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Pumping help/questions
I'm sorry if this is completely redundant and know that this stuff has been discussed a bajillion times but I'm asking again anyway.
Ok so LO is just over 3 weeks old and I am EBFing right now. I want to start pumping so DH can give him one bottle at bed time. Our pedi told us to wait to introduce the bottle until he's regained up to his birth weight. We've hit a massive growth spurt this week (he's been attached to my boob for the better part of the last 12 hours) so I believe we will hit this at his next check up on Friday.
So here's the deal. I bought the Medela PISA backpack and have some Lansinoh storage bags that were given to me. But I have literally NO idea where to start. I don't know when to pump, how much to pump or what to do. Can you seasoned pros walk me through your processes?
Many thanks in advance!
Re: Pumping help/questions
I started pumping after the first morning feed, for about 20 minutes. Also, I would sometimes pump when he would take a monster (like 3-4 hour) nap during the day. And you will want to pump when your husband gives the bottle.
I follow the 5/5/5 rule - five hours at room temp, five days in the fridge, five months in the freezer. I think that is probably pretty conservative though.
To begin with...awesome job keeping at it for 3 weeks. Adding pumping to the mix is daunting for everyone but if you take it one step at a time it will start to become second nature (or as second nature as attaching a suckling motor to your body can actually be).
Like pp said, I started with pumping once a day, after the first/second feeding of the day. You can also wait about an hour after a feeding and then pump--just try to stay about an hour before/after nursing sessions to give your body time to "refill" completely.
I also followed Amy#s 5/5/5 which is conservative but easy to remember! If I didnt use the milk within 5 days then Id store it in the freezer and mark it with the day it was pumped. I usually stored milk in 1-2 oz amounts in the beginning while I was figuring out how many oz she drank at one feeding (most newborns take about 2oz of bm at each feeding so thats a place to start). LIke pp said, I think bottles do a much more accurate job of measuring than the bags.
Also, I assume you know this, but dont microwave bm. We usually used really hot tap water in a large mug and put the bottle/bag in it to warm it up. I know people use the actual bottle warmer thingies as well but I never had one.
ps--if your milk separates or is a weird color like blue or green, thats okay. I had a friend who always joked about her one ecto-cooler boob. ;P
This is what I did and it worked perfectly.
I also got tons of great BF/pumping info from kellymom.com
DS 3.12.08
DD 7.11.09
DD 8.01.13
Great job sticking to it for the first few weeks! I feel like the first few weeks are the most difficult and if you can get to where you are you're in good shape!
A few thoughts:
I'll ditto everyone else. Pumping can seem really daunting at first. I personally started doing it one time a day. I liked pumping in the morning about 20-30 minutes AFTER the first feeding.
If you feed on both sides then pump on both sides. You can do it at the same time or if you don't have the free hands, do one side then the other.
Start slow. Remember that bfing is supply and demand. The more you/the baby demand, the more you'll make. While your body responds better to the baby and the baby is more efficient at drawing milk, your body doesn't really know the difference between the pump and the baby. If you're pumping too much you can possibly end up with oversupply which can cause some problems/discomfort for the baby.
This happened to me and I had to stop pumping for a little bit and block feed to balance myself out. There were times I was getting well over 10-14 oz per pumping session.
Also, don't be disturbed if you get small amounts at first - your son has a small stomach still and he probably isn't eating more then 2-3 oz per feed. And it's common for one boob to produce more then the other. My righty is the super boob and my lefty is my milk dud!
Good luck and great job!
Also, I think the general guideline is to pump for a minute or two after it stops flowing.
If you're trying to increase your supply, pump for 10-15 minutes after the milk stops flowing. This signals your body that you need to make more. Do this for a few days and you'll start seeing an increase in your output.
Jess, I e-mailed the Le Leche League with a lot of my questions and got really good answers the next day. Their website has a lot of good info on it
http://www.llli.org/
I also ditto Kellymom.com.
Definitelt. The pump is not indicative of what the baby is taking at all. You are doing great!
Thank you for clarifying. I got uncharacteristically skeeved out by the thought that you were just casually measuring out bm while making pancakes or something. Whew, Im on board for making baby food with bm but for some reason it really threw me to think about making "adult" food that way!
Absolutely! And think of it this way, his stomach is so small right now that your body doesn't need to produce a huge amount. He's probably only eating maybe 2 oz and the baby is way more efficient then the pump.
Good job and glad it's working out!