Pumping Exclusively

[aylie]

Hi



Just wanted to find out if there are any mummies who are feeding their breastmilk via bottles exclusively. My bb usually falls asleep on the breast and after 3 weeks of trying to get her to feed longer so she can go beyond the 1-2 hours feeding pattern, I have decided to give up latching and go to EBM (expressing breastmilk). So far it has worked well because she can take in about 100-120ml EBM each time and last for about 2-3hrs.



(Please do not ask me to try methods like taking bb's diapers off, putting a wet towel on bb's face, tickling her cheek, feet, hands, to wake her up. I have tried everything recommended by lactation nurses and websites and NOTHING can get her to feed on the breast longer than 10 mins)



Now that I am starting to pump exclusively, I would like to know if there are other mothers that are doing this? How do you pump when you are out shopping with bb? Do you pump first then feed bb directly? Where do you pump - toilet, nursing room or in public as you would if you were latching on? Do you bring refrigerated EBM in the bag and heat it up when she cries?



Any mummies who are also pumping exclusively and can share info on how to best manage the bb's feeding and your pumping schedule simultaneously will be very helpful!

 

[queenie123]

I have this problem with my baby too. I've been trying to be as patient as I can feeding on the breast, so have been expressing for almost all feeds. Much More work but no choice! When going out for less than 3 hours, I will bring bottle milk with icepack + a flask of hot water. When baby wants to drink, then it's ready after heating up. It's tough!

 

[aylie]

Hi Queenie how long have you been exclusively pumping? I haven't really gone out with my baby yet.. she is 5 weeks old now, so i am wondering where i can pump (can i go nursing room? I don't really want to use the toilet, sounds so yucky) and if i am alone with her, how can i bring her to pump while she is crying/ waiting for milk?



Any experienced mummies who have successfully pumped can share their tips, especially on managing the 2 schedules (pumping schedule and baby feeding schedule) when alone with baby?

 

[dreamababy]

hihi Aylie

I have been doing exclusive pumping ever since my gal is 1 month old cos she doesnt wan to latch....



And now she is 1yr 2 month already and I have just stopped pumping.



For exclusive pumping, I will not do any demand feeding... instead i will do schedule feeding... so that I can pump before my gal start to feel hungry.... so that u wont be stress while u pumping and she wanna drink milk....



I will always go to the nursing room... Cos I feel that toilet is not hygenic at all since u need to give it to baby to drink...



Thats why I would believe that the nursing room is not only for mothers who need to latch bb... but also applies to we mothers who is doing exclusive pumping...



When I went back to work, lucky part is that my office has a lactation room.. there are many mothers who are doing pumping also... so we can motivate one another and have lasted until now... hee...



The pumping becomes so routine that I feel lost when I totally stopped...I also wondered how I can be so determined to do this throughout for so long. ..

 

[babyheng]

hello! on this topic of exclusive pumping...how much milk output per day is considered okay? i can pump out about 1-1.2L per day but unsure if that will be is an adequate supply for a baby till she's 6 mths old? i doubt i can yield more than that!!

 

[ah_bur]

hi, i am also a mommy like dreamababy who's baby does not latch, i pump exclusively for a yr too be4 stopping. nvr pump in a toliet, cause its not very hygenic..always use a nursing rm, most of the shopping ctr are equip with a nursing rm so not to worry. i even pump in the car sometimes, using the batt pak..onie time i pump in the toliet is whn i went japan for holiday w/o my dotter as i threw the ebm away after pumpin whn my dotter is about 9 mos old...

cant realli remember how much supply i yield but it was enough for her, i even gave away my frozen ebm as my freezer run out of space...my dotter feeds every 3 hrly about 160ml per feed except at nite which is wakes up once btwn 2-4 am which i substitute for FM cause she can't wait for the EBM to be warmed up...

 

[joodz]

me me! i am an exclusive pumper.. or rather, i WAS, because i recently stopped EPing about a month ago.



never regret my choice of EPing, though sometimes i wished i could just do away with the hassle of pumps and everything else and just latch that hungry milk monster right away.



i chose the route of EPing because of MIL pressure. she was cynical and did not believe i had milk and wanted to "see" the results. my milk came on the 7th day, though i had droplets of colustrum here and there.



my schedule was to pump every 1.5hhrs for the first week to stimulate supply, and when my milk came in i switched to every 2 hrs. day or night. very tiring, but that period of time passed pretty quickly. 4 weeks of 2hrly pumping, and i switched to 3 hourly, day and night, for the 2nd mth. 3rd mths onwards i switched to every 4hrly. once my body got used to 4hrly pumps without a drop in supply, i took off the night pumps, so my pumping schedule was 8am, 12pm, 4pm, 8pm and 12am. i got to sleep from 12am to 8am, no/little engorgement. but in the day if i miss the pump for as little as 1 hr i start getting engorged. i think its my body adapting and thinking that baby no need drink at night but need to produce more in the day. my last milk supply count was about 700ml per pump.. i was one of those over supply cases and had to look for ways to decrease supply cos of the engorgement i had to go through. i EPed for 3.5mths only, but i had enough supply to stock up a 90L chest freezer. my supply lasted her till close to 6mths. i am happy cos i reached my target.



my reason for stopping EPing is because i had mastitis 3 times in the 3.5mths, and the last one was soooo bad i was certain i was going to die of pain. it coincided with me going back to work and i had no time to pump. pumped in the toilet but not hygienic. i am the only one of 2 girls in the office and the guys werent really happy with bags of bm in the fridge. i got mastitis on not one, but TWO breasts, and the lumps were sooo big. i still remember howling and pumping at the same time(had to pump cos engorgement will be worse). but i knew i did my best and gave her all i could.



my hubby supports my choice of EPing because he got to feed baby as well, and he said that feeling was really priceless as he felt a little jealous in the first week when i was latching on. now my hubby is very good with baby. he can bring baby out alone on a baby carrier without troubles. and because of the standard schedule most EPing mothers stick to(without needing to stick to babies crying cues), the milk supply is also more stable. milk supply decrease, no worries, just pump slightly longer! milk supply too much, drop pumps! but of course, washing is hell, with all the bottles and pump parts.



whether to bf or EP, i think got good and bad.. whichever works for the mummy..



my very long 2cents worth..

 

[verluv]

Joodzjoodz, wow, i think you are the rare mummy that a lot of mummies envy! i pump till sian still get max 120ml per every 4 hours. Now already 11 weeks, think no chance to increase supply any more! Sianz...

 

[aylie]

2ww i think if you increase the pumping timing each time you pump, you can still increase your milk supply..

 

[verluv]

Hi Aylie,



i did increase the pumping time. I pump for 30 mins each time but still i yield the same. recently even worst.. the supply seems to be dropping. Really feel like giving up.

 

[spicybaby]

I pump exclusively cos it hurts badly when I tried to breastfeed, maybe cos of my flat nipple.



I have brought my 5weeks old BB out for a whole day (12hr), what I did was feed her before going out. Pump before going out so that you don't need to pump again until few hours later. Since just pumped, bring along one serving of freshly pumped EBM so that bb can drink immed if she wants. I also brought along 3 bottles of chilled EBM in cooler bag. I did not bring hot water, I just buy or ask from restaurant. Just happened that whenever she wanna feed, I happened to be at a eating place. Some nursing room has hot water supply too! I also bring along some formula milk cos I kiasu and am afraid that bb drinks more and I run out of EBM n has nowhere to express.



I usually express in nursing room, some nursing room even have socket by the sofa seat for electric breast pump. I use my medela portable breast pump so I don't have to worry about power supply.



I don't usually follow a pumping schedule cos it is diff to coincide with bb's schedule, so pump whenever I have time to spare, like when bb is sleeping. Now I can usually get 300ml every 4-6hr pump.



Btw, how long do u mummies keep the EBM in the freezer? I read differrent websites and their guideline varies. Can keep 3 months or 6 months? Im using Normal household fridge's freezer...

 

[aylie]

Hello



Sorry for the long absence from this thread. It is now Oct 2011 and i pumped exclusively until 31 Sep. Baby is still on BM (frozen), despite my stopping for about 1 month now.



I would consider myself fairly successful at pumping exclusively despite the negative remarks passed from hospitals (nurses, docs all discourage EP saying that it will decrease milk supply). I did it for 5 months, had so much milk that i could freeze them, i built up more than 120-150 milk bags in the 5 months i EP such that my freezer was completely filled with FBM. I was pumping about 280 - 300ml (sometimes even more) at every 4 hour interval. My bb drank only 120ml each 3-3.5hrs so all the excess is frozen, i keep a spare 120ml in the fridge as she drinks every 3hrs and i pump every 4 hours. When i try to lengthen my pumping time, i was doing about 400-450ml every 6 hours. (The total milk amount dropped by i was still more than enough for my baby).



All this EP meant that i could easily build up my FBM supply, and my bb is still on FBM despite me stopping. I stopped because work got so busy and i was overseas 4x the last 2 months that it became too exhausting.



Hope all mothers who make the choice to EP continue to do so and there are options to breastfeed for those who have difficulties with baby latching on!

 

[aylie]

Elaine Lee - i think there's a temperature guide on the internet, you should be able to google it. 3mths should be ok, the longest i kept mine was 5 months.

 

[rue]

trouble with EP, washing is hell, with all the bottles and pump parts.



I wanna share tips. I put my pumping parts in fridge after pumping session & reuse it the next session. up to 3 X. If u are worried, just rinse the funnel & bottles w warm water prior to pumping. No issue with it so far. This saved me so much time. Google if in doubts..