Exclusively pumping?

Ericaa

Hello!
I just wanted to know if anyone here is exclusively pumping? I'd like to hear your stories as I've been doing it for almost three months now, it sure is tough going.
Also, how much breast milk does you baby take per feed from the bottle?

wmpdd3

I did it for 3 weeks in 2010, I hated every minute of it. It really got me down. I am in awe of you keep going for this long. I think it is way harder than breastfeeding. You do double work for each feed. And you have to clean bottles!

At 3 months old on my second I was pumping about 3.5 oz in 20mins, both boobs and he would take that and then have another feed 2 hrs later. (I didnt start solid food until he was 6 and a half months).

Squiggler

Is there any reason why you're not breastfeeding? As already said, bf is so much easier.

My sister-in-law pumped exclusively for the first 3 months of her little guy's life as he was premature and it was the only way to get him breast milk in the hospital (not here in Ireland) - she found it very rough going. Once he was home she switched to bf and found it so much easier.

Fair play to you though, I've expressed twice in the last 3 months, and while I had no problem filling a bottle the sterilising and washing and faffing about would drive me crazy if I had to do it all the time.

liliq

There's a great thread in the Breastfeeding section of Rollercoaster.ie that is dedicated to exclusively pumping mums. They won't turn around and suggest formula as a default!
It's hard work to pump at all, huge kudos to you for exclusively pumping.

littlemissfixit

Did it for 6 weeks with my first because she had trouble feeding, it was so hard. I could express at best 3-4oz at a time, and had to top up with formula from time to time, so even though I dont remember the amount she was taking now, it must have been more than2-3oz at 6 weeks. After that got on to exclusively breastfeeding. With my second I wanted to express so I would have rreserves for bottles later on, done it twice and it reminded me of the hard time I had first time around so much that I gave up! Fair play to you! My sis in law did it for her two boys, for the only reason that she wasnt confident enough not knowing how much they were getting.

Ericaa

wmpdd3 wrote: »

I did it for 3 weeks in 2010, I hated every minute of it. It really got me down. I am in awe of you keep going for this long. I think it is way harder than breastfeeding. You do double work for each feed. And you have to clean bottles!

At 3 months old on my second I was pumping about 3.5 oz in 20mins, both boobs and he would take that and then have another feed 2 hrs later. (I didnt start solid food until he was 6 and a half months).

Oh, I presume you mean you were getting 3.5oz all together from both boobs, not per boob right?

I'm pumping every 3-4 hours, (when I'm good :P ), and I get between 8-10oz, I used to get more, but due to being lazy, my milk reduced!

Squiggler wrote: »

Is there any reason why you're not breastfeeding? As already said, bf is so much easier.

My sister-in-law pumped exclusively for the first 3 months of her little guy's life as he was premature and it was the only way to get him breast milk in the hospital (not here in Ireland) - she found it very rough going. Once he was home she switched to bf and found it so much easier.

Fair play to you though, I've expressed twice in the last 3 months, and while I had no problem filling a bottle the sterilising and washing and faffing about would drive me crazy if I had to do it all the time.

I breastfed for the first 36 hours of his life, but it was a lot of hassle with him latching on, the midwifes said I have flat nipples, so it wasn't easy for him! So that's when I started pumping.
Lot's of people say that breast feeding is a lot easier, but for me it doesn't really seem that different. My biggest issue is that I will not do it in front of anyone, other than my partner and his mother. So I'm slightly imprisoned haha. When I was pumping loads of milk, I had enough bottles filled for the day to go out and not worry about feeds!
If I was just breast feeding I wouldn't get that chance, if you get what I mean!
Surprisingly, I don't really mind all the sterilising haha.

liliq wrote: »

There's a great thread in the Breastfeeding section of Rollercoaster.ie that is dedicated to exclusively pumping mums. They won't turn around and suggest formula as a default!
It's hard work to pump at all, huge kudos to you for exclusively pumping.

Thank you!

littlemissfixit wrote: »

Did it for 6 weeks with my first because she had trouble feeding, it was so hard. I could express at best 3-4oz at a time, and had to top up with formula from time to time, so even though I dont remember the amount she was taking now, it must have been more than2-3oz at 6 weeks. After that got on to exclusively breastfeeding. With my second I wanted to express so I would have rreserves for bottles later on, done it twice and it reminded me of the hard time I had first time around so much that I gave up! Fair play to you! My sis in law did it for her two boys, for the only reason that she wasnt confident enough not knowing how much they were getting.

I totally understand your sister in law haha. I tried breast feeding about two weeks ago, and after two months of taking bottles and dummies, he was suddenly a feeding master. Little miracles aren't they haha. But I felt a little lost not knowing how much he had taken!

Fri.Day

I also pumped like a mad thing!
Without being to patronising good on ya for doing it for 3 months.
I couldn`t get my little fella to latch on at all, ive small boobs so when i had milk it made latching near impossible. Also got no aerola and inverted nipples
So wanting to do my best I pumped and pumped (and pumped)
KellyMom has a calculator to ease your worry about volume, I always seemed to be a little behind on production so baby had 1 Aptimil every day or 2.
http://kellymom.com/bf/pumpingmoms/pumping/milkcalc/
It`s tough work because although baby slept through the night from early on, I was still surfing the net and pumping every 3 hours and every hour (power pumping ) every now and then.
After a while I started giving baby 2 feeds of Aptimil throughout the day cos I was back to work at 4weeks and began to freeze some for down the road.
Now at nearly 5 months he has 200ml once a week
Next time I`m getting a double pump though...:D

wmpdd3

OP, what ever works for you!

It was 3oz from both boobs after 20 minutes, but both my babies were small feeders. Even now they eat like birds, they were both well over 12 months by the time the reached average weight on the PHN chart, but were fine on the WHO chart.

As long as you're happy thats the main thing. I felt I was 'trapped' attached the the bl**dy pump. I had visions of the milking parlour! But if it suits you and you're happy, good for you.

Its great that baby took to nipple and switched back to bottles with out hassel. Some mums have hell with nipple confusion.

Is it the way you planned or did you plan bottles or breast or pump and feed all along?

Mrs Fox

+1 on rollercoaster.ie.Helped me through exclusive pumping my first bub for 2 months after having suffered from severe cracked nipples from latching.
Some people can be very condenscending when one cannot breastfeed directly. You won't get those type of smarty pants on rollercoaster.

Ericaa

Fri.Day wrote: »

I also pumped like a mad thing!
Without being to patronising good on ya for doing it for 3 months.
I couldn`t get my little fella to latch on at all, ive small boobs so when i had milk it made latching near impossible. Also got no aerola and inverted nipples
So wanting to do my best I pumped and pumped (and pumped)
KellyMom has a calculator to ease your worry about volume, I always seemed to be a little behind on production so baby had 1 Aptimil every day or 2.
http://kellymom.com/bf/pumpingmoms/pumping/milkcalc/
It`s tough work because although baby slept through the night from early on, I was still surfing the net and pumping every 3 hours and every hour (power pumping ) every now and then.
After a while I started giving baby 2 feeds of Aptimil throughout the day cos I was back to work at 4weeks and began to freeze some for down the road.
Now at nearly 5 months he has 200ml once a week
Next time I`m getting a double pump though...:D

Wow, good on ya!
That calculator is completely way off for my little person. It tells me he should be having around 125ml a feed, when he usually has at least 200ml
Thank you very much for the link though!

Yeah, I'm investing in a double pump in the next month or so, I can't wait! haha

wmpdd3 wrote: »

OP, what ever works for you!

It was 3oz from both boobs after 20 minutes, but both my babies were small feeders. Even now they eat like birds, they were both well over 12 months by the time the reached average weight on the PHN chart, but were fine on the WHO chart.

As long as you're happy thats the main thing. I felt I was 'trapped' attached the the bl**dy pump. I had visions of the milking parlour! But if it suits you and you're happy, good for you.

Its great that baby took to nipple and switched back to bottles with out hassel. Some mums have hell with nipple confusion.

Is it the way you planned or did you plan bottles or breast or pump and feed all along?

Haha, I do often think of myself as a cow in the shed sometimes :P
Yeah I was really surprised, I had read a lot about nipple confusion so I thought at this stage there'd be no hope.

I had originally planned to pump but mainly breastfeed, just so I could be away from baby without having to supplement with formula, not that I really planned on being away from him much haha. It's also nice to have dad, and others family members being involved in feeding!

Mrs Fox wrote: »

+1 on rollercoaster.ie.Helped me through exclusive pumping my first bub for 2 months after having suffered from severe cracked nipples from latching.
Some people can be very condenscending when one cannot breastfeed directly. You won't get those type of smarty pants on rollercoaster.

Yeah I'm surprised at the outlook some people have. My friend is also EPing, but her mother thinks we're ridiculous for doing it, and constantly asks why we don't just switch to formula.


Thanks for the support everyone! It's nice to have your input!

lounakin

Wow! I am truly amazed... I have no idea how you kept it up so long! And the fact that you chose such a hard alternative to give your baby breastmilk at all cost is admirable.
I tried pumping, I wanted to have one or two feeds from a bottle so someone else besides me could feed my baby. For 2 weeks I had to pump all day long to try and get enough to skip a feed! It was absolute hell. I got a feed's worth but then I had to pump while she was being fed just to keep it up so there was no point for me. I was ever able to build it up!

missis aggie

I was exclusively pumping for 7.5 months after breastfeeding didn't work out. Its a very hard work but its possible. I stopped when my daughter start being more mobile and I didn't have time any more. I manage 3 growth spurts. There is a lot of interesting reading on the internet. But I have to say I'm pregnant with my second and I will do everything to breastfeed as I defenatly won't have time to pump:) remember that any amount of breast milk has huge benefit for your baby
Good luck

Mind Hunter 85

Hi Ericaa

I exclusively pumped for my twins for 13 months. Its really really tough but it seemed to get easier as time went on.
By 6.5 months I decided to drop my night time pumping session but still had a really early morning one.
I dropped from 8 pumps to 7 pumps a day at 4 months. then 6 pumps per day at 6.5 months.
I Used a hospital grade pump most of the time (double electric) Medela
My babies were taking 150ml per feed at 4 months.
My milk supply was good but slowly reducing to almost nothing by 13 months but that was my plan anyway dropping pumps and time of each pumping session.
Good luck to you.

liliq

ASTA20 wrote: »

Hi Ericaa

I exclusively pumped for my twins for 13 months. Its really really tough but it seemed to get easier as time went on.
By 6.5 months I decided to drop my night time pumping session but still had a really early morning one.
I dropped from 8 pumps to 7 pumps a day at 4 months. then 6 pumps per day at 6.5 months.
I Used a hospital grade pump most of the time (double electric) Medela
My babies were taking 150ml per feed at 4 months.
My milk supply was good but slowly reducing to almost nothing by 13 months but that was my plan anyway dropping pumps and time of each pumping session.
Good luck to you.

Legend!

wmpdd3

ASTA20 wrote: »

Hi Ericaa

I exclusively pumped for my twins for 13 months. Its really really tough but it seemed to get easier as time went on.
By 6.5 months I decided to drop my night time pumping session but still had a really early morning one.
I dropped from 8 pumps to 7 pumps a day at 4 months. then 6 pumps per day at 6.5 months.
I Used a hospital grade pump most of the time (double electric) Medela
My babies were taking 150ml per feed at 4 months.
My milk supply was good but slowly reducing to almost nothing by 13 months but that was my plan anyway dropping pumps and time of each pumping session.
Good luck to you.

O Jez, I nearly fell of my chair!!!

OP fair play to you for keeping going, its amazing how the 70's mums were sold on formula in Ardkeen and Airmount! (Waterford hospitals)

Pump AND Bottle feed two babies!!

Yep legend.

I really started getting lazy at the night feed as it doidnt make sense to wake up other half to feed baby as we used to do during the day. So setting the alarm, getting all the grea and pumping in bed and then feeding baby just wore me out. After that I switched to formula.

On baby number two, I used nipple shield iuntil 6 weeks, by then we could do the latch thing!

luppy

I've been pumping for 3 weeks now and I hate it...my baby was 6 weeks premature so I know it's the best thing for him. I'm pumping as the little lad was in nicu, HUD and scbu for 2 weeks and I suppose didn't get a chance to latch on, get used to the breast, develop suck etc. I really want to give it up as I feel my life is dominated my feeds and pumping. I'm going to talk to my phn tomorrow re the best way to go onto bottles. I've enough breast milk in the freezer to last about 2 weeks. My question is...how do u stop milk production?

shelly6

Wow! Fair play to ye!
I couldn't do it! I've a pretty good supply, but it still takes me a few pumping sessions to build up a full feed. She always takes a lot more than I can pump in one go!

Fri.Day

luppy wrote: »

I've been pumping for 3 weeks now and I hate it...my baby was 6 weeks premature so I know it's the best thing for him. I'm pumping as the little lad was in nicu, HUD and scbu for 2 weeks and I suppose didn't get a chance to latch on, get used to the breast, develop suck etc. I really want to give it up as I feel my life is dominated my feeds and pumping. I'm going to talk to my phn tomorrow re the best way to go onto bottles. I've enough breast milk in the freezer to last about 2 weeks. My question is...how do u stop milk production?

To stop completely what I did over 3/4 weeks was firstly pick a day you`re gonna stop guilt free.
Then first pump session in the morning express 70% of your usual time/volume, don`t pump until early evening 4/5 pm and do 50% then just before your bedtime express another maybe 80%
Do this for a week, Then reduce time/volume in the second week and by the 3rd or 4th weeks you may stop altogether.
Emptying the breasts signals the body to produce more so taking a tiny bit says thats all you need
This way I was relieving the pressure, avoiding mastitis and signaling my body to cease production.
Wear breast pads for leaks, and massage any lumps if they occur.
Hope that helps
It took me 7 weeks til my first period so we`re trying for #2 these days

Fri.Day

shelly6 wrote: »

Wow! Fair play to ye!
I couldn't do it! I've a pretty good supply, but it still takes me a few pumping sessions to build up a full feed. She always takes a lot more than I can pump in one go!

Try power pumping...
I didn`t have a good supply while pumping so what I did is on a day when you`re not leaving the house and have a bit of support, pump every hour for 15mins each boob. Try to do it from early morning (7am) til late evening (11) It`s a lot but it`s not every day and your body should catch up. I still supplemented with 1 formula feed every day or 2 but he still got the good stuff...

mrsberries

I pumped for my little one as I spent the first two week of her life trying to get her to latch and failing (even with lots of support and help!) Kept it up for 4 and a half months and dont regret it or the time I had to put into it. I did however have to supplement one night bottle with formula as my supply wouldnt have been as strong as if I was bfing directly. I do hope to do it it "properly" however when my baby arrives next June as I would have loved that closeness

Ericaa

ASTA20 wrote: »

My babies were taking 150ml per feed at 4 months.
My milk supply was good but slowly reducing to almost nothing by 13 months but that was my plan anyway dropping pumps and time of each pumping session.
Good luck to you.

Wow good on ya, and thanks for replying!
My little guy only turned three months yesterday, he's taking 200ml per feed, it seems to be a lot more than anyone else I've heard of. I'm just wondering if maybe my milk isn't nutritious enough or something?
He's perfectly healthy though, so I should probably stop worrying!

Mind Hunter 85

Ericaa wrote: »

Wow good on ya, and thanks for replying!
My little guy only turned three months yesterday, he's taking 200ml per feed, it seems to be a lot more than anyone else I've heard of. I'm just wondering if maybe my milk isn't nutritious enough or something?
He's perfectly healthy though, so I should probably stop worrying!

I think all babies are different, a friend thought it was crazy that they took so much as her baby breastfed and only fed for like a 5 mins max per feed but did so like 16 times a day:eek:
But it's really what they're used to and if he needs that much I wouldn't worry if he's gaining weight. I'm sure your milk is just fine.
Actually now that you mention it my milk was very fatty in the first six months so maybe that's why they needed less.
I read online that the fat content of breast milk varies at the different stages and also even due to different ethnicity.