Help, I really dont know what I am doing?

[monte3375]

So baby 5 weeks today...for the past week, I have been pumping an extra 4 oz and my hubby feeds at night, then baby sleeps midnight - 4 am. I pump around 11 pm. I nurse him up until 9 pm and then I pump at 11pm.

My hubby wants to help so I can get 4 hrs sleep.

So I want to start building a stash for Sept as well as hubby wants me to pump 5 oz for night time feeding.

so I have to pump 3 oz morn. 1 oz aft and 2 oz at 11 pm. My hubby thinks I should be able to pump every other hour and get milk, so I just can't produce for stash plus the 5 oz for bedtime. if I cant do both then I dont produce enough milk and we should formula feed when I go back at 3 months.

The 5 oz pumping above leaves me with very mushy breasts from 11 am until 6 pm and baby frustrated at feedings.

1) I dont think he needs 4-5 oz at 10 pm....I think the easy eating causes him to want to continue to eat....I think 2.5 -3 would be sufficient

2) last night after he gave him 4 oz, he pooped like crazy...a big mess

3) I question if I am not producing enough now and maybe he does need 4 ouces a feed

4). Two days ago...the yellow poops after every feeding stopped and now he has tons of wet diapers...seems to have changed from yellow poo to wet diapers

5). Last poo was the explosion at midnight...he has nursed all day today with 4 wet disposable diapers, heavy wet diapers


I am bewildered by all of this and overwhelmed to pump and nurse

The happy of all this...baby so strong and alert...he started smiling at 4 weeks 3 days and very engaging...so fun... The pumping pressure kind of ruins it.

 

[summer rain]

I'm not an expert on pumping but pumping should increase your supply and your breasts refill very quickly so your breasts seeming mushy after pumping and baby being fussy is probably just down to a growth spurt as opposed to being caused by pumping. I did pump a lot as well as giving EBM and formula in the first few weeks with my eldest to give me 'a break' and it ended up prolonging growth spurts for weeks as opposed to days and the formula hurt his stomach and he wouldn't sleep at all until it was gone from his system. If you pump and give the pumped milk (or have someone else give it) it can cause problems in some cases because baby is wired to keep nursing to increase supply and will keep trying to do this, it's hard to explain but when you just feed direct at that time it tends to be the case that they get over that particular growth spurt in 2-3 days. The pooing less is normal at this stage, their bodies are just becoming more efficient. My youngest is almost the same age as your baby and still has some days where he poos after every feeding but he also has started to have days where he doesn't and he only has 2-3 very small poos in 24 hours and these tend to be at one end of the day or night as well not evenly spread throughout. I think you need to have more confidence in yourself, I know it's easier said than done but you're clearly doing a good job. Maybe if you're pumping for a stash you can fit in 1-2 pumping sessions in the morning or whenever happens to be your baby's quietest time of the day? Xx

 

[monte3375]

I'm not an expert on pumping but pumping should increase your supply and your breasts refill very quickly so your breasts seeming mushy after pumping and baby being fussy is probably just down to a growth spurt as opposed to being caused by pumping. I did pump a lot as well as giving EBM and formula in the first few weeks with my eldest to give me 'a break' and it ended up prolonging growth spurts for weeks as opposed to days and the formula hurt his stomach and he wouldn't sleep at all until it was gone from his system. If you pump and give the pumped milk (or have someone else give it) it can cause problems in some cases because baby is wired to keep nursing to increase supply and will keep trying to do this, it's hard to explain but when you just feed direct at that time it tends to be the case that they get over that particular growth spurt in 2-3 days. The pooing less is normal at this stage, their bodies are just becoming more efficient. My youngest is almost the same age as your baby and still has some days where he poos after every feeding but he also has started to have days where he doesn't and he only has 2-3 very small poos in 24 hours and these tend to be at one end of the day or night as well not evenly spread throughout. I think you need to have more confidence in yourself, I know it's easier said than done but you're clearly doing a good job. Maybe if you're pumping for a stash you can fit in 1-2 pumping sessions in the morning or whenever happens to be your baby's quietest time of the day? Xx

How much has your baby grown so far?

My baby was 7.1 when we left hospital. Now close to 9 lbs.

 

[TheNewMrs]

So baby 5 weeks today...for the past week, I have been pumping an extra 4 oz and my hubby feeds at night, then baby sleeps midnight - 4 am. I pump around 11 pm. I nurse him up until 9 pm and then I pump at 11pm.

My hubby wants to help so I can get 4 hrs sleep.

So I want to start building a stash for Sept as well as hubby wants me to pump 5 oz for night time feeding.

so I have to pump 3 oz morn. 1 oz aft and 2 oz at 11 pm. My hubby thinks I should be able to pump every other hour and get milk, so I just can't produce for stash plus the 5 oz for bedtime. if I cant do both then I dont produce enough milk and we should formula feed when I go back at 3 months.

The 5 oz pumping above leaves me with very mushy breasts from 11 am until 6 pm and baby frustrated at feedings.

1) I dont think he needs 4-5 oz at 10 pm....I think the easy eating causes him to want to continue to eat....I think 2.5 -3 would be sufficient He should be taking 3-4 oz feeds at that stage. You are right, when the milk continues to flow they continue to swallow it. Unlink the breast, when the bottle is in their mouth their choices are to swallow or choke. This link might help you https://kellymom.com/bf/pumpingmoms/feeding-tools/bottle-feeding/

2) last night after he gave him 4 oz, he pooped like crazy...a big mess its normal to have "nappy explosions" at that stage. Some mums find around now the pooping slows down to once a day or once every few days and its usually an explosion!

3) I question if I am not producing enough now and maybe he does need 4 ouces a feed You are producing enough milk for him. a baby will drink if the bottle is there because their instinct is to suck and they cannot help it if milk keeps coming when they do!

4). Two days ago...the yellow poops after every feeding stopped and now he has tons of wet diapers...seems to have changed from yellow poo to wet diapers Again, normal around this stage, you'll find his poopy diapers will lessen. Its very normal for a breastfed baby around now to start going a few days without a poop, up to 10 days is considered normal. Breastmilk is so perfectly designed for them that there is little waste!

5). Last poo was the explosion at midnight...he has nursed all day today with 4 wet disposable diapers, heavy wet diapers


I am bewildered by all of this and overwhelmed to pump and nurse

The happy of all this...baby so strong and alert...he started smiling at 4 weeks 3 days and very engaging...so fun... The pumping pressure kind of ruins it.

Don't put yourself under pressure to pump. Tell your husband you are happy for him to do every other night (if you are) and you nurse baby instead on the nights you are with him. I've breastfed a 29lb 15 month old and can never express more than 30 mls! Some people just dont get the same letdown with a pump that they do when the baby nurses. We were not designed to respond to a cold, noisy machine. Some women will respond, others wont and some will be able to express only a small amount in comparison to their supply. All is normal because we are all different. Pumping in the morning (between 2 am and 7am) is said to produce more milk because your prolactin levels are highest then. So maybe fit in a pumping session there.

Please be kind to yourself. You are putting your body under a lot of pressure, and your baby is thriving! There is nothing wrong here except maybe an unrealistic expectation of pumping output. Maybe think about which is more important to you, building a stash or getting those 4 hours sleep. Oh and well done to your hubby! So many men use BF as a cop out to not help at all with baby. Sounds like he's doing a great job! Explaining that you feel under pressure might help him relax, I'm sure he only wants your precious baby to have Mamas Milk only!

 

[summer rain]

I'm not an expert on pumping but pumping should increase your supply and your breasts refill very quickly so your breasts seeming mushy after pumping and baby being fussy is probably just down to a growth spurt as opposed to being caused by pumping. I did pump a lot as well as giving EBM and formula in the first few weeks with my eldest to give me 'a break' and it ended up prolonging growth spurts for weeks as opposed to days and the formula hurt his stomach and he wouldn't sleep at all until it was gone from his system. If you pump and give the pumped milk (or have someone else give it) it can cause problems in some cases because baby is wired to keep nursing to increase supply and will keep trying to do this, it's hard to explain but when you just feed direct at that time it tends to be the case that they get over that particular growth spurt in 2-3 days. The pooing less is normal at this stage, their bodies are just becoming more efficient. My youngest is almost the same age as your baby and still has some days where he poos after every feeding but he also has started to have days where he doesn't and he only has 2-3 very small poos in 24 hours and these tend to be at one end of the day or night as well not evenly spread throughout. I think you need to have more confidence in yourself, I know it's easier said than done but you're clearly doing a good job. Maybe if you're pumping for a stash you can fit in 1-2 pumping sessions in the morning or whenever happens to be your baby's quietest time of the day? Xx

How much has your baby grown so far?

My baby was 7.1 when we left hospital. Now close to 9 lbs.

He was born 8lb 14, went down to 8lb 7 didn't start regaining until day 10, got back to birthweight at day 16 and is now 10lb 2. He isn't a huge gainer but thats fine all babies are different out of my kids I have had those that were big gainers at the start and others who were slower and gained less per week. He has grown about 4cm in length and 4cm in HC too xx

 

[misspriss]

It's very hard to feed a baby AND build up a stash, you are trying to feed a baby PLUS more.

Babies drink more from a bottle than the breast. So you are then trying to feed baby, PLUS stash, PLUS the extra he drinks because of the way the bottle works....you are making plenty of milk!!!

You husband's logic is not that great. When you go back to work, you will not be feeding baby while you are at work, so you pump those times. Just because you can't pump at "back to work" levels WHILE feeding your baby full time does NOT mean you won't have milk when you are actually back at work?!?

You don't need a huge stash, just like a day or two worth. If you build up a stash, and go back to work, and feed your baby from the stash, you won't pump enough to keep your supply up and when you run out of stash your supply will be too low. Since breastfeeding is supply and demand, you need to be pumping enough for the next day when you are work, not pumping enough so you have some from pumping and some from your stash.

A stash should be for emergencies (a feeding or two worth, maybe a day) and your first day/week at work, when you are still adjusting to pumping every day. Other than that, reaching into your stash too much will impact your supply.

Good luck, you are doing fine! My 3 month old LO takes 3.25 ounces at most from the bottle, usually 1.5-2.5 ounces at a time (we focus on baby led bottle feeding and taking it slow, he will vomit if he drinks too fast from the bottle!). 4 ounces at once at that age, I would worry the bottle is causing him to drink too much.