I was hoping those of you with experience might be able to offer some suggestions and insights.
When do I pump?
I want to start building up my supply of frozen goodness for Jack when he starts daycare but I'm not sure when I should be pumping. Do I pump after he eats, in between meals or pump one side while he feeds off the other? Then comes all the questions about how long, am I taking anything away from him...it's very confusing. I've been pumping for about 10min after he's eaten but I'm not sure if that's the "right thing to do" and I sometimes have trouble finding the time to do this after he eats because Amy is at work and I have to focus my attention on him rather than on the pump.
Any advice or tips on what your doing or did would be greatly appreciated.
8 years ago
8 comments:
to keep building my supply, i pumped after jude ate to create the "demand" from my boobs. if you don't have time to do this, pump whenever you find 15 minutes or so.
i also pumped when j was sleeping soundly and i was super full. (especially in the morning!) i still seemed to have enough once she was hungry.
once i went back to work, i pumped every 2-3 hrs for 15-20 mins.
i hope this helps!!
I would say pump after that morning feeding - that's when I always seemed to have the most milk. I would pump for about 5-10 minutes AFTER the milk stops flowing the first time it stops.
Otherwise I wouldn't stress about it and just pump when you can. You don't want to pump TOO much because you're telling your body that you need to make a ton more milk.
I second both of the comments above. I started pumping once a day for 10 minutes in the morning after Leander's first feeding or as soon as he fell asleep for his first morning nap. I now have a store of about 40 bags, all with 3-4 oz. Also, don't stress about building up a store - you'll need it for Jack's first few days of daycare, but you'll be pumping while you're at work for the following day - no massive stored supply needed! Good luck!
I agree with everyone else. If you pump too much you'll be stimulating your boobs too much and will create a situation where you HAVE to pump or else bad things will happen. I would do what you're doing. After a couple of feedings each day. Plus like others said, for a long time I pumped in the morning on one boob and fed off the other. This kept things going even on days I didn't work and kept the supply up. For what it's worth, I did this and my daughter is almost 11 months old, I work and she is still exclusively breast fed.
You are doing it right. Like others said, don't stress too much, your body will do what it needs to do. Hang in there.
I followed the advice of the book So That's What They're For which recommended pumping in the morning, between feedings. I started pumping when my dd was around a month old also, and I would nurse her when she woke up inthe morning, play a bit, then she would go back to sleep for 30-45 minutes, and I would pump. Usually she would wake up, and eat probably 30 minutes after I had pumped. It worked well. Although, it also meant that after a couple weeks, I would wake up so full of milk. But still, it worked pretty well.
In general, I found the book I recommended above, So That's What They're For, to be really helpful. It was also a short and funny read.
Melissa in Durham
Agree with the above! I was so panicked about storage and to be honest I wish that I had followed through. When I went back to work I had a major decrease when I started pumping (when I pumped at home I could easily get 5 ounces in one session) when I went back to work I would be lucky if I would get that in 2 pumping sessions. I had to cut back on nursing and supplement with formula.
I use to get up at like 3 am to pump so then I was full again for the first morning feeding.
If you start a storage now you might be able to skip some of the night nursing and use storage (that's what I used to do). It was nice to get a 3-4 hour chunk of sleep!
As Jessie said, I started pumping once in the morning, after he'd eaten. I didn't want to create too much demand. Now that I'll be going back to work, I'm going to pump a second time before bed.
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