Pumping Mamas, need some advice!

mandapear

I'll be heading back to my graduate program the last week in August, and I'm trying to figure out a pumping plan. I expect to pump 2-3 times a day, since I'm there pretty full-time. A few questions:

-Do you pump directly into LO's bottles for the next day? If not, how annoying is transferring? I have a Medela pump but like the Born Free bottles, so I'm trying to figure out if I should pump into my Medela bottles and transfer or if I should buy an adapter so I can pump directly into the Borns.

-Talk to me about washing pump parts/bottles while at work OR extra parts. My university has a dedicated pumping room equipped with Medela hospital pumps and a mini-fridge, but no sinks nearby. I can: a) use the Medela wipes and the same pump parts,  b) just refrigerate the parts and use for multiple sessions, c) use their pump for one session and bring mine (Freestlye) for another, or d) buy an extra set of parts and use their pump exclusively. What do you do/recommend?

- Do you serve what you pump in each session, or try to standardize feedings (ie if I pump 5oz then 3 oz then 4 oz, do I serve exactly that tomorrow? Or mix and standardize each feeding?)

- I'll be freezing Friday's milk and serving frozen milk on Monday. How do you defrost for daycare to minimize time milk is left unfrozen but not forget about it? (If I stick it in the fridge Sunday morning to make bottles Sunday night, it will have been out too long by Monday morning. If I wait to defrost until Sunday night, which seems to always be a crazy time, will I forget about it?)

Sorry so long, I'm just trying to figure it all out!

MRSVELA07

We have a Medela Symphony at work and I bought the attachment kit. Each bottle holds about 6.5-7 ounces...FULL! I pump directly into the bottles then transfer the milk to my Ameda bottles the next morning. Then I take the bottles back to work. It's a little annoying but I have a fascination with my milk and I love measuring it and seeing how much I pump...weird I know!!!

We have a sink and I just run scolding hot water through the flange connections while I clean up my pumping area. I let it air dry in the bag I leave at work. I assume the wipes would be fine. I know other mothers who leave their flange connections in the refrigerator but I prefer to leave my stuff away from other mom's. I have an Ameda pump at home so I leave all my Medela pieces at work and bring them home over the weekend.

Whatever I pump on Day 1 he gets on Day 2 roughly about 19-20 ounces.

We're not freezing milk. I try my best to keep the same schedule on Sat and Sun so he still gets about the same amount on Monday. If I was freezing I'd follow your plan!

Good luck!

JessyKV

Here is what I do. I hope this helps.

I have a Medela PISA but I would do the same thing if my work provided a Medala hospital pump, just without bringing my own pump.

I pump once in the morning before DS wakes up.  I leave those parts at home to be washed later.

I pack 4 medela bottles and one set of parts in a cooler bag with ice packs and bring that with my pump to work. 

I pump 3 times at work.  I do not wash my parts inbetween. I put them back in the cooler so they stay cold so there is no need to wash in between.  I use 2 bottles to pump, combine the milk into 1 bottle when I am done and the next time I pump I use the empty "used" bottle from the last session and one clean one.  At the end of the day I have 3 full bottles and one empty but used.  I take everything home with me at night to wash.  When I get home I even out all the pumped milk from the day to make 3 5 oz bottles to send to daycare the next day.  I use my medela bottles but I think it would be easy to transfer to a different brand since I make them even anyway.  Any extra I freeze or save for a day that I don't get enough.  On Monday I either use frozen milk or if I pumped during the weekend I will use that.

I hope that makes sense and helps a little! I have a couple friends that do something similar and it seems to work really well.  I have 3 sets of pump parts so I can use a set at home and have a set that I take back and forth to work.

 

 

 

ecu0505

JessyKV said:

Here is what I do. I hope this helps.

I have a Medela PISA but I would do the same thing if my work provided a Medala hospital pump, just without bringing my own pump.

I pump once in the morning before DS wakes up.  I leave those parts at home to be washed later.

I pack 4 medela bottles and one set of parts in a cooler bag with ice packs and bring that with my pump to work. 

I pump 3 times at work.  I do not wash my parts inbetween. I put them back in the cooler so they stay cold so there is no need to wash in between.  I use 2 bottles to pump, combine the milk into 1 bottle when I am done and the next time I pump I use the empty "used" bottle from the last session and one clean one.  At the end of the day I have 3 full bottles and one empty but used.  I take everything home with me at night to wash.  When I get home I even out all the pumped milk from the day to make 3 5 oz bottles to send to daycare the next day.  I use my medela bottles but I think it would be easy to transfer to a different brand since I make them even anyway.  Any extra I freeze or save for a day that I don't get enough.  On Monday I either use frozen milk or if I pumped during the weekend I will use that.

I hope that makes sense and helps a little! I have a couple friends that do something similar and it seems to work really well.  I have 3 sets of pump parts so I can use a set at home and have a set that I take back and forth to work.

 

 

 

This is pretty much my schedule too - with the exception that I freeze my milk. I am going to be out of town for 7 days in October with our LO. I am trying to increase my stash so I'm consistently rotating. I'm an EP'er so I pump over the weekend and evening too.

dlbrous

I do pump into Medela bottles but my DS takes Medela at daycare. It will be easy to pour into feeding bottles of a different type though. I always send the same amount per bottle. For a long while this was 5 ounces and now it is 6 ounces. If you find that your LO is not taking the full bottle you can always decrease the amount or visa versa if your care provider says they still seem hungry. I do not wash in between pumps but I do wipe them dry with a clean paper towel. As PP said breast milk is good at room temperature for several hours. I also pump one side during the first morning feeding while DS nurses the other side. As far as defrosting goes, you really just have to make sure that the milk is used within 24 hours of being completely thawed. You might check the consistency of the milk in the fridge at various times to see when the ice crystals are gone and base your decision on that.

homebird

Yes, I pump directly into the bottles. I have medela bottles and a medela calma nipple.

I wash the parts at work with soap and water, dry with a paper towel and put in a plastic ziplock bag that goes back into the pump tote.

Whatever I pump Graham eats (he eats two 3.5 oz bottles and that's pretty much exactly what I pump). I never have extra so I don't have to worry about what to freeze.

What I pump on Friday goes into the fridge to be used on Monday.