Questions for those who exclusively pump(ed) | ExpatWoman.com
 

Questions for those who exclusively pump(ed)

378
Posts
EW EXPLORER
Latest post on 06 January 2011 - 10:58

How many times during the day and night do you pump and for how long. Right now I am pumping every three hours day and night. Sometimes I give up a night pump to get some sleep if DD has been giving me a hard time. My question is how long do I need to keep pumping every three hours and when I move to pumping once a night will my supply go down or will I have to pump more during the day?

Also, how much do you pump per day and do you feel it is enough for your LO? Right now I can do anywhere between 100mL to 300 mL per session, whereas DD only takes 50mL to 80mL. Her corrected age is 37 weeks gestation.

At what stages did you find that your LO's demand requirements increased? Did you follow a routine or did you just feed by demand? What did you do about night feeds?

319
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EW EXPLORER
Latest post on 07 January 2011 - 23:28
I wish I could share a secret ladies, but I am afraid I cannot. DS has always been demand fed, so his sleeping through the night, was completely up to him. He did that terrible witching hours routine of being restless and cluster feeding from 4pm - 7pm and then would sleep solidly for 12 hours. He did start waking once at 4.5 months for a feed for a few weeks, and still occassionally does this now at 11 months too. I just think some babies sleep, it is 'luck' to be honest I don't attribute it to anything I did, and I certainly pray my next ones do too!!!!
722
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EW GURU
Latest post on 07 January 2011 - 19:33
Hi lemon drops, I had to pump for a while for ds2, good luck and hang in there! You're doing a great job for jumana....
201
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EW NEWBIE
Latest post on 07 January 2011 - 19:27
Yes i am too impressed with you being able to get DS sleeping through at 6weeks. How much was he taking? DD had 1000mls the other day and still woke up every 4 - 4.5hours at night. Please share your technique.
378
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EW EXPLORER
Latest post on 07 January 2011 - 19:23
Thanks for the replies ladies. I must admit though I'm a bit of a cheater... I'm taking motilium tablets, a side effect of which is that it increases prolactin production and hence milk supply and I'll probably be on them until I decide to stop expressing. I've hired a hospital grade breast pump so it takes about 20 minutes to express and then another five to ten minutes of hand expression after to empty my boobs and that seems to be working for me. TanyaR, I am amazed that you got your DS to sleep through at six weeks... how much was he taking during the day? Another problem is that DD is such a lazy feeder, her suck reflex isn't very well developed so it takes at times over an hour to finish a 60 to 70 mL feed. I'm hoping this will end once she hits full term. Thanks again for the advice.
319
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EW EXPLORER
Latest post on 06 January 2011 - 22:12
Hi LD Just wanted to lend a word of support. I hope all is going okay with your LO. I exclusively expressed for just over 9 months with my DS. I stopped because I was spending too much time doing it, when he needed more attention from me, and I couldn't stand him getting upset when I couldn't go to him when I was stuck expressing. Everyone is different, but it sounds like you have a fantastic milk supply, particularly at this early stage, so you may get away with expressing a reduced number of times a day. Personally, I had a bad supply, that I had to really, really, work at it, so I had to keep up to a very regimented schedule of pumping every 3 hours around the clock for (approx) the 1st 3 months, then every 4 hours for the next 4 months after that, then I managed to just keep on top of it with every 5 hours from there. DS was sleeping through the night (without waking)from 6 weeks, but he drank a huge amount of milk during the day, so I was still up pumping during the night - alot of time on EW had in those days!!! If I tried to increase the times between expressing, my milk supply would rapidly drop off. In fact, it only took about 2 days of not pumping at 9 months for my milk supply to dry up completely. My best advice to you would to definitely invest in a good quality breast pump, that makes it fast and more efficient. I went through 3 avent electric breast pumps through my time, it used to take me a good 45mins per express session to completely empty both boobs - which you really, really want to do a) to keep your supply up and b) to stop you getting any blocked ducts or mastitis etc. If I can offer any help or advice at all, please just say, I am happy to do whatever I can. You are doing a wonderful job!
378
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EW EXPLORER
Latest post on 06 January 2011 - 21:31
LD, you have mail and can remove you address. Are you sure? I didn't get anything yet.
27
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EW NEWBIE
Latest post on 06 January 2011 - 18:59
LD, you have mail and can remove you address.
201
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EW NEWBIE
Latest post on 06 January 2011 - 16:36
Lemondrops, i know what you mean re: having supply scares, i constantly worry about that too. But sounds like you have plenty. It was totally my fault. DD was feeding fine, i decided to pump and feed to do both to allow my helper feed and free up time for me to spend with DD1 who is 2. I use to give her about 2 bottles a day sometimes 3, sometimes none. All of a sudden she was biting on my nipples as she got nipple confusion. i decided to try for a few days to get her back on the breast but my nipples were so cracked and sore that i just couldnt. Was literally in tears trying to feed and also upset at myself for brining it on myself and not feeding her exclusivly. i really struggled emotionally feeling like a failure. At the end of the day i figured she is still getting breast milk and there are plenty of other ways to bond. also i now feel like i have more time for DD1 who i felt was getting neglected. Its crazy how instense mothers guilt can be. Best of luck with your pumping and im sure ill be on here asking more questions as its all new to me too. :)
378
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EW EXPLORER
Latest post on 06 January 2011 - 15:30
Wow first of all 100 - 300mls thats great, and i think you have enough to keep you going for a while. My DD is now nearly 1month, i pump every 3 - 4hours day and night. I feel i get more if i push it out to the 4hours but then the next pump at three there is less, so i have to be really diligent with my pumping to maintain my milk. DD takes 100mls per feed in the day and i give her 120mls for 3 feeds at night to get her to sleep longer which she does. I think that if you continuously drop the pumping for a few days then it will go down gradually, but one here and there it wont matter. Eventually she will drop feeds as she sleeps longer and then your body will follow. We follow a strict wake every 3 hour to feed in the day and let her sleep at night, she is 4 weeks (adjusted age 1week) and she has 7feeds in a 24hour period so approx 800mls. However this is alot and my little porker is now 4.1kgs (put on 1100grams in one month) I feel its enough for her however i am concerned that when she has another growth spurt how will i keep up? Leshell, thanks for that. At least I know I'm good for quantities, although I've already had a couple of supply scares already due to her not feeding off me directly. Do you mind me asking why you decided to pump and feed rather than exclusively breastfed? I'm just curious as whether it's because she was born alittle early. My DD was born premature and the reason why we're pumping is because of her poor suck reflexes.
378
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EW EXPLORER
Latest post on 06 January 2011 - 15:25
Hi Keno, my email is lama dot cookson at gmail dot com, can you drop me a line with your phone number and maybe when I've got a moment to breathe I'll give you a call if that's ok with you? TIA
27
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EW NEWBIE
Latest post on 06 January 2011 - 13:36
LD, I exclusively pumped for 5 months and was totally exhausted and had mastitis three times in the first 9 weeks until a Lactation Consultant helped me to reduce my pumping schedule to about 8 hourly. So, down to three x/day as I was pumping four hourly, feeding alternate 4 hourly, which could take anywhere upto 1.5 hours and then it was time to turn around and pump again do it all again onceI'd done the sterilising etc etc - it was a nightmare, I didn't sleep and was a right mess but didn't now anything different so kept at it as I was dtermined to give my sick bub the very best and have her breastfeed, in the end she breastfed exclusively at 5 months and I continued feeding her until 2 years. I'm happy to talk with you - it's sooooo much to write down here but I've got my whole routine written down somewhere so could look that up. If you want a chat, post me your number or email and I'll let you know when I've picked it up so you can delete. Good luck....
14
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EW NEWBIE
Latest post on 06 January 2011 - 12:52
I exclusively pumped for the first 6 weeks as my boy didnt have a clue how to latch on. i started with about 60 ml which then went to 90at 2 weeks, then 120ml at about 3weeks and stayed around 120-150 per feed every 3-4 hours. In the morning I always got double that even though i expressed once at night, sometimes twice. during the day feeds I tried to latch him on, but never with a result and one day he suddenly did it! but had forgotten by the next feed, gradually he did more and more and I stopped expressing at 3 and a half months. I have the medela freestyle double pump (7 min's pumping and your done). Started with the and held one but it was soooo noisy... I thought i'd invest a bit more money since I was exclusively pumping and get a quieter faster one and It was worth every penny!!! One thing I found while expressing was that I didn't actually notice a change in milk amounts during his growth spurts, he had the same amount, maybe only 1 extra bottle in the day. I did demand feeding so if he seemed hungry I'd give him a bottle from the fridge and once he was done I'd replace that one by expressing so i was always at least 1 feed ahead. I loved that I knew exactly what he had while expressing as you can see the amounts in front of you but breastfeeding you cant so you always worry if they are having enough!! I never would have though I would have been able to breastfeed up till a year by how the year started out, but we managed.
201
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EW NEWBIE
Latest post on 06 January 2011 - 12:36
Wow first of all 100 - 300mls thats great, and i think you have enough to keep you going for a while. My DD is now nearly 1month, i pump every 3 - 4hours day and night. I feel i get more if i push it out to the 4hours but then the next pump at three there is less, so i have to be really diligent with my pumping to maintain my milk. DD takes 100mls per feed in the day and i give her 120mls for 3 feeds at night to get her to sleep longer which she does. I think that if you continuously drop the pumping for a few days then it will go down gradually, but one here and there it wont matter. Eventually she will drop feeds as she sleeps longer and then your body will follow. We follow a strict wake every 3 hour to feed in the day and let her sleep at night, she is 4 weeks (adjusted age 1week) and she has 7feeds in a 24hour period so approx 800mls. However this is alot and my little porker is now 4.1kgs (put on 1100grams in one month) I feel its enough for her however i am concerned that when she has another growth spurt how will i keep up?
208
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EW NEWBIE
Latest post on 06 January 2011 - 12:01
My DD was feeding every 2-3 hours and I pumped mostly straight before I fed her. From a very young age about 6 weeks DD was sleeping for long periods through the night and I wasnt as disciplined as you and slept when she did and I think this was why my milk dropped off and I ended up supplementing with FF. For us this wasnt a bad thing though as her IBS got better and we realised she was intolerant to my milk :) Sorry cant offer more help but I stopped expressing at around 8 weeks.
 
 

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