The ins and outs of exclusively expressing

[MommaAlexis]

I have the same problem with my LO. She acts like she's starving whether she hasn't ate in five hours or just had 6oz. I don't get it !!

 

[alaskagrown]

I'm new to exclusively pumping and it looks like this is the place for tips and advice . My twins are a nightmare to nurse at almost 9 months and I almost quit and switched to formula like I did with my son when he was 8 months, but I've regretted that and don't want to have regrets with the twins too, so I guess I'm now (mostly) exclusively pumping. I've still been offering my breast, but they're not accepting it often

I might need to get some of that mothers milk stuff. I already take Fenugreek, alfalfa and brewers yeast, but I'm still not producing enough for two.

HOLY COW (haha, no pun intended), milking for two! Major props to you, I couldn't imagine how hard that must be! Do they eat at the same time? What's your game plan on managing the pumping and managing the twins?

Oh, and it took about a week or two for the Fenugreek to kick in, and when it did it REALLY worked well for me!

 

[alaskagrown]

I have the same problem with my LO. She acts like she's starving whether she hasn't ate in five hours or just had 6oz. I don't get it !!

I'm glad I'm not the only one then!!

Lilly CHUGS her bottle. 4 oz in about 8 minutes and I have the newborn slow-flow nipple on the bottle!!

I'm tempted to buy some of those premie sized nipples. Dr. Brown makes them.

 

[pink23]

Esmae is the same once all her milk has gone. i cant believe I have got this far. most days I pump 5-6 times a day and get about 25ozs. i do a couple of frozen then fresh. we went through a growth spurt so my freezer stash got a bit used up. xx

 

[apple84]

HOLY COW (haha, no pun intended), milking for two! Major props to you, I couldn't imagine how hard that must be! Do they eat at the same time? What's your game plan on managing the pumping and managing the twins?

Oh, and it took about a week or two for the Fenugreek to kick in, and when it did it REALLY worked well for me!

Good I'll keep taking it then and hopefully my supply will increase.

When I was breastfeeding them I nursed them at the same time for the first couple months, but after that twin A (Clara) got too distractable and I had to nurse them separately.

Honestly pumping has been quicker than breastfeeding both individually, plus I can stay in the same room as them and supervise all three kids at the same time (the twins are crawling now, so I have to keep a close eye on them). Before I would ave to put one baby in a safe place (crib, playpen, exersaucer) and put on tv for my son while I nursed the other in a dark quiet room. I hated that. This is working much better. Also they can hold their own bottles now so I don actually have to do the feeding part (although I do love to cuddle one of them if I'm not too busy).

 

[betty14]

Hey ladies, I have a question about my breast pump and figured you would prob be the experts!!

Basically I overproduce milk so get v engorged overnight so I have been expressing in the morning before my lo feeds so she is able to latch....

I have a manual Avent pump which is fine, I've used it for a week or so no problems then all of a sudden it won't suck properly and any milk I am expressing is going under the massage cushion and down my front

I have taken it back apart and put it back together and as far as I can tell there is nothing wrong.... The trouble shooting in the booklet is rubbish:shrugs:

Any ideas what's up with it or if I'm doing something wrong?

Thanks in advance ladies

X x x

 

[KatVM]

Hi Ladies! I have been exclusively pumping for the last 2 weeks but i need to up my supply a bit. Does fenugreek pills work? can i get someone advice on this please and any other suggestion to up my supply level. I am currently getting 24 ounces a day and need to get to 35 ounces to meet my sons needs

 

[Lina]

Hey ladies, I have a question about my breast pump and figured you would prob be the experts!!

Basically I overproduce milk so get v engorged overnight so I have been expressing in the morning before my lo feeds so she is able to latch....

I have a manual Avent pump which is fine, I've used it for a week or so no problems then all of a sudden it won't suck properly and any milk I am expressing is going under the massage cushion and down my front

I have taken it back apart and put it back together and as far as I can tell there is nothing wrong.... The trouble shooting in the booklet is rubbish:shrugs:

Any ideas what's up with it or if I'm doing something wrong?

Thanks in advance ladies



X x x

This is likely the white little thing that releases the milk not being attached properly, try turning it after attaching, or your massage cushion is either worn or not tight enough.

KatVM, what worked really well for me was oats, oats, oats!. Also pumping more frequently especially in the early hours of the morning. Try to pump for another 5 minutes after milk stops too.

 

[yellow11]

For various reasons I have decided to exclusivly pump feed my newborn when it arrives.
I have found I've been given no support from medical professionals and they pretty much tutted when o told them my intentions.
This thread had given me the confidence that I CAN do it. I want to succeed and I will.
Thank you ladies.

 

[Hit Girl]

Yellow11, good for you!! I'm in exactly the same boat as you and I received A LOT of crap from medical professionals - including my own obstetrician.

You CAN do this and I love how we're all here to support each other. I will be on this thread a lot.

Oh I should probably introduce myself. I've been EPing since my son was born... he's 8 weeks tomorrow. We've had major latching issues... he just won't have the boob, yet ironically I'm producing a lot of milk. I'm currently expressing around 2.5 litres a day. I fill up a small Medela bottle with each session and I put the rest in a breast milk bag in our deep freeze. I've got 42 litres frozen so far. I'm currently doing 7 - 8 sessions a day and plan on doing this until my supply is established (which I've read is about 12 weeks?). I can drop a session after that, right?

I tried my hardest to feed my LO at the breast. We had a few semi-successful goes at it in hospital but each one was very short lived. Every visit from the midwives was about trying to get him to latch. I even stayed an extra day in hospital so I could 'learn' how to breastfeed. I saw a multitude of midwives and lactation consultants. One suggested I see a chiropractor as his jaw was most likely out of alignment (complete bollocks), another was adamant about cup-feeding him only - until he learned to latch (whilst my husband and I looked on in distress - it felt so wrong), another gave me a nipple shield which he bit through and ended up with a mouthful of my blood or he'd bat it off my boob. Some amazing MWs said that long-term expressing was an option and were very supportive. Others said I MUST breastfeed him or if I can't, switch to formula. Throughout my stay I had been expressing in my hospital room with a Medela Symphony and yielding quite a bit of milk. So much so, that I was given information about donating to the milk bank. I was told I was completely crazy when I said I wanted to express by most of them. I was even told by a few that I shouldn't do it as I will end up with depression. Truth be told, trying to get him to latch on made me depressed. It was extremely stressful for the both of us. Yet the thought of expressing and feeding him my milk via a bottle filled me with a feeling of calm.

A visit from my obs on my final day in hospital was very disheartening. I told her about my plans to express when she asked how the latching issues were going. She said, "I don't mean to burst your bubble, but it's just not realistic. You will get very depressed if you express long-term. It simply can't be done. You really need to think seriously about formula or get him on the breast." I lost it emotionally and I could tell my husband wanted to slap her. In a way, her saying that to me has made me even more determined to do this. I have my follow-up appointment with her next week and I just know she's going to ask me how the breastfeeding is going.

Upon leaving hospital I was referred to the 'guru' of lactation consultants. She was the one all the tough cases went to. I didn't really get anything from the sessions and I could see she was frustrated that nothing was happening. She insisted I feed my son with a syringe while I had my finger at the roof of his mouth to 'train' him to take in the breast. Now THAT was time consuming and next to useless. After many visits she insisted he had a 'hidden' tongue-tie and said I should get it fixed as soon as possible and recommended a person to do it. I did some research online and discovered that this tongue-tie person was slammed by the paediatric community for performing unnecessary tongue-tie procedures. I never made an appointment with that doctor but I ended up taking my son to a paed surgeon for a second opinion. He had a very thorough look at my LO and said there was absolutely no evidence of a tongue-tie whatsoever. He warned me about a doctor in the city who would do unnecessary procedures and said this person will cut the muscle under the tongue if there's no obvious membrane. Scary! Boy, did we dodge a bullet. He told us that some babies just don't latch and that's okay.

We ended up getting a Medela Symphony of our own and a 280ltr deep freezer. I had been using the Swing up until then but it wasn't ideal as I was wasting a lot of precious milk when one boob wasn't being pumped and the other one was. We have about 6 bottles in the fridge on rotation. There's always one, ready to go. I record all the feeds, pumps and bags of milk in the freezer using an app called Baby Connect. I also keep a list on the freezer of all the bags I put in there (date, volume, time etc) so I can check them in and out and keep track of what needs to be used first and what's in there. I've also made my own hands-free bra which I'm wearing right now.

Yep. That's me. Sorry that was such an epic post. So amazing to meet other lovelies in the same situation as me.

 

[MommaAlexis]

HG I was told the same thing about depression!! Ugh

 

[Faythe]

Glad I found this thread. Think I might hire a Medela Symphony as I am finding it takes too long (OK, well not that long) to pump manually using my Avent pump when trying to also cram in feeding, changing, etc. Not to mention feeding myself.

 

[KatVM]

Glad I found this thread. Think I might hire a Medela Symphony as I am finding it takes too long (OK, well not that long) to pump manually using my Avent pump when trying to also cram in feeding, changing, etc. Not to mention feeding myself.

If you plan to pump long term I suggest the medela pump in style - you can usually find them used and just replace attachments for about 40 dollars

 

[Faythe]

Got the hire medela symphony arriving on Monday

 

[yellow11]

I'm gonna buy an ameda double I think.

ETA: ameda lactaline dual breast pump is what its actually called.

 

[Miss Broody]

Hi ladies, trying to get ahead of myself. LO is almost 4 weeks and exclusively on pumped milk. she currently has approx 25 oz per day and i probably produce about 28 a day.

My concern is i would like to make sure i have enough supply for the upcoming growth spurt at 6-7 weeks ish. Should i increase my pumping back to increase supply again ready for the growth spurt??

What did other people do?

I am a little concerned as i am suffering a little from engorgement already!! I have quite large boobs and they are getting so full the pump doesnt work very well at the beginning anymore! Like they are too full for the nipple to be pulled into the flange properly. (i am using Medela Symphony).

Thanks x

 

[ke29]

Hi ladies, trying to get ahead of myself. LO is almost 4 weeks and exclusively on pumped milk. she currently has approx 25 oz per day and i probably produce about 28 a day.

My concern is i would like to make sure i have enough supply for the upcoming growth spurt at 6-7 weeks ish. Should i increase my pumping back to increase supply again ready for the growth spurt??

What did other people do?

I am a little concerned as i am suffering a little from engorgement already!! I have quite large boobs and they are getting so full the pump doesnt work very well at the beginning anymore! Like they are too full for the nipple to be pulled into the flange properly. (i am using Medela Symphony).

Thanks x

Out of interest how have you managed to keep up with LO. My LO is around 50/50 expressed and formula, I was using a hospital grade pump (not Medela) which was butchering me so I now have a Medela Freestyle which is fab but I cant keep up!

 

[pink23]

Miss broody - extra pumping should make you get bigger supply. Make sure you drink plenty as this will help to. If I get ahead of myself I normaly freeze any extra so there is ask ways spare.
I think we are only in front due to esmaes stay in neonatal and she only was taking small amounts. Xx
Keep at it everyone is doing amazing xx

 

[loveandbabies]

Does anyone else's supply vary day by day, pump by pump? Sometimes I'll get 11oz and sometimes i'll get as few as 3oz. My LO is 10 weeks old today and is about 75% breastmilk, 25% FF. I started supplementing because of some jaundice in the beginning and I think it put me on a bad track as far as exclusively BF, which has now turned pumping as BF just didn't work for us. I really want to get my supply up so that I can exclusively pump and cut out the formula all together but things have been hectic and I just haven't been able to commit to pumping every couple hours. I'm good to get in 4-5 sessions a day and I know that's not doing the trick....I'm just starting to wonder if it's all worth it. Maybe it would just be simpler to switch to formula

 

[ke29]

Does anyone else's supply vary day by day, pump by pump? Sometimes I'll get 11oz and sometimes i'll get as few as 3oz. My LO is 10 weeks old today and is about 75% breastmilk, 25% FF. I started supplementing because of some jaundice in the beginning and I think it put me on a bad track as far as exclusively BF, which has now turned pumping as BF just didn't work for us. I really want to get my supply up so that I can exclusively pump and cut out the formula all together but things have been hectic and I just haven't been able to commit to pumping every couple hours. I'm good to get in 4-5 sessions a day and I know that's not doing the trick....I'm just starting to wonder if it's all worth it. Maybe it would just be simpler to switch to formula

Dont be disheartened, 75% expressed is an amazing achievement and your LO will be benefitting greatly. As I have said above my LO is 50/50 at the minute and I am proud of that. I expressed with DS and only got around 2oz a day despite feeling tied to a pump when at home but I needed to be out and about for my own sanity and I thought of his 2oz a day expressed as his daily medication! With DD I have just bought a Medela Freestyle and plan to take it out with me and express whilst out to keep up my supply this time.