Pumping

Rachel623

I am EBFing my four week old.  We finally have nursing fairly down, but my milk comes in so fast that she only nurses for 5-10 minutes and then she is done. I can't get her to nurse more. I've tried stripping her down to her diaper, making the room cooler, changing diaper, burping etc.  Pretty much everything the LC at the hospital told me to try.

Sometimes my breasts are so engorged that she can't latch on and it literally squirts her and she ends up choking.  I have tried pumping about an ounce or two prior to feeding and that helps her latch on and she tends to nurse a little bit longer that way.  I am freezing that milk now, but I know that it is only foremilk so I don't really want to save it.

I would like to start building up a stash for when I go back to work, but I'm not sure how.  Do I pump until my breast is almost empty and feed her off the other one?  I concerned about increasing my supply even more because at this point it's just way too much.

So after the novel, I guess my question is, can i pump without increasing my supply?  And what is the proper method timing etc for pumping? Feeling very lost and can't seem to find information on how to actually establish a pumping schedule.

fusionbride

Your situation sounds similar to mine.  Do you block feed (just one side per feeding)?  Try that, if not.

And I did the pump off the first 1 oz before feeding so she could latch on better at the beginning, too, but that doesn't help in the long run because it doesn't regulate your supply to what LO needs-- it perpetuates the oversupplu.  I would try and phase that out if you can.  (oh, and I labeled mine as foremilk and froze them-- later I mixed that 1-2 ounce with regular milk for her bottles and it seemed fine)

How soon do you go back to work?  Since you are borderline oversupply, I personally wouldn't try to create a stash until right before you go back.  Maybe a week before you go back, I'd add in an extra pumping session that you plan to keep on a regular basis, and use that to build your stash.  once you have a stash you are comfortable with, I would gradually reduce the amount you pump in that extra session and phase it out (unless you are having supply problems).

I know a lot of people complain of losing their supply when they go back to work, but with my borderline oversupply problem, I have never had a problem getting enough for her the next day, and usually pump an extra few ounces (and I've been sick twice).  So you may not need much of a stash ahead of time.

Kellymom.come has instructions on how to build a stash.

Rachel623

She nurses on one side at a time and doesn't seem to get even close to emptying. I just pumped one side because she was due for a feeding and both sides were way too full. I was playing on my phone and realized I pumped 5 oz in six minutes. That just seems like way too much to me. Can a four week old even fit that much in her stomach?