Exclusively pumping

[jaybee927]

Hi is there anyone out there that is currently exclusively pumping? (Or previously) I have a twelve week old that will not bf. He was born three weeks early and given the bottle at one day old. Our bf relationship has never been 100%. I feel conflicted about it at times but I am glad I have been able to pump this long for him.

I'm mostly looking for people to talk to on information on what worked for you. I haven't been able to find much information on exclusively pumping besides a few websites. I feel as though its more common then people realize.

Currently I have been pumping five times a day and have been supplying him enough milk and I also freeze some. During the day he can eat about 4 ounces every two hours! There is not really any guidelines on how much to give him and his pediatrician says its great!! He is sleeping better at night now too! When did your baby start sleeping thorough the night? Did you feed the baby more right before bed time?

 

[noon_child]

You may find this helpful:
https://kellymom.com/bf/pumpingmoms/pumping/milkcalc/

and I think there is an exclusive pumping sticky thread at the top of this forum.

Babies who have had traumatic births can often struggle to bf as their natural instincts are interrupted, and they can also experience muscle cramps and pain associated with the birth too. You may not be interested in getting your LO on to the breast as he is doing so well on expressed milk but if you feel he may have discomfort from the birth it still might be worth seeing a cranial osteopath or chiropractor who specialise in babies.

 

[justplay91]

I tried exclusively pumping with my son, but my milk supply couldn't keep up. Now that I know more about breastfeeding, I know I just wasn't pumping enough. You need to pump 8-12 times a day (including and especially at night) to keep your supply up. Good luck!

 

[bathbabe]

Keep pumping as often as you can. My son is 19weeks old tomorrow and I have pumped since day 2. I only pump 3/4times a day and have done since the start, simply because I have a life to live, children to look after and babies to cuddle!
Feel free to Pm me x

 

[Jitter]

I am pumping but simply not keeping up. She's 3 weeks old now and scoffs down 150ml of breastmilk. I do it like 4 or 5 times a day. I try and get 1 night time pump in, so my supply keeps up, which it has been. But it's hard. I use a Medela Swing single pump and pump about 20 minutes on one side and then switch over to the other side. I get about 75-100ml from each breast. So it's not like my supply is crap, but I still have to supplement with formula sometimes.

 

[SummerMother]

I combination feed (formula and breast milk) due to a Whole bunch of breast feeding dilemmas that popped up...low supply being the biggest. I now pump a minimum of 2 times a day though Idealy I'd like to pump at least 4. Right now I'm working on increasing my supply and I am doing what they call power pumping. It's an hour session of pumping in increments times per boob. The idea is your telling your body your not supplying enough by keeping your boobs empty. You can find different pumping schedules online by looking up "power pumping breast milk".

It's great if you are able to keep freezing some breast milk right now just incase your supply diminishes or your little one decides to cluster feed and goes through a ridiculous amount of food that you can't keep up with by pumping that day.

My 2 month old son still does not sleep through the whole night and every night is different. I find that if I can get him to eat more right before bed then he does sleep longer (I can get about 5 hours instead of 2 hours). There are other factors that determine if he sleeps through the night such as how much he slept through the day.