Yay for good customer service

Still struggling with the pump. Just not getting the production I was a few weeks ago. So I decided to replace all the flanges and valves, but I haven't seen or felt a difference. :(

So today I placed a call to Ameda, in a last ditch effort to diagnose a problem I'm still hoping is the machine's and not mine. Jodi the customer service agent was quick to help me identify that my motor is likely going bad prematurely: sometimes it won't turn off completely in "off" position, the suction feels different than it used to, and occasionally the motor runs in short, pathetic little whiny cycles even when it's turned up half-way. Jodi says my machine should definitely be working better than it is after only using it three days a week since August.

So Ameda is shipping me a new motor in a day or so, and they want the old one back for a look-see. No questions asked, and a pleasant conversation on the phone, to boot!

I did think, as I waited on hold and my pump hruumph-hruuuumphed along, how many moms must call the company as they are pumping, because that's when the issues are top of mind and that's one of the few calm windows in a day where such attention can be focused and action achieved. So I bed Jodi hears a lot of pumps in a day's work.

Keep your fingers crossed for me and my new motor.

Because the paltry eight ounces I got over four pumping sessions today just isn't going to cut it for my Chicken-chunk. And it's really frustrating for me to spend all that time pumping, massaging, hoping, squeezing, jiggling, worrying -- for such a small reward.

Oh, and on the biting front, we may be making progress. Only one bite after my post from last week, and I tried the react-loudly-ending-the-feeding-and-walking-away approach. Which was met with wailing disapproval from my son, of course, but he may be getting the message.