Pump Suction

• I use a lower to medium amount of suction. I don't want to damage my breast tissue with too strong and painful suction.
• I start with minimum and move to midpoint. I can't stand the strongest suction.
• I always use the maximum because I am always in a hurry and I don't have a problem with sore nipples.
• My pump had two strengths, and the rest of the strength control was from how long I held my thumb or finger over the hole on each bottle. I usually kept the pump set on strong, and then just held the holes closed long enough to suction the nipple without any pain. With each suck, the milk would squirt, then stop, and it would stop even if I continued to let the pump suck, so I didn't oversuck on a nipple once its squirt had stopped. It definitely would vary from session to session, but also from the beginning to the end of the session, the amount of suction required would change.
• The pump I use has three levels of suction (maybe more, I've never tried anything in between). I start on "minimum" for probably 30 seconds and then go straight to "maximum." If I don't use the maximum setting, I can't pump much.
• I always started on the lowest suction as per the instructions. Sometimes I turned it up to Medium or between Low and Medium once the milk began. I interpreted this to mean that my daughters don't have a very powerful suck. A friend with the same pump began her sessions on Maximum & said that her son had a very strong suck. So it is obviously a personal thing. Another friend told me she could not even handle the Low level of the electric pump. I did find it somewhat uncomfortable, not painful at all, but not something I liked doing. But of course I loved seeing the milk squirt out.
• At first, I started with the lowest suction and would increase to normal during the pumping session. After a month or so, I was always using the highest suction and never changed it.
• Used the low suction for first few months, then would start on low and increase to medium after a few minutes.
• Nah - I don't touch it. I leave it at the lowest and it seems fine.
• Strong enough to get some milk out, but not so strong that I can feel the pull. I believe in comfort. :)
• As strong as I could stand it (per my LC's advice). Usually as hard as it would go. My baby sucked harder. Per her advice also, I lubricated the breast cups with vegetable oil. MUCH more comfortable, and it just wipes off with a paper towel when I'm done. Felt more like my baby and was good for production.
• I started with a medium suction control (with the good pump). I found that worked most of the time. When my daughter (baby 2) got older, I found I wasn't producing as much ... after some brainstorming I decided that my daughter's sucking style had changed (to get a second letdown?) so I varied the suction control to match what I thought she was doing. In this case, I set the suction to low for a few minutes and then set it back up to medium.
• use the highest suction you can tolerate in order to shorten pumping time.