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.
logistics of pumping for 1 bottle/day
The LC consultant told me that at 3 weeks, I can start pumping so that DH can feed a bottle at night to increase one of my stretches of sleep. I need help with how to do this...
How many ounces does a 3-week-old eat typically?
When is the best time to pump?
Do I pump both sides or just the opposite side? She only will take one side per feeding currently (for approx 20-25 mins) and she's definitely getting enough with that.
Should the bottle be at room temp when given to her? Do I just leave it out for DH before I go to bed since it can be at room temp for up to 6 hours (it would be given to her within that time frame - probably at 3 hours)? We don't have a bottle warmer?
What do you do with anything she doesn't finish? Can it be put back in the fridge for later?
PS - Breast shells look so ridiculous but I am starting to try to wean from the shield. Wearing them now - torpedo boobs. I can't believe the LC told me they were discreet.
Re: logistics of pumping for 1 bottle/day
If you can manage, I suggest pumping on the side she isn't eating from at the first feeding of the day. If you have a good supply that might be enough for one bottle. Your supply is usually the highest in the morning. DS would nap for a longer stretch in the middle of the day and I would get a pump session in then. I also tried to sneak one in before bed/after his last feeding. This gave me a little bit of a freezer stash so I didn't need to worry when I went back to work. Good luck!
You can do a room temp bottle or DH can warm it up in a cup of warm water.
I used kellymom.com a lot for amounts and logistics advice but 3-4oz should be good.
Youre freaking me out, realizing that Im going to have to remember all these confusing pumping logistics in a couple weeks. Heres what I remember....
Good luck. It seems daunting now but I do remember being a pro at it after a couple weeks.
Starting DS on taking a bottle early on was one of the best decisions we made. I hope it goes well for you -- good luck!
Agree with PPs advice.
With the luxury of hindsight (we are still nursing at 10.5 months), I'd also say:
- don't sweat it. Esp at this age. Personally, I never had DH give a bottle at night. I just didn't want to deal with any more pumping than I had to (which wasn't much anyway). The baby is better than any pump and one incident with a clogged duct was more than enough to convince me to nurse any time I could.
- IMO pumping is a skill. You get better with practice.
If you are near BRC, head to a free support group. You could weigh baby pre and post-feeding to see how much she's getting.
PS we use our Keurig to bring frozen milk to room temp.
I do not understand this at all, please explain. We have a keurig too, and will likely have frozen milk in a month or two, so Id love to hear about this!
I had a baby in one hand and realized I might have left out some critical info but figured those that were intrigued would let me know :-)
Disclaimer - I have never given DS a bottle but DH has, frequently. So he is my expert. Basically he found that the hot water from the Keurig is the perfect temperature to defrost frozen milk. He takes a big coffee mug or ice cream bowl (ie, something large enough that most of a frozen Lanishoh bag fits in it) and just "brews" hot water in it. Inserts bag into hot water. Milk is defrosted immediately. Open the bag, pour in the bottle. Not sure how long he waits to give it to DS - though I imagine not long. DS has never had a problem with it at this temp. HTH.
Ditto what everyone else said. Typically the bags of milk are thin enough that they defrost quickly under warm running water. I personally would not use a Keurig as the temp is super hot. It can scald the milk and destroy some of it's great nutrients and it can make the milk too hot so it could burn the baby. Just don't ever microwave it. It can develop hot pockets that can burn your baby.
Good luck! My LC always said once you introduce the bottle, keep it in the baby's life regularly so they remember what it is and how to use it.
So I've been thinking about the issue of using the Keurig water to defrost/ heat breast milk and it's made me pretty concerned about anyone trying this.
According to Keurig, their internal temp on their machines ranges between 187-192 degrees F. Human breast milk only naturally gets to the temp of the mother's body about 98-99 degrees) when it's expressed.
So the Keurig water is nearly 100 degrees hotter then breast milk is really supposed to be! Now I understand that you're essentially putting an ice cube in it when you try to defrost a bag of milk in it, but if anyone leaves the milk in there for too long either due to inexperience or forgets due to distraction or is just sleepy, you could burn the hell out of the baby.
There's no reason that warm tap water won't do the trick.
hi - i'm an oldie turned occasional lurker & just wanted to throw out there that you might not *have* to warm the bottle up. out of curiosity (and a little laziness), i tried giving my kid a bottle straight from the fridge & he gobbled it right up. he'll take room temp or cold... now that he's working on teeth, he seems to favor cold.
i love many things about DS, of course, but this is definitely on my list.
good luck - ditto all pp's. pumping is absolutely an acquired skill -
LD, I'm sure novices will appreciate the warning. As with all things baby, you figure out what works for you and your fam. This worked for us based on our knowledge, experience and common sense. And after drinking coffee from it every day, I can assure those lurking that the external temp in the cup is not nearly 200 degrees (though to be fair, I've never actually measured it). Just sharing - not prescribing. And you will always remain the board LC!
Yeah, this is def one of those 'whatever works' issues. Not prescribing here either, just sort of thinking out loud.
I only said it b/c I wouldn't want anyone not used to doing it to try something that could potentially inflict burns due to high temperature or cook all the good proteins and other elements in bm.
I always thought my Keurig was too hot and couldn't adjust it downward far enough for my own coffee. Then again, anything that prevents me from downing my cup of coffee in like 10 minutes flat is too hot...
I'm sure Mr. JRM and you both have a good, safe system worked out since you've been doing it a while at this point. Hope you don't take it as criticism at all b/c it def wasn't intended that way. :-)