pumping for preemies?

mnberry18

how often should i pump? there isn't much coming out at all but i want it to be ready for when they need to give it to him. any advise?

tia!

mhop

I would meet with one of the hospital Lactation Consultants asap.  Our NICU had 2 LCs that specialized in preemie moms.  I would post at least every 3 hours during the day.  Also, check into renting a hospital grade pump.  They work the best for getting your supply going.  Your insurance may cover the costs as long as your DS is in the NICU.  At first you won't get much, but the NICU can give you tiny syringes to suck it up.  When they start feeding him, which might not be for a few days, it will only be a tiny little bit.  Each drop counts!

mhop

I mean pump not post

lstaylor73

mhop:

I would meet with one of the hospital Lactation Consultants asap.  Our NICU had 2 LCs that specialized in preemie moms.  I would post at least every 3 hours during the day.  Also, check into renting a hospital grade pump.  They work the best for getting your supply going.  Your insurance may cover the costs as long as your DS is in the NICU.  At first you won't get much, but the NICU can give you tiny syringes to suck it up.  When they start feeding him, which might not be for a few days, it will only be a tiny little bit.  Each drop counts!

Ditto to mhop's reply, getting started pumping is the most difficult thing especially when you have no idea what you are doing for the first time.  And my Lactation Consultants never came to see me for two days until my DH was able to track one down for me.  Get your DH to get someone down to see you right away.  Every little drop counts.  Get a syringe from your nurse to suck up even the tiniest drops.  They can add that to the TPN feeds that he'll be getting at first.

Good luck!

mcdev

Like the other girls said, every bit counts. ?Just to give you a frame of reference, Keira's first feeding was only 1/4 teaspoon!

TriciaJoy

Ditto mhop.

And seriously don't be discouraged if you're not seeing much. In fact, at this point if you're seeing ANYTHING, you're doing great. At first I got nada.. then finally started to just at least wet the cones... I added some 2 hours pumps and finally managed to get some drops.

They won't start feedings right away anyway.. and when they do.. it's literally 2 or 3cc/hour. It's very likely that you'll be making WAY more than needed at first. Just keep it up.. you'll get there.

This video may help you as well.

(NSFW for anyone else who might be watching. Bare boobies are shown.)

https://newborns.stanford.edu/Breastfeeding/MaxProduction.html

 

 

KellyMichelle

Pumping in the NICU is hard.  It is normal not to be getting much out yet.  I really advise you to stick with it and seek help if you need it.  You should be pumping every 3 hours for about 20 minutes.  I pumped for DS for 3 months and didn't get much, so I got frustrated and quit.  I really regret never getting to actually try to breastfeed.  I will always wonder what that experience would have been like.  With that said, he did great on formula.  He has always grown well and been healthy so don't beat yourself up if pumping doesn't work.  kellymom.com has alot of good pumping resources too.

RubyRed7

Just fyi, it took two weeks for my milk to fully come in. I had to pump every 3 hours, even over night, just to make that happen. I hated every second, but every drop you can give a preemie is great!

georgy77

Ditto previous posters on pumping every 3 hours.  One piece of advice once your milk comes in, since your DS will only be getting small amounts at first, you should probably only put 10-15 ccs in each bottle to take to the NICU, otherwise a lot of BM will be wasted once they thaw it out and start feeding him.  Our NICU provided us with bottles for that very purpose so you might want to check with your son's NICU.  Good luck, pumping is hard work. 

elcamino_wife

I'll jump in with a few things I wish I'd known...

 - When your milk finally does come in, if it comes in fast it can make you big and hard and uncomfortable.  If you are pumping for 20 min/session and you still feel hard and uncomfortable, you can keep pumping or you can turn up the suction (this sounds obvious, but it took me a full, uncomfortable day and night to figure this out).

- Also, once your milk comes in, you can pump by your milk 'cycle'.  If it's not painful, you will want to crank the pump up until you start squirting.  I start low and increase the suction slowly. You can stop pumping a few minutes after you stop squirting. 

- Oh, and you should check with your NICU about timing your pumping to your LO's cares.  They may prefer to give the freshly expressed stuff when they can.

Don't worry about the small amounts of colostrum you're getting now - it's all useful!  My DH used to take the flanges up to the NICU when I wasn't making enough to even go into the bottle.

gl