be able to help you: groups.yahoo.com/group/PumpMoms/


hang in there, and good luck!