A couple of breastfeeding Q's

[WANBMUM]

so my plan is to breastfeed.

they are probably really silly questions but here goes;

I have 3 weddings after the baby is born, the month after.
# is it possible to start pumping soon after baby is born?
# is it possible to do both? breastfeed and bottlefeed breastmilk? when feeding baby with the bottle it would be oh or a family member (I've heard the mommy feeding by bottle can confuse the baby as they associate mommy with boob?so i only plan to breastfeed baby )
# if I pump successfully and have lots of milk for my mom for bottles, when I attend the wedding, will I have to pump at the wedding throughout the day? so my boobs don't clog?
# is it better to have a 2 booby pump than 1? does it matter?

I think that's all I can think of.....

 

[Mellie1988]

Okay so some of my answers may be wrong so hopefully someone can back me up!

From what I remember:

Recommended to hold off pumping for the first 4 weeks as I've heard it can confuse your body with supply that is needed to meet baby's needs.

Yes you can BF as bottle feed BM, again hold off until 4 as baby can confuse latch of boob with bottle as different shapes and textures

Whilst at wedding you would need to pump, I'd say before you go as much as you can and then just hand express whilst there to relieve as boobs will get pretty engorged, will warn you that it's not a nice feeling at all...I remember going to Xmas party when DD was 3 months old and I spent about 30 mins hand expressing in the toilets as my boobs were like rocks!! However, I didn't express before I went out so I reckon that's where I went wrong!!

And finally, you should only need one pump, I used to feed LO from one boob then when hey had finished I would express remainder left then a few mins from the other side aswell, to begin with I would only get a few oz at a time but as I expressed more regularly I was able to get 4-5 oz sometimes

HTH

X

 

[addizmnz]

My experience with pumping went like this:

My first baby was born early (34 weeks 5 days) and was extremely sleepy so we had trouble latching despite much effort on my part...so I ended up pumping and bottle feeding exclusively. Now, as nice and easy as it sounds, feeding directly from the breast is MUCH more efficient!!! When you are pumping you have to not only pump for about 30 min but then feed the baby on top of it all and clean and sterilize all the pump parts and bottles. Not trying to discourage you from pumping, just letting you know it's more work. I'm definitely trying to exclusively breast feed for a month with my second baby before pumping this time.

It's wonderful if your baby takes to both breastfeeding and bottle feeding easily, but some babies get what is called "nipple confusion." Most doctors recommend exclusively feeding from the breast for at least a month to establish a good routine before you start pumping and bottle feeding.

That being said, of course it is possible to bottle feed the baby earlier than a month and some babies do just fine with it.

My daughter took a bottle from me, my husband, or pretty much anyone (but, like I said, she never got into a good routine of breastfeeding, so she didn't associate me with the breast). That's the one good part of pumping, other people can help you out and feed the baby!

If you have been pumping and storing for a while, and you have enough to feed the baby throughout the wedding, you wouldn't technically have to pump at the wedding, but it will really just depend on how comfortable you are and how long the wedding lasts - if you get too full, you may want to pump to relieve pressure and of course, you don't want to get clogged milk ducts. Once you have pumped a while, you will get used to being able to tell when you are getting too full.

If you are going to pump a lot, I'd go with an electric double pump and get the bra attachment so your hands are free. If you are just going to pump for these weddings, you'd probably do fine with a manual pump.

You can also look up info on pumping, storing milk, etc. Kellymom.com is a great resource. https://kellymom.com/bf/pumpingmoms/milkstorage/milkstorage/

Good luck with your decision!

 

[rowleypolie]

# is it possible to start pumping soon after baby is born?

you can try and pump around 3/4 weeks but you wont get a ton of milk. baby doesnt drink a ton at that time

# is it possible to do both? breastfeed and bottlefeed breastmilk?

yes. we always had dh give bottles when i was out for a couple hours- use a more breast like nipple

# if I pump successfully and have lots of milk for my mom for bottles, when I attend the wedding, will I have to pump at the wedding throughout the day? so my boobs don't clog?

you wont clog but you will feel pain. if you are used to feeding baby every 2-3 hours you will need to pump every 2-3 hours. you want to make sure and keep your schedule so your body doesnt get confused

# is it better to have a 2 booby pump than 1? does it matter?

i have only ever had a 1 pump- 2 is faster, but unless you plan on pumping a ton like going back to work- you shouldnt need it

 

[kitchenware]

Hello,

I mainly fed my daughter expressed breastmilk for 2 months not because she wouldn't latch on but because she used to flail and punch me when I tried to feed her - so I felt really uncomfortable doing it. (had to pin her down and wrap her arms in her vest when I fed her to avoid being covered in bruises). I eventually gave up and moved to formula so by no means an expert! My experience was...

# is it possible to start pumping soon after baby is born?

Yes I expressed immediately. The only thing is it did sort of mess up the amount of milk I was producing, in that someone foolishly told me to express until nothing else came out. Because I did this, I was getting 5 oz out each time. Whilst that sounds reassuring because I always had plenty of milk, it was actually a real pain because I ended up leaking so much. I'd wake up in the middle of the night covered in the stuff. Literally could have gone industrial scale. I felt horrible.

# is it possible to do both? breastfeed and bottlefeed breastmilk? when feeding baby with the bottle it would be oh or a family member (I've heard the mommy feeding by bottle can confuse the baby as they associate mommy with boob?so i only plan to breastfeed baby )

Yes as I said my daughter never really had a problem latching on - she fed fine, it didn't hurt (more than the usual) and she had a combination of bottles and breast from word go (+ dummies). Never seemed to be a problem. Both my husband and I bottle fed her, but mainly me. I use to try and bottle feed her during the day (helped as felt awkward when out and about) and breast feed at night (when she would feed fine as long as she was pinned down).

# if I pump successfully and have lots of milk for my mom for bottles, when I attend the wedding, will I have to pump at the wedding throughout the day? so my boobs don't clog?

I think it will depend on your milk flow and how soon after the birth the wedding is. As mentioned above - I would have had to express or feed during that period as I ended up producing too much milk and I would have leaked if I didn't somehow get rid of the milk - mucho embarrasing. Suspect if you don't do something as silly as I did you may get better results!

# is it better to have a 2 booby pump than 1? does it matter?

I think it'll depend on how dedicated you are to expressing. If just going to do it to fill gaps when you are away etc - 1 will probably do (I only had 1 eletric and managed 2 month pretty full time). If you are exclusively going to express and over a long period 2 would probably be easier. Economically, it might be better to start with 1 pump and see how you get on.

I agree with previous poster - exclusively expressing is very time consuming and you have to find time to do it in between looking after the baby and sleeping - so although it has its advantages straight from the boob I think turns out much much easier. (For example, I sometimes had to get up in the middle of the night to express independently from getting up to feed baby).

Hope this helps - as I mentioned I wasn't terrifically succesful though so just my experience!

 

[Eleanor ace]

Here (I'm in the UK) we're advised to wait to bottle feed LO expressed milk by bottle for 6 weeks, in order to establish breastfeeding. I gave DS EBM at about 4 weeks (I think) because he needed medicine which we mixed with his milk and he wouldn't take it well via syringe. It didn't cause any nipple confusion. Just make sure you get breast flow teets for your bottles.

Yep some people combi feed all the time. It can take some work and be time consuming (regular pumping) but its do-able.

Definitely be prepared to pump at the wedding, even missing 1 feed can leave you feeling very full with Pamela Anderson style breasts .

I had a single pump with DS, if I was buying again I'd get a double as pumping took me aaaaages- I'd get like 1oz an hour so anything to cut the time down would be good! But it will depend on your flow and how well you get on with expressing.

 

[Mrs-G]

so my plan is to breastfeed.

they are probably really silly questions but here goes;

I have 3 weddings after the baby is born, the month after.
# is it possible to start pumping soon after baby is born? i attended a wedding 3 weeks after and started expressing that day - I was told that starting before 3 weeks can cause nipple confusion.
# is it possible to do both? breastfeed and bottlefeed breastmilk? when feeding baby with the bottle it would be oh or a family member (I've heard the mommy feeding by bottle can confuse the baby as they associate mommy with boob?so i only plan to breastfeed baby ) after the 3 weeks I don't really think it matters, as I said I expressed and bottle fed with no issues but any feeds you miss you will need to pump otherwise you may affect your supply or have a leakage situation!
# if I pump successfully and have lots of milk for my mom for bottles, when I attend the wedding, will I have to pump at the wedding throughout the day? so my boobs don't clog? probably
# is it better to have a 2 booby pump than 1? does it matter? i only had 1

I think that's all I can think of.....

Hope the above helps

 

[WANBMUM]

thank you so much to you all. youve made everything a lot clearer and less daunting. I really don't want breastfeeding to be affected because of the weddings I have. I'd prefer not to go if this was the case.

 

[rocketb]

I actually had a local wedding to attend when my daughter was about a month old. It really wasn't very complicated.

I already had a double electric pump (bought because I had to go back to work at 3 months) and had used it to relieve engorgement. I pumped the other side (baby was only drinking from one side at a time at that age) in the morning (when I had the most supply) for a few days leading up to the wedding so that my mom would have a stash to feed with.

On the day of the wedding, I nursed right before getting dressed and pumped the other side. Then I sat through the church service, pumped on the way to the reception (we just parked the car toward the back of a large Walmart parking lot along the highway), and then was good for the rest of the evening. Nursed as soon as I got home. Had a great time and my mom enjoyed her first chance to take care of the baby.

I think up to that point DH had given DD about one bottle and she hadn't had any problem figuring it out. No confusion problems to speak of afterward, but maybe we just had a very easygoing baby.

Good luck and enjoy!