The ins and outs of exclusively expressing

[MommaAlexis]

I took my pump everywhere! Including mall, parents, etc. I couldnt be tied down.

 

[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

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!

In hospital she was put on 100% formula, my milk didnt start coming in till 6 days and was complete rubbish until 10 days so until then she was almost entirely on formula but i was slowly decreasing the formula and increasing the breastmilk.

I honestly spent days in tears that it wasnt going to come in properly and trying to get the supply up! What i did was from day four i pumped every 3 hours for a good 20 minutes, occaisionaly 25 religiously. I stopped getting stressed, i drank and ate absolutely loads - think seriously crazy amounts and NOT healthy! I started taking pregnacare breastfeeding tablets too.

Once my supply came up to above what she needed i dropped it down to 15 minutes and often left it 3.5 maybe even 4 hours and this kept supply ok but didnt increase it further - now starting to think about increasing it again.

What you have to remember is your body needs to be told to produce more than you currently are and it isnt an instant reaction, it takes days for your body to adjust - hence the fact when you drop feeds later tey say only one every 5-6 days!!

My recommendation is to increase the pumping length rather than frequency and be patient it will take several days!!

How long are you pumping for now and how often?

Ladies i just wanted to share my excitement - my LO tonight has slept 4.5 hours, had bottle then 5 hours!!! Rater than the normal 2.5 to 3 hours!!! my husband is just giving her a bottle, wonder how long she'll go back for!! Unfortunately of course poor mummy has been up every 3 hours but at least she is sleeping better!!

xx

 

[ke29]

I am currently double expressing for 10 minutes (milk usually stops flowing at around 7 minutes) every 2.5 hours during the day then at night after every feed which is 3-4 hourly. I only started with my new pump yesterday and have already seen a 15ml per expression increase so I will try expressing for 15 minutes and see what happens. I am taking Domperidone and have some Fenugreek and Raspberry leaf capsules so perhaps I will start taking those as well and see what happens. I also power pump (10 mins on 10 mins off 10 mins on) although thats usually more due to being interupted by DS whilst expressing when DH isnt around.

 

[youngwife20]

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

Heloo! i agree your doing amazing. i pumped with an avent manuel for 6 months then switched to formula. my supply also varied day by day and was unpredictable but the times i didnt get as much or if i got more from one boob id just increase my pumping , so if your hoping to get your supply up when you can just power pump so pump really often but its also important if you dont get much time to pump when you can pump make sure you give you rboobs a good massage and also squeeze around the nipple area to make sure your getting all the bits of milk the pump misses that also helps you get some more. if you pump for 20 mins pump for ten hand express for 5 then massage and squeeze for 5 then if you have time try another pump thats what i did to make sure my boobs were fully empty and then i could go that little bit longer between pumps xx

 

[MommaAlexis]

I pumped for 20 mins every 3 hours day and night. My pumpathon was 20mins on, 10 off, 10on, 5off, 5on. Keep going even if milk stopped!! Sometimes it will stop and then start back up 2-3 times in those 20 mins!!

 

[Miss Broody]

Definately increase theemgth, 10 minutes isn't enough. Also you are probably going to get off mostly fotemilk if you only do that lobng and hbaby needs a mix of fore and hind!

Good luck, I am sure you.will manage it fine. X

 

[ke29]

I am feeling very chuffed with myself today as LO only had 4oz of formula yesterday AND she breastfed (in a fashion) for 40 minutes Not doing as well today though as everything I expressed over night she ate at the next feed so she has had 2 bottles of formula today, maybe even 3 (90 mls per feed). I suspect she is going through a growth spurt.

Thanks for the above post, I definately need to increase my pump times but my milk has always stopped flowing when I do stop. I am about to go and butcher a bra to make it hands free and then I can do other things while I am expressing in hope that I will be able to tolerate expressing for longer periods and can do 20-30 minutes.

 

[Miss Broody]

I am feeling very chuffed with myself today as LO only had 4oz of formula yesterday AND she breastfed (in a fashion) for 40 minutes Not doing as well today though as everything I expressed over night she ate at the next feed so she has had 2 bottles of formula today, maybe even 3 (90 mls per feed). I suspect she is going through a growth spurt.

Thanks for the above post, I definately need to increase my pump times but my milk has always stopped flowing when I do stop. I am about to go and butcher a bra to make it hands free and then I can do other things while I am expressing in hope that I will be able to tolerate expressing for longer periods and can do 20-30 minutes.[/QUOTE

How did the bra modification go?? I did wonder about this, perhaps i should have tried it as it drives me nuts!!!

Its not so much about getting more out in the 20 minutes its to tell your body look i need this much so make more!!! x

 

[Hit Girl]

Yes! Definitely butcher a bra. There's no way in hell I'd be able to pump with the double Symphony if I hadn't cut up a few cheapie sports bras.

The last week has seem me pump a total of 2.5 - 3 litres a day. I'm filling up our deep freeze quicker than I expected. Now have 67 litres in there. My obs suggested I drop a pump or extend the time between them. I'm now doing one every 3.5 hours (as opposed to 2-3 before) and giving myself 4-5 hours straight break during the night.

Weirdly, I had what I think is a light period turn up the day before yesterday. Grrr!

Hope everyone is going really well. We can do this, my lovely girlies!!!

 

[ke29]

My bra is amazing, I was so impressed with myself. The sports bra I had was miles too small but I had a bra that is too big that has a seam from top to bottom around in line with my nipples so I have cut a slit in them. Soo much easier. So far I have managed to do ironing whilst pumping and cleaned the kitchen. During the day I can feed LO at the same time as pumping as I put her bouncer chair on the bed and can sit with her, just need to find a way to do this at night as well as it takes 20 minutes to feed her so to then spend 20-30 mins pumping and all the pre and post setting up is wearing me out but I darent put the chair on the bed incase DH rolls over and knocks us both flying. If my neighbours saw me they would get the shock of their lives watching me wander round the house with this kit on but its also enabled me to express whilst DS eats his meals and therefore isnt demanding my attention. FAb fab fab!!!! Just need to up my blooming supply now so I can get ahead of her growth spurts (Or even better keep up with her and have enough to give DS his evening milk as expressed instead of cows milk).

 

[Hit Girl]

Yes, I always wonder what the neighbours would think if they saw me with these pumps strapped to my chest.

So happy the bra is working wonders!

 

[ke29]

I love it, although DH keeps threatening to take a picture 'for the album'. WEIRDO!!

Do you feed LO whilst expressing or do you do 1 after the other?

 

[Faythe]

Really struggling today

 

[ke29]

In what sense?

 

[Faythe]

Getting time to pump. Jacob has made it really hard today to put him down for 5 minutes to pump. We're currently sat here with him asleep (finally) in his wrap. But I know as soon as I unwrap him and put him down he'll wake.

Plus my supply is driving me nuts. I pumped 500ml this morning. And that was only after 3 hours so I hadn't left pumping to get engorged. As it is I pump 300ml normally in one go.

 

[alaskagrown]

Yes, I always wonder what the neighbours would think if they saw me with these pumps strapped to my chest.

So happy the bra is working wonders!

HAHAH gotta love the bras!!

I have one like in the first picture. Oh so cheesy!

I feel like the woman off Austin Powers in the second picture when I hook up the flanges!!

 

[ke29]

Getting time to pump. Jacob has made it really hard today to put him down for 5 minutes to pump. We're currently sat here with him asleep (finally) in his wrap. But I know as soon as I unwrap him and put him down he'll wake.

Plus my supply is driving me nuts. I pumped 500ml this morning. And that was only after 3 hours so I hadn't left pumping to get engorged. As it is I pump 300ml normally in one go.

Do you have a handsfree bra or could you make something similar? At a push I can bounce LO on my side whilst pumping.

How are you getting that much milk? Any tips? I am guessing you are seeing it as a bad thing. Could you cut down on the time you are expressing so your body produces less?

 

[Faythe]

Getting time to pump. Jacob has made it really hard today to put him down for 5 minutes to pump. We're currently sat here with him asleep (finally) in his wrap. But I know as soon as I unwrap him and put him down he'll wake.

Plus my supply is driving me nuts. I pumped 500ml this morning. And that was only after 3 hours so I hadn't left pumping to get engorged. As it is I pump 300ml normally in one go.

Do you have a handsfree bra or could you make something similar? At a push I can bounce LO on my side whilst pumping.

How are you getting that much milk? Any tips? I am guessing you are seeing it as a bad thing. Could you cut down on the time you are expressing so your body produces less?

I haven't and sadly my lovely sports bra is too small cup wise for me to butcher and make pumping hands free. Will have to try find a cheapie one or a crop top and make something out of it.

I wish I could tell you but I have no idea. I have never over-pumped/stimulated. I only ever pumped what I needed but my supply just kept increasing. And now I *have* to empty them both, even though it's more than I need because I get so uncomfortable, engorged and then end up with blocked ducts.

I've tried days straight of only pumping what I need in the hope my body will adjust but it doesn't.

 

[MommaAlexis]

Why don't you.donate the surplus? Lots of babies in need!

 

[Faythe]

Already sorting out donating to a hospital