Pumping question

[SpringCrane]

I breastfed my son for 16 months. I had a single manual hand pump that I would use on one side a few days per week right before going to the gym or a meeting (I worked from home but had a weekly one hour meeting in the office). My time away was almost always less than two hours, so I could feed my son on one breast, pump from the other, and I usually made it home in time to nurse him rather than him have a bottle. He probably only had five bottles his entire life, so soon I was doing this more infrequently as I realized the pumping was rarely necessary, and I had a small stash anyway. I used all my stored breastmilk when he was older for mixing into purees.

The difference this time is that I am a bridesmaid in a wedding that will occur when baby is about 5 months old. The whole family will come to the wedding itself, so I'm not worried about that. However, other bridesmaid duties are likely to occur before... wedding shower, bachelorette party, fittings, etc... all about a two hour drive away. Since I never left my son more than two hours when he was so young, I never really had to think about pumping. Will a manual hand pump be adequate to prepare for two or more potential nights away from baby? I had a lot of milk with my son, and he only ever fed on one side. Is that likely to happen again? Can I just start manual pumping one side and storing early to stock up? Should I pump closer to the events to get fresher milk? (I'd consider expiration dates.) Will an electric pump be a better idea? Am I likely to spend more time away from baby anyway since we'll have two and split duty will have to happen occasionally? What is a normal bfing/pumping schedule?

Sorry for all the questions! I couldn't sleep last night thinking about the logistics, and I know next to nothing about pumping and bottle-feeding! The bride is a very, very dear friend, and I want to be there for her. I just need to figure out how to make it work with a nursing little one.

 

[RaquelDee]

I'm pumping at the moment to build a bit of a freezer stash before heading back to work, and I've found a manual pump to be absolutely fine. Pumping for 5 or 10 mins after each feed has worked best, particularly after the morning feed as I always tend to have extra then. I just collect the extra milk after each feed, and combine it and put it in the freezer every evening. This works better for me than trying to schedule pumping as Bub tends to feed whenever she wakes, and is an erratic napper, so I can never be sure if I'll need to feed again in two hours or thirty minutes. I also sometimes find getting a letdown with a pump to be pretty slow, whereas after a feed the work is already done for me.

It is probably worth trying out your baby with some thawed milk before you build up a big stash, as I know some babies don't like the taste once it has been frozen. It might also be a good idea to taste-test some expressed milk over a few days to see what kind of refrigerator shelf life it has - I know plenty of online sources say milk is fine in the fridge for 3-4 days, but if mine isn't frozen or fed in 36 hours it starts to sour and is useless.

Oh, and stress is the natural enemy of pumping! When I was first trying to pump I was so worried that I wouldn't have enough, and I could barely get anything out. I've had to distract myself to relax, and now it's totally fine.

 

[jessmke]

I'm pumping at the moment to build a bit of a freezer stash before heading back to work, and I've found a manual pump to be absolutely fine. Pumping for 5 or 10 mins after each feed has worked best, particularly after the morning feed as I always tend to have extra then. I just collect the extra milk after each feed, and combine it and put it in the freezer every evening. This works better for me than trying to schedule pumping as Bub tends to feed whenever she wakes, and is an erratic napper, so I can never be sure if I'll need to feed again in two hours or thirty minutes. I also sometimes find getting a letdown with a pump to be pretty slow, whereas after a feed the work is already done for me.

It is probably worth trying out your baby with some thawed milk before you build up a big stash, as I know some babies don't like the taste once it has been frozen. It might also be a good idea to taste-test some expressed milk over a few days to see what kind of refrigerator shelf life it has - I know plenty of online sources say milk is fine in the fridge for 3-4 days, but if mine isn't frozen or fed in 36 hours it starts to sour and is useless.

Oh, and stress is the natural enemy of pumping! When I was first trying to pump I was so worried that I wouldn't have enough, and I could barely get anything out. I've had to distract myself to relax, and now it's totally fine.

Can I ask how much you end up getting by the end of the day? I will also pump after a few feeds during the day and I end up with about 5 oz by the end of the day. I'm training for a big race so my hubby will have to feed baby 2-3 meals a week while I am away training. I have no idea how much she eats with each feed since she is breast fed, but I feel like 5 oz isn't very much.

 

[RaquelDee]

Jessmke, I get less than you across the day, generally somewhere just under 4oz. It's actually a pretty convenient amount for freezing as that's the absolute maximum that Bub will take for a feed away from me - she's not very keen on feeding any way other than via the boob. I would think that 5oz would be a pretty good feed, though. Apparently the average daily intake for a breastfed baby from 1 - 6 months is about 25oz, and you can calculate what you need to replace a feed by dividing 25 by the number of feeds a baby has a day. So if she is having 5 feeds a day (or more) then 5oz for a feed should be fine.