The ins and outs of exclusively expressing

[Emerald87]

My little girls lip tie is being lasered next Wednesday. Shallow latch, no flaring off lip no matter why I do and clicking with feeds both bottle and breast.

 

[Twinkie210]

It makes me kind of mad that I saw two LC's in the hospital and neither checked him for it, despite me saying how sore and cracked my nipples were. They just kept telling me that they needed to "toughen" up. One never observed me BFing the other looked at his latch and said it was fine since she could hear him swallowing I knew something was wrong with it, but couldn't get him to latch any other way.

 

[Hit Girl]

Ugh. Sorry I've been so MIA my lovelies. Had a series of family things we had to go away for and the internet connection on my phone wasn't great.

Emerald, I realised when I got back that I was halfway though writing you a PM the night we left and I must have fallen asleep at my laptop. Gah! Will finish that today.

GenY, if you and your little one prefer getting BM (or formula) via a bottle and not via the breast, then that's what you shall do. If feeding at the breast stresses you both out and you're both more relaxed and chilled out with the bottle - to me it's a no-brainer! That's what we do and it's great. Works perfectly for us.

The latest here, I've now got 144 litres (which is 4869.22 US oz). We now have a storage issue with our freezer space and are simply running out of room. I've filled out all the donor paperwork for the Mother's Milk Bank and have got all the required blood tests. I'll be donating 18 litres of it which they'll hopefully be collecting sooner rather than later. My husband and I both agreed that I'd wind down the pumping when we ran out of room and I've gone beyond that now. I've even got milk in my mum's freezer at her place. Yikes! We now have about 5 months worth in there. I don't know how long it will take me to wean myself but I've been told that it will have to be a very gradual process as I'm such a big producer. I got massively engorged a week ago and was ready to pack it all in. I spent the whole night in tears while my husband and baby boy were asleep. It was so painful and uncomfortable and I couldn't get it out until later in the morning. I didn't get any sleep. It was awful. I'm so terrified of it happening again. I hate getting engorged so much. I hate not being able to hold my little boy against my chest for prolonged periods of time because it often leads to a blockage/engorgement.

I've been spacing my pumps out to every 5 - 5.5 hours and even though I'm doing fewer pumps a day, my output hasn't reduced at all.

 

[MommaAlexis]

Omg!! You know pretty soon you could quit pumping and just give him bm until he's 9mo then switch to homo milk. If you got a bigger freezer lol you could do this for one more month or two then quit and he's still have bm! Crazy!!

 

[ShelbyLC]

I hope it's okay if I join here. I could really use some support and probably some advice. I apologize in advance; this may get a little long.

My twin girls were born two weeks ago at 29+5. I suffered from incompetent cervix during my pregnancy (diagnosed at 18w) and preterm labor from 21w. We always expected them to be early. We of course hoped to make it to 32 or 34 weeks, but our girls are doing very well and I couldn't be more thankful.

They began eating on their second day of life, at less than 24 hours old. I started pumping the night they were born. My first two pumping sessions awarded me with a total of 4oz. After that, I had 24 hours of absolutely nothing. I continued pumping, and two days after the girls were born, my milk came in. Since the girls are still in the NICU and will remain there for another month at least, I am pumping exclusively for now.

I have been pumping 7-9 times a day for 15-40 minutes each time (depending on the time of day - mornings usually take the longest), and I get 70-85oz per day. I currently have 500oz in my freezer and approximately 40oz in the freezer at the NICU.

Some days, I have a really hard time with this. Part of me resents the pump. I hate so many parts of this and most of the time, I really want to quit. But I want to be stronger than this. I want to give my babies breasmilk and I don't want to throw away the chance of feeding them at the breast when they come home. I know they may not ever take to the breast, as they will be given bottles in the NICU when they are old enough, but I want to be able to try.

I never expected this to be so hard. Will there be a point where it just becomes part of my day and I don't think much about it? Will the awful nipple pain ever go away? How do I say sane? Does it get easier?

 

[Faythe]

I've come to the end of my EP'ing journey. With such a huge oversupply, no matter what, a pump will never drain the breast as well as a baby, and as such I am constantly suffering with blocked ducts.

It's making me miserable, impacting my health and ruining my time with Jacob.

Good luck to the rest of you and well done for going so long. I've only managed just over 9 weeks, but I'm glad I gave Jacob the best start he could.

 

[Sproglet]

Shelby- can't they feed the twins some way other than the bottle? Like finger feeding? Then you could transition to breast via a SNS or lact aid that would make it easier for them to get milk at the breast and then hopefully to actual breastfeeding.

 

[Emerald87]

I hope it's okay if I join here. I could really use some support and probably some advice. I apologize in advance; this may get a little long.

My twin girls were born two weeks ago at 29+5. I suffered from incompetent cervix during my pregnancy (diagnosed at 18w) and preterm labor from 21w. We always expected them to be early. We of course hoped to make it to 32 or 34 weeks, but our girls are doing very well and I couldn't be more thankful.

They began eating on their second day of life, at less than 24 hours old. I started pumping the night they were born. My first two pumping sessions awarded me with a total of 4oz. After that, I had 24 hours of absolutely nothing. I continued pumping, and two days after the girls were born, my milk came in. Since the girls are still in the NICU and will remain there for another month at least, I am pumping exclusively for now.

I have been pumping 7-9 times a day for 15-40 minutes each time (depending on the time of day - mornings usually take the longest), and I get 70-85oz per day. I currently have 500oz in my freezer and approximately 40oz in the freezer at the NICU.

Some days, I have a really hard time with this. Part of me resents the pump. I hate so many parts of this and most of the time, I really want to quit. But I want to be stronger than this. I want to give my babies breasmilk and I don't want to throw away the chance of feeding them at the breast when they come home. I know they may not ever take to the breast, as they will be given bottles in the NICU when they are old enough, but I want to be able to try.

I never expected this to be so hard. Will there be a point where it just becomes part of my day and I don't think much about it? Will the awful nipple pain ever go away? How do I say sane? Does it get easier?

Welcome Shelby!

Damnit! My post got lost. I was answering your questions and I will try to re-write what I lost (although my previous answers were longer but I can't remember exactly what I wrote). These answers are based on my personal experience; everyone's is different.

Congrats on your little girls. I was following you on the IC thread too.

Yes - give yourself another 2-4 weeks to adjust. I don't resent my pump as much as I used to. I don't obsess over pump times and I don't cry every time I pump. I was crying every single day - over the monotony, the physical pain, the fact I wasn't BF'ing. I was in such a bad way I thought of self harm. It was awful. But it does go away. I'm happy to get up at 1am and pump now. Doesn't really bother me (only bothers me when I sleep through it and end up with massive boobies!!). I function. I do my day to day routine. I even leave the house without my pump now!

The nipple pain WILL ease - I promise. I wondered the same thing. Make sure you have a great pump. Make sure you have correct flange sizes - I have a large on my right and a medium on my left. ALSO, coat the flange where your nipple rubs with olive oil. It lubricates it and I found was a massive help.
IMO Lanisnoh doesn't help at all and I wasted my money on a huge tube of it. I use hydrogel soothing breast pads.

Your supply sounds great and there will be a day that you can go from 9-10 pumps a day down to 6-8 and occasionally miss one without have a massive panic attack.

People always said to me "relax when pumping" and I honestly felt like punching them. How the hell was I suppose to relax with this machine "mooing" at me? Well it's true - you get better yield and it makes the time go quicker. I either play on my phone (reading I can has cheeseburger) or I read my "pump book" which at the moment is a guide on baby sleep. I'm going to move onto a novel next week. It'll make me look forward to pumping!! Because I'll only be allowed to continue the story when I'm attached to the pump

You're giving your girls a great start. Congratulations. I hope this helps.

 

[Emerald87]

I've come to the end of my EP'ing journey. With such a huge oversupply, no matter what, a pump will never drain the breast as well as a baby, and as such I am constantly suffering with blocked ducts.

It's making me miserable, impacting my health and ruining my time with Jacob.

Good luck to the rest of you and well done for going so long. I've only managed just over 9 weeks, but I'm glad I gave Jacob the best start he could.

Congratulations on coming so far; 9 weeks is amazing! You're doing the right thing - you need to put your health and bonding with your baby boy first. I hope you feel better soon. Do you have a small amount of frozen stock to keep giving him BM for a little longer?

 

[Hit Girl]

Faythe, you poor thing! Blockages are horrendous and I completely understand why you've arrived at this decision. You have done an amazing job to get this far. You've gone above and beyond what most would do and you should be so proud of yourself and totally chuffed about what an amazing mummy you are. Your little fella is very lucky to have you. You're doing the right thing... happy mummy = happy baby.

 

[Faythe]

I have a HUGE freezer stash. Will keep us going for a week or two, appetite depending

Not sure how long it'll take to dry up my supply but every other pumping session I freeze some milk, so he'll have loads by the time I'm high 'n dry.

Taking sudafed to help drop the supply. Also STILL waiting for my GP to call with regards to a prescription to help.

Thanks ladies It's a sad day to have come to this decision but I cannot cope with the pain anymore. Even once a blockage is cleared, the duct is still sore and inflamed for a day or two. What's the use in EP'ing if I can't even hold my little boy?

Got to do what's right for me healthwise

xx

 

[pink23]

You've done fab fayethe xx
I'm now combi feeding as my freezer stash has gone and not getting enough each day. I'm happy though , it's a hard job expressing and I am happy I nearly got to 7monthd. I currently do a early morning bf the. Pump when I get up and when I go to bed so at least one bottle is ebm.
If I ever have another baby I am not going to let diabetes affect me and I will try and bf but at least I know the challenges of pumping xx

 

[ShelbyLC]

Sproglet - I've asked if I could feed them at the breast in the NICU, but the nurses have to record the amount eaten at each feeding. I haven't asked about finger feeding or cup feeding. I really, really want to be able to feed the girls at the breast when they come home, but if it isn't possible, I won't be completely crushed. Before they were born (and before we knew they'd be preemies) I had actually planned to also start pumping, so that I could also have the ease of bottles with the benefits of breastfeeding. It will be really sad to me if I can only ever exclusively express for them, and I worry I won't be able to work pumping into my schedule once I have twins at home, but I'll have to cross that bridge when I get to it.


Emerald - Thank you! Thank you for saying it gets easier! How long does it take for the nipple pain to go away? I feel like it's gotten better over the last few days, though it still hurts to face the spray of water in the shower. I'm renting a Medela Symphony and the LC at the hospital fitted me with 27mm flanges. I don't think I'm using the wrong size, though I will admit that during the first week, it didn't really occur to me to position my nipple in the center of the tube so that it didn't rub the sides Now that I do that, it's much better.

The idea with the book is absolutely great! My only problem is that I'm pumping into 2.5oz bottles as that's what the hospital gave me, and I fill two bottles in 5-6 minutes. So I have to be careful not to pay too much attention to anything else, or I end up over-flowing. I'm going to Babies R Us today to find some larger bottles to pump into, though, so maybe that will help make things less stressful too! I'll also try the olive oil. I'd heard about using it, but wasn't sure how well it worked. It's nice to know it does actually do some good.

 

[pink23]

Shelby - have a look at the long bottles . We have them at our £ shops and my pump kit fits in it nicely . I used to use these for morning expressing they gild about 250 ml I think x

 

[Twinkie210]

I don't know if all medela pumps are the same, but mine are the same size as my regular bottles (Dr. Brown) so I sometimes pump into those so they work double duty Plus I am able to get more use out of the 4oz bottles, since little guy eats too much to use them at feedings. Also if there is a speed/suction setting you may want to turn it down and it may make pumping more comfortable.

 

[Emerald87]

Yeah the olive oil is great - it'll also soften your poor beaten up nips at the same time. Give yourself another 2 weeks before the nipple pain goes. It'll progressively get better of course but to be comfortable it'll be around week 4-5. However the shower thing might not change - but then again I've never been able to put my nips under direct shower stream.

I know those little bottles. I quickly filled mine too. When you hired the pump did you purchase the double pumping kit? Mine had two 5 oz bottles included.

And to be honest, although things are infinitely better I still stress over volumes (yet I have an abundant supply). It's a mum thing

 

[ShelbyLC]

I've been using the kit that I was given in the hospital, which is a double pump kit - two 24mm flanges (which I don't use), two 27mm flanges, valves and connectors, tubing, two 2.5oz bottles and two 1oz bottles (which I used until my milk came in). Today I got some 8oz bottles to pump into and they're wonderful. It's so nice to not have to worry about overflowing every 5 minutes! I didn't even think about trying to attach Dr. Browns bottles, which I have, though. Could have saved myself $17 but oh well. Wasn't a wasted trip - I also got some Medela Soft Shells.

 

[Hit Girl]

Lovely Shelby, it definitely DOES get easier. My little guy is just shy of 15 weeks and the whole pumping thing has felt very routine for a long while now. I've managed to get down to just 4-5 pumps a day and I'm getting 3 litres out of that.

What do you use to freeze your milk? If you're using the bags, store them lying down flat. So much easier to stack like that. I was freezing mine upright at first and they end up being bulky and taking up heaps of room.

I've also had the nip sensitivity under the shower. Yowzers!

 

[ShelbyLC]

Lovely Shelby, it definitely DOES get easier. My little guy is just shy of 15 weeks and the whole pumping thing has felt very routine for a long while now. I've managed to get down to just 4-5 pumps a day and I'm getting 3 litres out of that.

What do you use to freeze your milk? If you're using the bags, store them lying down flat. So much easier to stack like that. I was freezing mine upright at first and they end up being bulky and taking up heaps of room.

I've also had the nip sensitivity under the shower. Yowzers!

I am using storage bags and I really never thought of laying them flat to store! I will definitely start doing that now - seems like it would save a lot of space, and I definitely need to get the most out of the little space I have. I also store some milk in bottles for the NICU (they only accept milk in one type of bottle, which they provide) but that doesn't stay in my freezer very long. I usually take that milk to the NICU as soon as it's frozen.

 

[Hit Girl]

Shelby, the other thing I suggest is keeping an inventory of all the bags you freeze. I have a clipboard full of pages listing all the bags in our deep freeze. I did the form up in InDesign. It's got Date, Time, Volume and Bundle#. I bundle my milk bags together with rubber bands in batches of 5 or so and then I label them by sliding a piece of paper with the number under the bands. It helps to keep them organised and in order as opposed to having them all loose in there.
The other tip I have is using an app like Baby Connect to keep track of all your feeds, pumping sessions and what you freeze. This has been invaluable for us. You can create a profile for each child. I created a profile called 'Freezer' and each time I add a bag to the stash, I enter it as a bottle and add the volume and time. It adds up the total of what I have in there overall. So helpful.
To do this pumping thing properly, it really is worth being super organised about it. Really saves you in the long run.