September 2009 Weddings
Dear Community,
Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Pumping
I think this might have been discussed before, but I can't remember.
Just curious...how much can you pump at each session?
On average, it takes me 10 minutes to get 1 oz. (from one side). I usually only pump one side at a time.
If I'm really full, I might be able to do twice that, but it rarely happens.
My friend who has a 5 month old can pump 6 oz. in 6 minutes. That depresses me! Granted her baby is much older, but still...I feel like I'm never going to get there!
Re: Pumping
If I'd learned one thing it's that when it comes to pumping you can't compare yourself to others. I was exactly like you and I would hear about or talk to other women who could get like 10 oz at one pumping session! At my best when Alex was three months old and I first went back to work I would pump twice a day for 15-20 minutes each time and I'd get 12 oz total. I would always get so discouraged when I'd think about other women getting like 20 oz for a day because I felt like I wasn't doing something right, but obviously each baby and each mom is different so you really can't compare.
ETA: Also your body makes what the baby needs, it's basic supply and demand so right now you're only going to be able to pump the same amount she's been eating - however if you keep pumping and pump for a couple minutes after nothing is coming out that will help increase your supply because it will tell your body to make more. You can also try hand expressing after you pump because you're usually able to get the last bit out better that way than with the pump. You want to make sure your completely empty each feeding because that will signal your body to make more milk too.
Hmm that's a good tip. I never thought of that. Sometimes I stop pumping before milk is done coming out because my nipples are kinda sore. That only usually happens when I've been pumping a lot in one day though.
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it will get better as you keep pumping. try pumping on a lower suction if you r nipples are hurting. when i first started i could only get an ounce or two. now i can pretty much pump 4oz from each boob 2-4x a day. If I go too long between a feeding or pumping session (like last night 8pm til 1:30am) I pumped 11oz total. It will come.
Kellymom has good stuff on pumping and this link is helpful for me http://preemies.about.com/od/parentingyourpreemie/qt/Using-Hands-On-Pumping-To-Increase-Milk-Supply.htm
{My Blog}
updated 10.03.12
Thanks girls:) I'm glad to know that eventually I'll be able to pump more.
I live on kellymom! Thanks for suggesting that, Kari. I'll check out that link.
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Tritto kellymom! I was in despair until I read some tips from that site.
I have always been lucky with pumping. Nowadays I only pump once while at work and can get 13 oz in that one session, which is what Adrian eats at Day Care. When I was working longer hours and he was eating only BM (no fruit, veggies), I would pump 2 to 3 times and get around 20-24 oz.
The first few times I pumped I got less than an ounce even if my breasts felt engorged.
There's no reason to stress about it. I know you mentioned wanting to pump to give a bottle if you wanted to go out. What I did at first, before I could pump enough for a bottle, was just take a bottle of formula for emergencies. I think we only used it once?
For those of you with "big eaters": were you able to keep up with them just with BFing? Or did you need to supplement formula?
I really want to exclusively BF, but literally everyone in my family and H's family keeps telling me that I won't be able to do it. It's pretty discouraging to hear that all the time. It's like they're expecting me to fail at BF.
*sorry to piggyback your post, Rach!*
This is how my family made me feel too -- my mother was never able to BF either my sister or I, nor was anyone else in my family, so it seemed like the odds were really against me and everyone reminded me of that as often as they could. Honestly, you have to block it all out... just let them know, thanks for the concern, but we'll see what happens when it happens and go from there. Because if you let them get into your brain, you start thinking you're bound to fail, and then it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy, and we just don't want that.
As far as supplementing and the like? I wouldn't think about it until you have to. A baby should be able to receive all they need from their mother with breastfeeding... supply and demand. The only time I ever heard of having to supplement was when there were latching issues and the baby needed nutrients otherwise, or if the mother is barely able to produce milk and has to resort to other measures. Such as when I went back to work and was having a hard time keeping up with the pumping... only then did I start supplementing, and we were towards our BFing tenure at that point as it was, so it all worked out..
updated 10.03.12
Yup! He was EBF'd until we started fruits & veggies at 5.5 months. He still only drinks BM when he drinks milk. I plan on nursing until one year.
The first few weeks I supplemented a total of two times. Once because we were out and once because my husband and pedi had me convinced that if the baby had just nursed for a long time, I'd be empty. Then I found kellymom and my whole outlook changed.
To be honest, I would sometimes nurse for an hour and he'd be hungry again an hour later! I just learned to not look at the clock and to chuck the ItzBeen Timer (what a useless piece of crap!). I also learned that my body will not let my kid go hungry, and that my kid can always get milk from me even if I pumped recently.
After about two or three weeks we were feeding every two hours instead of constantly, and I want to say that it was around six weeks when we were able to push feedings to 2.5 - 3 hours apart.
Thanks for the encouragement, girls!
I am able to keep up with her...I have a few ounces in the fridge built up so that I can do things like run errands. It's just that I was wondering if I would ever be able to pump more than an oz at a time without killing my nipples. Really it's not a huge issue at this point since I'm home with her all day. I just worry about future events when I will eventually have to leave her for the better part of a day and things like that.
Michelle, sorry to hear that about your family! You will be able to keep up with your baby! Don't stress about it. Like MB said, you just have to kind of tune them out. Just because other people in your family couldn't BF doesn't mean you won't be able to:)
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I have no problem keeping up with Olive. I have an awesome stash in my freezer now and just yesterday I was able to pump all that she needed plus put her to breast for a few feedings and freeze some. she takes about 4-5 oz at a time now.
Michelle, if you're commited you WILL do it. Its annoying people are already saying otherwise. We had some issues in the beginning and I wanted to give up a few times but it was important to me that I do it for at least a year and that she didnt get formula. We've been fine. Find some good contacts, go to LLL meetings or moms group meetings, and ignore all those negative comments. You can do it.
Rach, I sent you a FB message about pumping last night. Why I didn't post here? Laziness, I was already on FB. Motherhood makes me a sleepy pile sometimes.
Anyway, there's already great advice here but also I want to remind you (and Michelle, in regards to the worry about having a big eater and not being able to keep up) that unlike formula, after babies are about 6 weeks old, they don't really need bigger and bigger bottles of breast milk as they get older. At almost 6 months old, Kyler still doesn't take more than 6oz of pumped milk per feeding. He WOULD eat a 10 oz bottle if we let him, but I can't pump enough for him to have bottles that big every feeding, so I divide his bottles for daycare by how much I can pump in a day. That's about 16.5 oz or one 5.5 oz bottle every 3 hours. He's been gaining weight and growing at a perfect pace, so I know everything's ok.
NuNu, side note...Holy crap you can pump a lot of milk! The only time I could ever pump even 12 oz in one session is in the morning, after going 10 hours overnight without nursing/pumping! At work, I can pump about 5 - 6 oz every 3 to 4 hours.
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