Thanks @theresat858 for your description of the homemade sports bra turning into the hands free bra. I made one tonight and I think it changed my life. Haha
I had frozen some milk from my early over supply days when it was still orangey/colustrum. DD doesnt take a bottle hardly at all and I SAH so I dont have many reasons to offer her one. I have 4 3-4 oz packs of this. Should I just throw it out or is the colostrum still ok for baby to eat now.
ETA: I only freeze a little milk for times like when Im out for a long period of time or at a restaurant. Ill take a bottle to offer her if she gets hungry before I can actually feed her. Im not a great at NIP.
I had frozen some milk from my early over supply days when it was still orangey/colustrum. DD doesnt take a bottle hardly at all and I SAH so I dont have many reasons to offer her one. I have 4 3-4 oz packs of this. Should I just throw it out or is the colostrum still ok for baby to eat now.
ETA: I only freeze a little milk for times like when Im out for a long period of time or at a restaurant. Ill take a bottle to offer her if she gets hungry before I can actually feed her. Im not a great at NIP.
It's totally fine to feed that to LO.
In general, it's a good idea to rotate your stash so that the milk remains more nutritionally relevant. The nutritional composition of milk for a 6mo old will be different from milk for a 2mo old. It's still perfectly fine to feed the older milk, just better overall to rotate your stash.
Drew has been sleeping 5-6.5 hrs chunks at night, (not consistently) but when he does my breast becomes so huge & engorged. Alex does not sleep for more than 2 hrs so her breast is never a problem. (Each baby get a breast for 24 hrs & then they switch, I do the switch at midnight) My question is should I be doing something to prevent engorgement or does it not matter since it's only one breast? I don't really want to hook up the electric pump because of Alex's nursing schedule & she is still primarily sleeping on me only.
Me: 37, DH: 42 Married March 22, 2003 TTC since early 2006, Fertility treatments since 02/2013 First Pregnancy with Twins EDD 10.24.2014
Drew has been sleeping 5-6.5 hrs chunks at night, (not consistently) but when he does my breast becomes so huge & engorged. Alex does not sleep for more than 2 hrs so her breast is never a problem. (Each baby get a breast for 24 hrs & then they switch, I do the switch at midnight) My question is should I be doing something to prevent engorgement or does it not matter since it's only one breast? I don't really want to hook up the electric pump because of Alex's nursing schedule & she is still primarily sleeping on me only.
It may be easier on your breasts for you to alternate more frequently. Is that much more complicated? I might at least hand express a bit on the engorged breast to make you comfortable and help prevent plugged ducts.
Drew has been sleeping 5-6.5 hrs chunks at night, (not consistently) but when he does my breast becomes so huge & engorged. Alex does not sleep for more than 2 hrs so her breast is never a problem. (Each baby get a breast for 24 hrs & then they switch, I do the switch at midnight) My question is should I be doing something to prevent engorgement or does it not matter since it's only one breast? I don't really want to hook up the electric pump because of Alex's nursing schedule & she is still primarily sleeping on me only.
It may be easier on your breasts for you to alternate more frequently. Is that much more complicated? I might at least hand express a bit on the engorged breast to make you comfortable and help prevent plugged ducts.
@Emerald27 thanks for the quick response! It really is easiest to keep a baby per breast for 24. It limits a lot of confusion! They nurse tandem most of the time but for different lengths of time. Doing it this way ensures a proper amount of fore & hind milk for each. This is what my LC suggested, otherwise I get weird poops. I think hand express may be the way to go. Or maybe I should invest in a manual pump now that I'm thinking about it. What are your thoughts on that? Are they worth it & can that milk be saved the same as the electric pump?
Me: 37, DH: 42 Married March 22, 2003 TTC since early 2006, Fertility treatments since 02/2013 First Pregnancy with Twins EDD 10.24.2014
I've been EBF but have been having DH give DS a bottle in the evening almost every day for about 10 days now. Prior to that, DS had bottles for the first 5 days of his life in the NICU and just periodically since then, but he's never had any problems with taking a bottle whenever its offered and doesn't seem to have any nipple preference. We've been using the Medela newborn slow flow nipple for ease since it is compatible with the medela pumping bottles and I think its closer, size-wise to my real nipple than any of the other ones we've tried. DS is 12 weeks old and I'll be going back to work in 4 weeks and will be pumping at work so he can have bottles at daycare. I plan to have them do paced feeding, but my biggest concern is still him rejecting the boob at some point because even with paced feeding and the slow flow nipple, he gets the milk at lot faster. What else should/could I be doing to make sure this doesn't happen? Also, is there an issue with using the newborn slow flow nipples forever? I don't think my nipple changes size or flow, so why would the artificial nipple need to?
I bought a manual pump (the Medela manual like Theresa suggested) and I love it too! I actually have an easier time pumping while feeding her with the manual pump than the electric.
Question for those using a homemade hands free bra at work. Do you guys wear the bra all day? Right now I have it on with breast pads, so my nipples aren't sticking out but it's a little goofy. I don't know if it is going to make sense for me to change in and out of it multiple times a day, especially at work. Also, any suggestions for commercially made hands free bras? I like this one but I'm thinking I may have to switch to a commercial one if it makes pumping easier. Thanks everyone!
I have the same one and love it. I wear a regular nursing bra and put this on when pumping. I also have the luxury of a locking private office, so I nearly strip naked up top before I pump. You can, however, wear it instead of a nursing bra when working.
Married 10/06
Baby Girl "C" arrived on 10/07/14 (39 weeks, 6 days)
Pumping at work now. I get an off period starting at 10:20 each day that backs right up until lunch (which ends at 11:50). Do I try to squeeze in a second pump in an hour, or wait until the day ends at 3 (at which point I will be pumping regardless)? My first pump was in the car around 7 on the way into school.
I would. Even if it's a short pump, it's a couple extra ounces for LO and is great for your supply. Especially since you have to wait until 3 to pump again.
I pumped to replace a feeding this afternoon and got 3 ounces total from both breasts. DH then fed LO the 3 oz, and it took him between 15-20 minutes to finish the bottle. DH said it seemed like he would've taken more if more had been offered, but he also didn't fuss when the bottle was taken away from him.
LO is almost 10 weeks old and weighs 10.5 lbs. Does 3 ounces seem like an appropriate bottle size for him? It had been 3 hours between feeds when he took the bottle. Afterwards he played happily for about 45 minutes before he started fussing and I offered a boob, which he took and sucked actively for a few minutes before it became comfort sucking and now he's asleep. I'm stressing out about how big I should make his bottles when I go back to work, and how far apart to tell his caretaker to space the feedings.
I pumped to replace a feeding this afternoon and got 3 ounces total from both breasts. DH then fed LO the 3 oz, and it took him between 15-20 minutes to finish the bottle. DH said it seemed like he would've taken more if more had been offered, but he also didn't fuss when the bottle was taken away from him.
LO is almost 10 weeks old and weighs 10.5 lbs. Does 3 ounces seem like an appropriate bottle size for him? It had been 3 hours between feeds when he took the bottle. Afterwards he played happily for about 45 minutes before he started fussing and I offered a boob, which he took and sucked actively for a few minutes before it became comfort sucking and now he's asleep. I'm stressing out about how big I should make his bottles when I go back to work, and how far apart to tell his caretaker to space the feedings.
About 1oz per hour is the general rule of thumb. Breastmilk's composition changes as baby grows, so she won't ever really need a volume increase.
IME, many moms find that asking the caregiver to offer 2oz every 2 hours, and have 1oz set aside in case LO is not satisfied, works well. You can also have the caregiver offer 3oz every 3 hours, and reserve an extra ounce in case she's not satisfied. Trying to mimic the frequency with which she typically nurses can help a lot.
Thanks @theresat858 for your description of the homemade sports bra turning into the hands free bra. I made one tonight and I think it changed my life. Haha
Shoooot. I missed this! Anyone know how many pages back this is or can quote box it for me?
@starla487 Lol, seems easy enough! I assume I would want to make the holes just large enough for the flange to squeeze through when stretching the material, otherwise wouldn't they not stay in place?
@starla487 when I make my next one (tomorrow), I'm going to make the holes a little smaller. I think I'm going to just put the flanges through from the inside of the bra and just make the slit like 1.5 in and see how that works.
@theresat858 - He hasn't outright refused the boob or anything, but it does seem like he gets a little frustrated when the flow slows a bit, especially the feeding after a bottle. I tend to have a bit of an overactive letdown, but it slows pretty quickly most of the time (unless overly engorged for some reason).... Sometimes after recently having a bottle, he will unlatch repeatedly and isn't content until I switch sides (where he will get a few more minutes of faster flow).
I'm just afraid he'll continue to get more and more frustrated with breastfeeding when he starts getting a lot more bottles in the coming weeks.
Ladies- If you pump a little bit MOTN to avoid engorgement or sleeping with full breasts for too many hours, do you save the milk? Wouldn't it be just fore milk with not enough fat for a feeding? Sorry if this is a silly question. ☺️
Re: Breastfeeding Links & Talk
ETA: I only freeze a little milk for times like when Im out for a long period of time or at a restaurant. Ill take a bottle to offer her if she gets hungry before I can actually feed her. Im not a great at NIP.
In general, it's a good idea to rotate your stash so that the milk remains more nutritionally relevant. The nutritional composition of milk for a 6mo old will be different from milk for a 2mo old. It's still perfectly fine to feed the older milk, just better overall to rotate your stash.
It really is easiest to keep a baby per breast for 24. It limits a lot of confusion! They nurse tandem most of the time but for different lengths of time. Doing it this way ensures a proper amount of fore & hind milk for each. This is what my LC suggested, otherwise I get weird poops.
I think hand express may be the way to go. Or maybe I should invest in a manual pump now that I'm thinking about it. What are your thoughts on that? Are they worth it & can that milk be saved the same as the electric pump?
Sounds like your routine is working great!
Question for those using a homemade hands free bra at work. Do you guys wear the bra all day? Right now I have it on with breast pads, so my nipples aren't sticking out but it's a little goofy. I don't know if it is going to make sense for me to change in and out of it multiple times a day, especially at work. Also, any suggestions for commercially made hands free bras? I like this one but I'm thinking I may have to switch to a commercial one if it makes pumping easier. Thanks everyone!
https://www.amazon.com/s/?ie=UTF8&keywords=simple+wishes+pumping+bra&tag=hydsma-20&index=aps&hvadid=47934266662&hvpos=1t1&hvexid=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=14586727696332659638&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=b&hvdev=m&ref=pd_sl_5ru235k650_b
Married 10/06
Baby Girl "C" arrived on 10/07/14 (39 weeks, 6 days)
LO is almost 10 weeks old and weighs 10.5 lbs. Does 3 ounces seem like an appropriate bottle size for him? It had been 3 hours between feeds when he took the bottle. Afterwards he played happily for about 45 minutes before he started fussing and I offered a boob, which he took and sucked actively for a few minutes before it became comfort sucking and now he's asleep. I'm stressing out about how big I should make his bottles when I go back to work, and how far apart to tell his caretaker to space the feedings.
IME, many moms find that asking the caregiver to offer 2oz every 2 hours, and have 1oz set aside in case LO is not satisfied, works well. You can also have the caregiver offer 3oz every 3 hours, and reserve an extra ounce in case she's not satisfied. Trying to mimic the frequency with which she typically nurses can help a lot.
I'm just afraid he'll continue to get more and more frustrated with breastfeeding when he starts getting a lot more bottles in the coming weeks.