Lemen

Rachel&Joe

hey!

I am so intrigued about what it's like pumping for a 9 month old.  i would imagine it's hard to keep track of him while you are pumping.  how do you do it?  sometimes while I am pumping & my DD is crying & throwing a fit next to me, i just think to myself "what am i doing?  this is awful!"  i really want to get her through the winter & then I am done!  we have already started supplementing with formula--my supply sucks (she drinks about 15 oz per day.  i usually only pump 5 or 6 times a day for a total of about 12 oz or so).  I am thinking of taking domperidone but i am so not a medicine person (also do not see myself remembering to take the pills every day) & it just does not seem natural to me to force my body to do something that it is just not very good at.  do you still make enough milk for all of his bottles?  i am so jealous of people with awesome supplies! 

I am so lame that I have still not ordered the simply thick.  I finally found a somewhat local drug store that sells it.  Ok, one more time--do I want the nectar or the honey consistency?  i think you mentioned one being a better deal than the other ut i do not remember--sorry!

 love the pics you have of the baby in your sig--he has the most beautiful eyes! 

lemen99

hey Rachel!

Well, Andrew was a 26-weeker so developmentally he's like a 7 month old (ie: he's not really mobile yet!)   There are times when I am pumping and he's fussing next to me...that SUCKS. 

Here's what I do right now (4x/day) which generally eliminates the whole problem of pumping while Andrew is crying...

morning pump (while Ryan is feeding DS)

pump after work (whatever time DS naps)

pump before dinner (when Ryan is giving DS bottle and putting him in bed)

pump before bed (DS is asleep)

 

I have been pumping for 10 months and I just couldn't keep up with the 7x/day when I went back to work.  Plus i have a huge freezer stash and so it wasn't worth it (pumping when he's crying etc.) so I cut back to 4x/day.  I'm guessing here but I probably get 30 oz per day.  Andrew eats more than that, but we only give him 1 bottle per day of fresh and then the rest of his bottles come from the frozen stash (we're working on May's stash right now)

I'm planning to cut back to 3x/day in Dec and see how that works.  I hate pumping when we have visitors (I feel like I am missing out) and andrew will be 1 yr old so I thought I"d try ti and see what happens. My goal is just to pump enough to give him at least 1 fresh bottle per day until the end of RSV season. :-) 

Honestly lately i've been cheating a little and only doing 3 pumps when we have a lot going on :-) lol  I guess I just don't worry too much about it and figure I do the best I can.  Luckily I'm blessed with a very abundant supply (surprised me - I always figured my kid would starve since my boobs have always been small haha).  I don't know if I just got lucky, but I do eat a ton all day long (I hear dieting can crash your supply), drink a lot of water, and get a lot of rest.

Don't worry if you can't make enough to give your baby 100% BM.  Even 1 bottle a day will help her a lot!  Even if I didn't have the supply that I have, my thought would be the same - just provide 1 bottle per day, don't' worry about the rest and supplement with formula if needed.

 We use the simply thick nectar consistency.   We actually buy the honey consistancy, but we mix it with twice as much milk as the directions say which actually equates to the nectar consistancy.  It's cheaper that way!  (The only difference between nectar vs. honey packets is that the honey packets hold twice as much ST.)

thanks

let me know if you try it and what you think!