Exclusively pumping question!

ambernicole06

Hey! I'm a FTM and I went to pumping exclusively after my little girl was 5 days old because she is tongue tied and latch was horrible! So I have been told to pump until there is nothing left and then keep pumping for 5 min longer. I have a Medela double pump and I will pump for a hour+ and im just wondering if that is excessive? today I have had symptoms of mastitis: fever, Breast pain, body aches, etc. I am just wondering what I could possibly be doing wrong! I massage during pumping when I can to make sure I do not have any clogged milk ducts. Any advice would be so helpful thank you!

cls78

15-30 minutes is what the directions said to do on my medela pump.

cls78

You have to pump every 3 or so hours anyways, so I would say a hour plus pumping is to much.

tropicbreeze

First off if you think you have mastitis please call your doctor for treatment!!

I have been EPing for a month now and I was pumping for 15-20 minutes, ended up with mastitis, I now pump until I am empty. I pump every 3 hours.

It takes you an hour to get empty?

If you are on facebook, I HIGHLY recommend Exclusively Pumping Moms PRIVATE GROUP. They have been so extremely helpful in my EPing.

ETA: It takes around 25 mins for me to empty

abrzezinski

Pump 25 to 30 minutes and both breasts at the same time. You can also help by running your thumb down the side of your breast from the base towards the nipple. Make sure you are drinking lots. And pump every 3 hours.

junebugjam

Semi-hijacking this thread. I just got a pump and want to start using it to build up a supply so my husband can feed the baby also but I'm not sure how to best go about it. Pump after each feeding? I don't want to run out of milk for him, if that's even a thing, although I guess once it's pumped we could just try the bottle. I don't know. Help!

Grapes13

For the OP you said your baby was tongue tied, mine was too. The first few days were rough. My nipples bled and bruised from bad latching and he lost a lot of weight because he just couldn't drink well. I supplemented a couple oz in order to make it through the weekend. (I cried about it but ultimately I couldn't stand the thought of my baby hungry). And then I pumped as well to help keep my milk supply. But at his first well check- the doctor clipped his tongue and it was amazing. No pain- the baby didn't even notice, and no blood. Now he drinks like a champ! He gained 8 oz in 3 days and continues to gain now. Just something to think about! I was worried about having them do it, but my husband should have had his done as a baby but his parents didn't. (He was a twin and they moved to bottle feeding soon after birth). When he was a toddler he had trouble talking a little, and sometimes his tongue just gets sore. I just found that it was well worth it! As for your fever and pain- definitely follow up with your doctor and lactation specialist! You shouldn't have to pump that long either! Also keep in mind milk supply is based on a supply and demand basis. If you are pumping a lot, your milk will start coming in more and more! Hopefully it gets better

ems0523

@junebugjam I read that you should pump an hour after feeding your LO or an hour before. My LO wakes up once a night, we feed him a bottle of breastmilk when he wakes up and then I wake up and pump in the morning. I normally pump around 6 oz which is enough to two bottles even though we only have to use one per night, I then free the following days pumped milk. Hopefully thayly helps you.

mommaa1615

Ive been eping & do it for 20 min every 3-4 hours..an hour seems wayy too long & horrible!

babykoz214

@junebugjam I'm not exclusively pumping but I am trying to build up a bit of a supply myself. I've read a million different things online it seems and I don't really have a system. I just typically pump when my boobs get sore and engorged and my LO is not emptying them quick enough to relieve me. Usually it works out that I pump about 2 oz a day. It's not a lot but it is starting to add up in the freezer.

ambernicole06

Yea I felt like an hour was rediculously long time! But I was told to pump until empty and then exceed 5 min well in 5 min more would be coming out! I seriously have over 250oz frozen in my freezer not including what bottles I have kept in the fridge! we did go to the ENT about her tongue and he said she wasn't "truly" tongue tied because she could set her lips so he said he didn't see her having any speech problems and that as long as she is taking her bottle good he wasn't concerned. So I am timing it to be 20 min and every 3 hours now hoping that will help I felt much better last night but this morning went from midnight to 5 without pumping and have a fever again this morning

marionthelibrarian

OP - I exclusively pumped for DD for a year. The way my lactation consultant explained to me I should pump for 20 minutes. She said if I stopped producing before 20 minutes was up, to just pump 5 minutes beyond when I stopped producing milk. I have pumped for an hour before but only once I had a well-established supply and only pumped 3-4 times a day.

Also if you have any flu like symptoms, I would call your doc right away. 

 Exclusively pumping is hard but you can do it! good luck!

katecham

ambernicole06 said:

Yea I felt like an hour was rediculously long time! But I was told to pump until empty and then exceed 5 min well in 5 min more would be coming out! I seriously have over 250oz frozen in my freezer not including what bottles I have kept in the fridge! we did go to the ENT about her tongue and he said she wasn't "truly" tongue tied because she could set her lips so he said he didn't see her having any speech problems and that as long as she is taking her bottle good he wasn't concerned. So I am timing it to be 20 min and every 3 hours now hoping that will help I felt much better last night but this morning went from midnight to 5 without pumping and have a fever again this morning

If you are a big producer then yes, it can take a long time to pump. Make sure you are completely empty. If it's still spraying after 20 min keep going. The 20 min rule applies more to those who are breastfeeding too - the 20 min time helps avoid creating an oversupply which can make breastfeeding and latching difficult. Since exclusive pampers don't have to worry about that it's more important to empty completely than to worry about creating oversupply. Massage your boobs while pumping - this sometimes helps make it go faster. I EPd for my son for 14 months and had huge oversupply. One thing that helped was slowly increasing the time between pumping sessions. I ended up only having to pump 3-4 times a day. You have to make sure that you are completely empty each time or this won't work (you'll get plugged ducts or mastitis). I was getting 15-20 oz each time I pumped.

mommaa1615

@katecham 3-4x a day sounds amazing. How long were your pumping sessions? Ive been EPing & im so close to giving up bc its exhausting every 4-5 hours. Also how do you stop pumping for good without getting plugged ducts or mastitis? I love that im giving my baby breastmilk but it is tiring!!!

ambernicole06

Well I was doing 15-20 min but then my supply was greatly decreased so I've upped it to closer to 30 min and I'm only pumping about 1oz less between the two in half the time my breasts are feeling so much better too so I think that was the problem im still getting double what she eats when I pump and I pump more frequently than she is eating for the most part So i think might've finally got this crazy punping thing figured out! Hallelujah! Lol

katecham

@amack22 I kept pumping until all the milk was out (no more squirting, even with massaging them) and kept the pump going for 2-5 min after that. I would get multiple letdowns so this step was imperative to make sure everything was out. At first I pumped every 4ish hours during the day and didn't pump at night unless I woke up and was leaking or hurting. The pumping session first thing in the morning would typically take the longest due to this (maybe an hour at most? You get good at doing makeup while hooked up to the pump). Then during the day I gradually started spacing them out. After pumping about 2 months my schedule was 6:00am, 12:00pm (lunch break at work), 6:00pm (when I got home from work), and then 10:00pm (before bed, would be the shortest in length but I would massage very well to make sure everything was out.

I'd get about 5-6 oz each time from the left side and 8-12oz from the right side. 13-18oz every time I pumped, about 60 oz a day, he ate about 8-4oz bottles a day so I always had a ton of extra for growth spurts, dips in supply, etc.

The biggest thing is to give yourself time. It takes a long time to pump sometimes and it's hard to be patient! It's easier when you are only pumping a few times a day though.

Weaning was not that bad - I just started spacing out the pumping, dropped the one after work, then dropped the lunch pump, then the before bed pump. If I felt full or in pain I would hand express in the shower a little or break down and pump about 15 min. It took maybe 3 weeks to not need to pump again and a few months for the milk to completely dry up. Due to my freezer stash he had milk for over a month after I stopped.

Now I'm breastfeeding my new baby and pumping too. She feeds mostly from the left because it has a less forcible letdown and the right nipple is harder for her to latch on to. I pump the right on the same schedule as above and am getting 6-8 oz each time (she's 3 weeks). I have more than 200 oz frozen already. She occasionally gets a bottle of breastmilk and when she does I pump the left too. I am trying to reintroduce the right side but her latching is still bad on that side so we will see...

I hope this helps!

mommaa1615

@katecham very helpful thank you!!!!