How do you know you're empty?
Hi all, I'm honestly just trying to figure some things out. I'm almost 3 weeks pp, and maybe I'm just not as observant, but I don't understand how to tell the difference between letdown and the rest of the pump, or when I'm empty. I use the willow 360 and I'm getting enough out to feed baby exclusively breastmilk, but I really just can't tell when I'm empty without watching the app for when the number stops going up, and it doesn't feel any different really. Breastfeeding was a world of pain and my lactation consultant wants me to keep trying but I've been exclusively pumping since day 5 pretty much due to how much pain latching is causing me. He's got a lip tie and gives me blood blisters so not great. I've also been massively suffering from clogged ducts and nipple thrush already, so it's been a wild ride of things going wrong at every turn. Some pumps I get a solid 2-3 oz out of each boob, and then others I'll get .5 oz from one and I don't understand why my supply is so inconsistent throughout the day. I pump for 20-25 minutes every pump purely because I dont know how to tell when I'm empty, and every time I get a low pump I feel like everything is going to come crashing down and I wont get another good pump. The longest I go between pumps is 4-5 hours when baby gets a good stretch of sleep, but the rest of the day is every 2-3 hours. I also don't really feel a difference between the beginning and the end of my pump, and I have a hard time explaining to the LC the types of pain I experience. She'll ask if it's stabbing, burning, pinching, etc and I'm just here like idk it hurts. I'm working on managing my anxiety after giving birth, but being my baby's food supply feels like a constant uphill battle where I'm so scared if I don't do this perfectly then I won't be able to feed him. I'm doing my best to chug water and keep up with eating, but I honestly just don't feel thirsty or hungry which is its own battle because I know I have to keep up with that if I want to keep up my supply. Any tips you guys have would be greatly appreciated, because I'm stressing so much about this and I doubt the stress is helping anything.