Exclusivly pumping question.

missmarissa711

I tried googling this and got a million different answers and wound up getting more confused then I was in the first place so I figured I would ask you ladies. I am a FTM and have made a personal decision to exclusively pump. With that, I have been wondering how I start feeding him when he is born. Do you pump before they are born so you have a bottle for the baby when they are ready to feed? Or do you wait until after the baby is born and then start pumping? Do you have to breastfeed at first and the switch to pumping? I just was very curious if any of you have had experience with this. Thanks ladies!

bpwife&mama

Your milk won't be in the minute you have the baby. You will produce colostrum which I don't believe you will be able to pump. So at first you will probably have to start nursing. My milk didn't come in for almost 2 days. You will have to nurse that whole time until it comes in and your can start pumping.

missmarissa711

Thank you @bpwife&mama!

SassetteSmurfling

I wouldn't pump early because that could stimulate preterm labor. Nursing in the first few days is probably best to get your milk to come in and ensure baby gets that very important colostrum.

That being said if you really don't want to nurse at all, I believe you can start pumping right away after the birth, but you might need to supplement with formula until your milk comes in. Your hospital or peds office should have a lactation consultant, maybe you could call and ask them what would be best for your situation.

WSatisfiedP

I exclusively pumped for 10 weeks (when he finally latched) with my first son. He was in the NICU and it was my only choice. It will be incredibly difficult, but if you stay on a very strict schedule of pumping every 2-3 hours max you can do it. You can absolutely pump colostrum.

I wouldn't advise this route, it's exhausting and so much more work than breastfeeding. I literally got no sleep because by the time you feed, change baby, get them to sleep, pump, wash and sanitize pump parts and get back to bed yourself, baby is awake again. In 2 hour cycles you MIGHT get 15 minute increments of sleep, most of the time none. It was miserable. I would take breastfeeding over that any day!

bpwife&mama

WSatisfiedP said:

I exclusively pumped for 10 weeks (when he finally latched) with my first son. He was in the NICU and it was my only choice. It will be incredibly difficult, but if you stay on a very strict schedule of pumping every 2-3 hours max you can do it. You can absolutely pump colostrum.

I wouldn't advise this route, it's exhausting and so much more work than breastfeeding. I literally got no sleep because by the time you feed, change baby, get them to sleep, pump, wash and sanitize pump parts and get back to bed yourself, baby is awake again. In 2 hour cycles you MIGHT get 15 minute increments of sleep, most of the time none. It was miserable. I would take breastfeeding over that any day!

I had no idea you could pump colostrum! Crazy!

missmarissa711

 

WSatisfiedP said:

I exclusively pumped for 10 weeks (when he finally latched) with my first son. He was in the NICU and it was my only choice. It will be incredibly difficult, but if you stay on a very strict schedule of pumping every 2-3 hours max you can do it. You can absolutely pump colostrum. I wouldn't advise this route, it's exhausting and so much more work than breastfeeding. I literally got no sleep because by the time you feed, change baby, get them to sleep, pump, wash and sanitize pump parts and get back to bed yourself, baby is awake again. In 2 hour cycles you MIGHT get 15 minute increments of sleep, most of the time none. It was miserable. I would take breastfeeding over that any day!

Thank you for the feedback! Also, I understand it will be a lot of work but there is personal reasons why I have chose to exclusively pump.

missmarissa711

SassetteSmurfling said:

I wouldn't pump early because that could stimulate preterm labor. Nursing in the first few days is probably best to get your milk to come in and ensure baby gets that very important colostrum. That being said if you really don't want to nurse at all, I believe you can start pumping right away after the birth, but you might need to supplement with formula until your milk comes in. Your hospital or peds office should have a lactation consultant, maybe you could call and ask them what would be best for your situation.

Thank you for the feedback. I definitely will be asking the lactation consultant for tons of advice. 

CaliforniaDream87

It depends on your body and what you're producing. The LC will help you figure out what is best for your body at the time. I was able to pump a very little bit of colostrum and we gave that to DS. I just kept pumping every two hours until my milk came in.

2gr8pits

I had to EP as my son refused to latch. In the hospital I pumped what I could and fed formula. I did this until my milk came in. Then, as mentioned above it was a lot of work as you are doing both the work of a nursing mom and bottle feeding mom. I made it for 15 weeks EP which gave him BM for 6mos and then I needed sleep.

As far as sterilizing the parts, it is okay to put them all in a big ziploc and put in the fridge after pumping then clean once/day. That will save you time for sleep in the middle of the night.

emmacake08

I EP for 4 months because mine wouldn't latch. You will have to pump probably 10 minutes every 2hours 24 hours a day and then you can back off to every 3 hours. I did this and never had supply issues pumping. The first 1.5 days I got literally zero coming out into little tiny tube attachments. Then my colostrum started and and it was magical. Then I finally bumped up to full size bottles once liquid milk came in a few days after that. Good luck! Seeing the colostrum come out is quite a trip. Like thick yellow boogers making their way through pump parts :x

brookevirlaine

With my first DS, I started with BF for the first two months and pumping after he ate, then went to EP for 15 months. The BEST thing i ever learned was about putting the pump parts in the fridge after pumping! As PP said. Saves SO much time. Washing those parts every time is not fun! It seriously was a game changer for me

megzz1984

Be sure to get a hands free bra. That for me was the only way I could get good enough suction and not spill my milk while pumping.

kettlekitten

It took me a while to establish BFing. In the first couple of days I hand expressed colostrum (with the help of every midwife in the hospital... Male and female....A lot of people touched my boobs!) and syringe fed DD using that. I pumped every three hours to bring in the milk, was able to pump colostrum in bigger volumes after a couple of days and then milk came in around day 4.