A few questions...

[JennyLynn512]

Alright, I have been solely breastfeeding Valerie for the past month and 4 days. It has been going wonderful and I love it! This upcoming weekend though, my husband and I are in a wedding and will be gone from about 2pm to midnight. My mother is going to watch her, so I'm trying to pump throughout this week to give her enough breastmilk to make it through the afternoon and night. I am having trouble with this pump and I hate it. Lol. Valerie will feed and usually get content enough and be done. Whatever is left in my breasts, I've been pumping out in order to freeze some for this weekend. After I pump though, Val wakes up after only an hour or so and wants fed and my boobs aren't quite full and she freaks out. How am I supposed to be doing this pumping thing? I normally wouldn't do it, but with being away for an afternoon, I need breastmilk to give her.

I thought about supplementing some formula just for the day, so I tried to give it to her to see if she would take it. She gagged and gagged. I've tried to introduce it to her once a day for the past week and she gags and spits it back out; basically refusing to take it. Hahaha....so my baby only wants breastmilk and I'm stuck on how to prepare enough when she feeds every 2 1/2 - 3 hours and takes about 2 ounces on each boob. Any advice???

 

[luckyme225]

We have went away twice now where someone else had to give him a bottle. The days I have to pump are really time consuming because I have to spread it out. I feed him in the morning then an hour later I pump for about 10-15 minutes and repeat for two mores feedings. If you keep you milk pumped and pump parts in the fridge you can just add on additional milk pumped into the same bottle. I normally get an ounce out of each breast so when I'm done for the day I have about 6 oz. In the morning you have your greatest supply of milk so you can always have Valerie feed on one side only and then pump the other breast to try and get as much out as possible in one siting.

By the way your going to get pretty engorged at the wedding so be sure to have some good nursing pads in. I had to hand express in the bathroom every now and then to get some relief.

 

[JennyLynn512]

Thanks so much! I didn't even think about how engorged I will get at the wedding...wow that should be fun. Ha! By the way, I have been freezing what milk I do get out from pumping. Is that ok? And I have been storing it in a ziploc baggie in the freezer with the date and ounces on it. Is is ok to store in a ziploc bag?

 

[luckyme225]

Hmm I'm not sure since it's not sterile, just to be safe you might pick up some pumping bags at Target or something. I use Medela sterile freezer bags and pre-sterile bottles to store my milk in.

 

[Margerle]

Consider pumping the extra in the mornings, milk production is the highest then.

 

[sam's mum]

I always pump in the mornings.. Because Sam sleeps all night they're pretty full by then too, so I can get a whole feed for the freezer. Not sure if I should really do it this way (rather than pumping what's left after I've fed him - not sure I'd get much then anyway!) but I only feed from one side each feed, so I try to get up before him and pump only from one side, then feed him from the other side. I get enough for a whole feed and by the time it comes to feeding on the pumped side again it's full.

I was working at a wedding this Saturday, and I have never been more engorged in my life!! I'd taken my pump but it was hard to find a good time to disappear and use it (wanted to keep the milk) - I got 6oz from each breast and had to stop at that because my storage cups were full ..I asked a nice man at the wedding venue to put it in their fridge for me!!

It might be a good idea to just try her on another formula this week, as some are thicker and heavier than others - that way you have a backup just in case you don't get enough pumping done this week. Good luck x