Exclusively pumping

cls0602

Who does it, and why?

I'm seriously considering this option. My 8 week old son is EBF. He was tongue tied at birth and we got it clipped, but my nipples are flat. So we have been using a shield since birth.

I unfortunately wouldn't say breastfeeding is as beautiful and wonderful as some think it is. No doubt he is getting enough (he is a chunker!!) and it's not painful, but we have had so many other "issues". He fights the breast so often! It's very frustrating, and embarrasing when I'm around others. I've talked to and seen a LC several times and she thinks it's oversupply/forceful letdown. We also had some concerns about foremilk/hindmilk imbalance as he sometimes has green poops and always seems to be gassy/spitting up. He fought feedings so much over thanksgiving that I ended up just pumping for every feeding over a couple days... And I honestly liked it. I like that others can feed him! And I don't have to "worry" about being out in public when he needs to eat... (Not that anything is wrong with publicly feeding, it's just hard when he screams and fights). Also, once he finally is on he does a lot of sleeping a playing, I latching, licking around... But when I take him off, thinking he is done, he cries! It's just a very frustrating experience for me more than a bonding one.

So why did you end up exclusively pumping? And how do you do it?
Because we were concerned about the imbalance I've been block feeding (one boob per feeding)...

I should also add that he is with me 24/7, I bring him to work as a nanny.

HorseLover11

Following - I would be interested but I don't pump enough each session for an entire feeding

cls0602

Thank you @kaitlinr87‌ ! I've tried all that too. The LC wanted me to recline while feeding and also suggested pumping a little first... It's just always something! It sounds like my son sleeps the same as your daughter! He just started doing 9-2/3, eat, and back down til 530/6. It's amazing.
My son also eats every 2-3 hours during the day (usually only goes to 3+ if he happens to be sleeping) when I was pumping over thanksgiving I was getting 4oz. I only pumped one per feeding since I was trying to mimic his eating, but it looks like you're doing both breasts? Do I just continue mimicking his eating? Do you just pump right before it's time for her to eat and give her that pumped bottle?

JustCricket

I am exclusively pumping. I started in the hospital on day 2? LO was too small to get a latch, and too weak to get a good suck. So I started pumping. She had issues feeding from the bottle and on days 4-7ish she was tube fed. Since she was only 3lbs2oz at birth (and dropped below 3lbs in the beginning) she was in the hospital for 21 days. I tried bfing, but she just could not get a good latch/suck due to her size. She then had feeding issues around 2-3mos due to reflux, and it was better on my sanity to just continue the pumping/bottle feeding. I think if I tried now, she'd possibly be able to nurse, but honestly I'm in such a routine now, that I'm over the thought of even trying. Who knows, maybe I will one day, but I'm not going to pressure myself. I also have a huge oversupply, so that is another challenge we dealt with in the past, and would have to deal with if I tried now. She's gaining weight beautifully and I couldn't ask for anything else. Do I sometimes wish I could just whip out my boob and feed her? yup. Pumping is a pain, but it has been worth it so far. 

RoniH718

My fast letdown is awesome now that LO can take it. Feedings don't take more than 15 minutes but it was definitely difficult at first.

Vavavictoria

Same here with the letdown. I do use shields due to one flat nipple. I'm working on weaning her off shields with the good one first and will tackle the other one after she is consistent with the non flat nipple. We kind of went backwards while visiting family over the Thanksgiving holidays as I was engorged a lot bc of the screwy schedule and she can't latch without shields when my boobs are that full. But my point is that bc of the letdown she guzzles down the milk and we are done in less than 10 minutes on average.

Whatever works for you is the right decision though. It is very frustrating when they fight you (mine did a lot before we started shields. It almost felt like she was rejecting me. Yay hormones) Good luck!

camichael84

I've been EP for about a month. DD was still under her birth weight at 3 weeks, and we discovered it was because I had a low supply. The original plan was to nurse then pump after to help boost supply. But given that she was also needing to be supplemented with formula, her feedings were taking up to an hour and a half when I was by myself (DH could speed up the process slightly by bottle feeding DD while I pumped). That combined with the fact that DD never seemed to be a great nurser (which likely contributed to my low supply), I decided to give up on breastfeeding during the day and switch to pumping only. I still breastfed through the night for about a month before eventually switching to EP. The switch has gotten my supply back up so that we were able to stop supplementing with formula, and because of that I have no regrets.

I pump 5 times a day. It varies day to day, but falls in these time frames: 4-5:30 am, 9-10 am, 1-2 pm, 5-6 pm, and 9-10pm. Mornings are my big producers. I typically get between 6-7 oz each of those two pumps. Then I get anywhere between 3.5-4.5 oz each of the remaining three pumps. DD takes around 23 oz a day. I do like @kaitlinr87 and refrigerate the milk in bottles during the day. I don't freeze any excess until the end of the day, though, but that is due to my worry that we might not get enough for the day if I do.