Need advice. Mastering the art of nursing and pumping?

MellyMelB

Hi girls! Sorry I have been MIA. Its been a little busy...haha...but I think you all understand! Isabelle is doing fabulously. She sleeps approx 3-4 hours between feedings at night and I need to wake her up every 3 hours during the day or she will sleep the day away. Sophia had a bump first week but is now adjusting really well to sharing the spotlight with a younger sibling. She loves kissing Isabelle and holding her and has learned the perfect and gentle way to put a pacifier in her little sister's mouth. Isabelle, unlike Sophia, loves her pacifier. She sucks like a champ almost from day one (my sore nipples are agreeing with me).

So...now that Isabelle is almost 3 days old I have started pumping. Well, this morning I broke out the manual pump. I am not quite ready to break out the automatic quite yet but I did get 3.5 ounces on the manual this morning. Not too shabby.

My question is - the best way to pump while nursing would be...? I think I remember a few of you mentioning that you pump after each feeding. I don't want to have to pump after each feeding - especially in the middle of the night but I am not sure what it would do to my supply to pump just during the day. Say after the morning, noon, and afternoon feedings. Will that put me out of whack? I need to make sure she is accustomed to drink from a bottle, plus DH and Sophia really both want to feed her. Hence, the pumping.

Help a girl out! What do you recommend?

Thanks!

Love,

Mel

soontobemrs.rjd

OK so i am no expert, since Charlotte was not nursed, and Jude, though an awsome nurser, is just eight weeks old.  However, this is what i DO:

i nurse him every 2.5 to 3.5 hours during the day (between 6 a.m. and 10:30 p.m.) and pump until i am empty, after each of those feeds.

after his last feed I put him down and he wakes up once in the night, ususally between 2 a.m. and 5 a.m. (if he wakes to feed at 5 a.m. he usually sleeps in a little until like 9 a.m.)  DH feeds him his midnight feeding with the milk i have accumulated during the day.  If i have to leave him during the day, i will simply wake up to feed him in the middle of the night. and start over the next day with the pumping for midnight feedings.

basically i sleep REALLY good and DH doesn't mind waking midnight if he can sleep in the morning lol  it works for us.  I am definitely NOT storing any extra like i used to though, and i dont know if you plan on pumping while at work, so if you do intend to do that, you are going to need someone else's help ...

hth

your girls are DELICIOUS!!!!

 

Albah

Hi Mel! Glad to see you and the girls are doing great!! This is what I did with Evan and plan to do this time around starting next week....basically, i would breastfeed baby during the day every 3 to 4 hours or so following his cue. after each of those feedings I would pump (total of like 3 times per day of pumping). I pump till there is no more milk and in the beginning, I would even pump for an extra 5 minutes to promote increasing my supply a bit. There is likely going to be a small adjustment in your supply so you may get a bit more engorged at first but it's no big deal as you will be pumping. It should only affect your supply at the times you are pumping. In this way I build a nice supply before going back to work and will be following the babies feeding schedule and not mess with my supply as much. In this way, when I go back to work I replace the baby's feedings with pumping and I breastfeed when I am at home (as I refuse to look at the pump once I get home haha).

 Example:

8AM BF then pump

12PM BP then pump

4PM BF then pump

8PM BF only

12AM BF only

4AM  BF only

This schedule would then be the same when go back to work except there is no BF during the working hours. If you pump during the day, that should not affect your supply at night. But I personally hate to pump so I would only do it during the times I would expect to be at work. 

Hope this helps a bit; let me know if you have any other questions. Take care!

Laura 

MellyMelB

Thanks girls!!!! Can I tell you I hate the frigging pump?! LOL. I have done it twice today and seriously remember why I did not like it the last time around.

Laura, what you posted is basically what I was thinking except I am not 100% sure if I will continue to BF when I go back to work. I guess it depends on how this goes and how much I start getting from the pumping sessions.

For instance, this morning I had to feed the baby then get Sophia to school so by the time I pumped it was an hour and a half after I nursed. So...I nursed at 7:30am, then pumped at 9am, then nursed again at 11:00am. It worked out. Isabelle seems to get more than the pump does. I pumped again at 12:30 (scarfed down a quick lunch in between nursing and pumping). The 10am pumping gave me 3.5 ounces. The second only 1 ounce from both breasts. I probably overloaded myself with too much so I figure that should even out....right?

How much do you guys get from each pumping session after a nursing session? And how many ounces should a bottle fed baby be getting at 3 weeks old?

TIA! I feel like a first time mom with this! With Sophia I supplemented formula to pump those feedings. This time I am trying not to introduce formula yet unless I decide to not pump/nurse once I return to work.

oxoxo,

Mel

LizC78

Mel,

I did just what Laura did.  Only pumped after the day sessions.  Never ever at night.  Oh and I seem to remember Layla drinking about 2-4 oz at that age.

Liz

Albah

I am completely with you on the pump sentiment...it's not a nice sensation. lol I had forgotten how much a 3 week old drinks but I thought 3-4 ounces so it's close to what Liz's baby took in. It's been a couple of yrs so my mind is a bit hazy. When I BFed and pumped prior to returning to work, I would get anywhere between 1-4 ounces per breast. It all depended on what side the baby started on, the time of day, etc. Once you are solely on the pump for those feedings, it does level out. But remember there will always be one side that makes more/less than the other. I remember getting about 6-8 ounces per breast in 5 minutes ( i never pumped to empty the breasts) once I was back to work.

soontobemrs.rjd

After Jude's morning feed is when i get the most milk, since i hadn't enptied alllll night.  From that pump (after he has already eaten) i empty out ANOTHER 4 ounces.  However, during the day, I only get about an ounce after feeds.  He is eight weeks now and drinks about 6 oz. at night.  I think at three weeks he was drinking about 4 oz. but again, im not the one that does those feeds and DH says he doesn't remember... =/ hth a little.You will even out though, that much i know

mrsjessnjorge

We never bottle fed until I had to go back to work (big mistake- I think we waited way too long). At that point Nico was 3 months old and he was drinking 4 ounces in each bottle. From what I can remember, when I pumped after a feeding I would only get between 1-2 ounces at a time. When I went back to work and pumped to replace a nursing session, I pumped about 8 ounces at a time. GL!