Colorado Nesties
catarntina
member
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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.
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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.
Talk to me about pumping please...
I'll be going back to work when LO is 6-8 weeks old, and I really wanted to make breastfeeding work for about 12 months.
I'm saving up some credit card points and gift cards from work to buy a breast pump. People were saying since I'll be going to work, I'll probably want a double electric which is $$$.
I was thinking probably this one:
http://www.toysrus.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2901999
What brand breast pump did you like?
How do you freeze the milk? Freezer bags, or any other special trick?
How do you defrost it? Microwave, hot water, put it in the refrigerator to thaw?
Anything else you can think of that might help me?
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Re: Talk to me about pumping please...
Yes, the Medela PISA is a great pump and many moms will recommend it. I used one for 12 months with DD while working and it was great.
To freeze, you put the milk into breastmilk bags (Lansinoh and Medela make them) labeled with the date and number of oz. and put them in the fridge to cool, then transfer to the freezer.
You do NOT defrost breastmilk in the microwave ever. I put it in the fridge overnight to thaw, but if you are using it right away you can put it in a bowl of warm water to thaw more quickly.
There is a great website to answer all your questions: http://kellymom.com/.
Bookmark it, it will come in very handy when you have the baby! It also has a handy chart that shows how long you can store breastmilk at room temp, refigerated, frozen, etc.
That's the exact pump I have and I really liked it.
I froze it in the milk bags from Lansinoh (sp?). I tried the Medela bags and didn't care for them. Make sure to lay them flat somewhere to freeze and then you can stack them easier if needed. Make sure you date and list on ounces on the bags.
I sometimes thawed in the fridge if I had time, but usually I thawed in a bowl of warm water for a few minutes. They thaw really fast. DD liked her milk warm so they had to get warm in the water too. I didn't microwave them. Daycare usually used a crok pot of warm water to put the bottles in warm up.
One thing I hated about day care was once DD started a bottle, she had an hour to finish it and they can't reheat it (licensing policy). So if she only drank an ounce because she got distracted or something, they'd offer it to her again within the hour but by then it was cold and she wouldn't take it. I feel like a lot got wasted because of that. So make sure daycare has plenty of stash there.
Do you have a box of nursing pads? I leaked quite a bit, so I always needed those. Also, when pumping at work, I dumped everything into a big water bottle to put in the fridge and take home at the end of the day. Will you have a fridge at work? Make sure it's marked well so no one uses it as coffee creamer.
hehe I washed the pump parts between sessions at work and then did a good wash at home every night but I know some people will put them in a bag of sorts in the fridge between pumping sessions to keep them sanitary.
I'd also recommend freezing some in one or two ounce increments. In case baby still seems hungry after their bottle, dcp can thaw a little bit more to feed the baby, but not an entire bottle's worth.
I also suggest labeling with date and # of ounces.
Only a couple things to add here: the easiest way to freeze flat is in the door, but make sure you transfer it out of the door once frozen to the back of the freezer to keep colder. Definitely bookmark kellymom.com, it's a great site. If I had to do it over again, and under different circumstances, I would have pumped more at the beginning to build up a really big stash. I was shocked at how fast our huge freezer stash dwindled down, and I only work part-time. If you can (and have good milk supply), you might want to look into a small second freezer if you feel like you might need it.
As for breast pads, I liked the disposable ones, but I didn't realize how long I would need them for and ended up making my own cloth ones (but you can definitely buy cotton washable ones).
Something good to know, Dr. Brown bottles screw right on to the Medela pump mechanism, which is nice. They are also very good bottles in general.
I use the Medela Freestyle, but the PISA is also a great pump
Last time I froze milk in these which is my preference but not very cost effective if you're storing large amounts of milk. I've been pumping more earlier this time, so I'm using the lansinoh bags. I find them harder to pour into without making a mess and they are not as easy to organize in the freezer, and the big advantage of the snappies is that you can wash and re-use. I might still buy some.
We always had a crockpot of hot water sitting out to heat bottles and that's also what I used for defrosting
~Working Mom~Breastfeeding Mom~Cloth Diapering Mom~BLW Mom~
Blog - No Longer on the DL ~ The Man Cave
Shawn and Larissa
LO #1 - Took 2 years and 2 IVFs ~ DX - severe MFI mild PCOS homozygous MTHFR (a1298c)
LO #2 - TTC 7 months, surprise spontaneous BFP!
Thank you, thank you, thank you! These are all great tips. Definitely bookmarking kellymom right now.
I have Dr. Brown bottles. That's awesome they work directly with the breast pump. And it looks like we might get some use out of our small crockpot.
Thanks ladies!!
Just a random note, but you can get around this a little if you use a SAHM or in-home daycare sometimes and if your kid will just take the milk cold. Then they can use a little and see if your kiddo is still hungry and add directly until they are full instead of chucking the milk. My first son was fine with cold milk starting around 12 weeks.
Are you united with the CCOKCs?
ITA
~Working Mom~Breastfeeding Mom~Cloth Diapering Mom~BLW Mom~
Blog - No Longer on the DL ~ The Man Cave
Shawn and Larissa
LO #1 - Took 2 years and 2 IVFs ~ DX - severe MFI mild PCOS homozygous MTHFR (a1298c)
LO #2 - TTC 7 months, surprise spontaneous BFP!
I bought that Medela PISA with my DD and exclusively pumped from 8w until 9mo and I'm using the same pump now for my DS (and he's almost 8mo). Has held up really well. I did replace the tubing when DS was born - but otherwise, it was worked great!
Definitely recommend a hands free pumping bra/holder if you are going to be pumping at work. It just frees up your hands to do other things like read, work, surf the internet, whatever.
Ditto on the Lansinoh bags. I have found that they store easier than the medela because they are flatter.
I typically put the milk from the freezer into the fridge the night before to thaw and then put into bottles in the morning. That way they are only warmed once when at daycare. If I need one at the last minute, then I'll put it into a cup of hot water (same thing I do to warm the bottle as well).
I believe the OP is using a center which is why I mentioned it. But yes, I'd assume an in-home might be a little more lenient although I believe the licensing rules are the same (1 hour, no reheating) for both. I wish DD would have liked hers cold, that would have solved some problems.
What brand breast pump did you like?
Not sure, I took an old one from a nestie and bought new shields and tubing for $20. If you are ok with used, there are a bunch for sale at the JBF sales.
How do you freeze the milk? Freezer bags, or any other special trick?
We use the L bags too. They are on amazon mom too.
How do you defrost it? Microwave, hot water, put it in the refrigerator to thaw?
I don't. I cut it up while it's still frozen and put it into the bottle. Daycare warms them up when he is ready for a bottle with a warmer. I also pump some fresh (attach the bottle directly to the pump) and give that for his next day at daycare.
Anything else you can think of that might help me?
Store as much as possible beforehand. And have a bunch of extra bottles - we send 5 with him to daycare and I have 4 that I pump the fresh into. And I need 2 sets of this since I don't want to do dishes every night.
Yeah, I will be using a center. I wrote down the bra -- definitely look into that. I need to count how many bottles I have. I bought a bunch used, but haven't opened the box since I bought them. I may be buying more before I go back to work.
Would you recommend buying the pump before baby is here so I can build up my supply as soon as he's born or wait till I'm closer to going back to work?
I waited till DD was about 2 weeks old. I kind of wanted to make sure BF was going to work for us before I shelled out the money for the pump. But that's just my opinion. I have a PIS if you want to borrow it before you get your own, to make sure you like it. You could just get clean tubes and shields for it probably.