? about pumping

StaceySnGeorgia

I am trying to hold off on giving LO pumped milk form the bottle but thought it wise to start pumping now to work up my supply and to build up some reserves to freeze.

Here's my problem. I pumped for the first time yesterday after a feeding and got about 3-4 ounces. Felt pretty darn good about it but then when little guy was hungry an hour and half later all hell broke loose. I tried both sides and he just wasn't happy, kept tossing his head, I squeezed and saw a little come on but not like the normal I get from a squeeze. I did everything I could do for him thinking maybe he was full of gas, cold, dirty diaper'ed, etc. This went on for about 3 hours till I broke down and gave him the bottle I had pumped, I was full of guilt thinking my soft boobs were not ready to feed him yet. He drank all of it and fell fast to sleep.

My question is to those who have gone through this before, how long does it take to build up your supply and what did you do in the mean time? I've done research and my readings seem to conflict with one another. I've heard pumping in the morning can help, and that I should pump after each feeding... should I do one pump for a couple days and then work my way up? I don't want another episode like the one last night. Any and all ideas and thoughts are greatly appreciated.

BugLuv

Sounds like your supply is still coming in.  Maybe hold off a week until you start pumping so you can have more of a supply in your breasts.  After 3 hours your milk should be fully back and you should have been pretty engorged, which is why I think your milk is still coming in.

I pump once in the morning and once at night.  I only feed him one breast at a time, so I pump the opposite breast.  It works well for us.

 

GL!

 

NatPhoto09

I waited until about 6 weeks to start pumping.  I pumped once a day in morning an hour after I feed him.  Maybe wait another week.  Supposedly your boobs are never empty so even if you just pumped your LO will get some milk.  But worse case feed him what you just pumped.  GL

cbwm

I agree with the PPs. Hold off on pumping for another month or so until your supply is more established.

Not to mention the fact that if you pump too much now, you'll end up with an oversupply. While that sounds good, there are many downfalls to it.

 

mrs.amy86

I wouldn't start pumping yet.  Wait until at least 3-4 weeks, or even 6 weeks.  I started pumping early for the same thing, to get a reserve established, (so that I could leave the house on my own once in a while and not have to rush back in 1 hour).  By 8 weeks I was banking 4 oz per day, pumping once in the morning.  But then I started to have supply problems, and DD wasn't getting enough from me.  (She did the same thing you describe, fuss and complain when my boobs weren't full enough).  She ended up refusing to nurse all together at 9 weeks, and after weeks of trying to get her back on, we ended up only using bottles, and I was pumping 5x day for 2 months after that.  Not saying that all this will happen for you, and we had other factors involved, but it's an example of what can go wrong if you don't have a full supply to start stockpiling excess. 

ceg2483

I started pumping at three weeks.  I could see it hard to start pumping that early, because if your LO is anything like mine, they're eating quite frequently.

When I started pumping to build up a supply, I pumped in the morning about 45 minutes after the first morning feeding.  I also would pump about an hour after the afternoon feeding when I knew she was going down for her three hour nap--but I didn't have that sort of schedule until she was about three weeks old.