Intro and exclusive pumping question

babystinkbreath

Hi ladies!

My little girl Cassandra just turned one month last week and I would love to join your group.

Cassie unfortunately had a really rough start to life and spent 4 weeks in the NICU before coming home on Good Friday.  She suffered a stroke sometime before she was born and was having a large amount of seizures for the first couple days of life.  Doctors were able to get them under control and she has been recovering remarkably well.

While she was in the NICU I pumped and was lucky to be able to establish a good supply.  However she was having some major sucking issues while in the NICU.  She was on a feeding tube for a couple of weeks and it was a struggle to get her to suck on anything for a while.  Being able to tolerate and take all her feedings by bottle was the major hurdle to getting her home. 

I tried BFing her while in the NICU but is was just not a great place to learn how to do this as it is loud, stressful, etc.  I have been working on BFing since she has been home with no success.  She will latch but fights it and we both end up in tears.  However, she has made great improvements with the bottle and is sucking like a champ with that.  (I was worried she might develop a preference to the bottle nipple in NICU but I couldn't do much to prevent that)  They have been so worried about her weight gain since being discharged that I am having a hard time doing  more tries with the breast when I know she will take it from the bottle without burning precious calories.

I guess my question for the other exclusive pumping Moms is, at what point did you make the decision to do this?  Part of me feels like I am failing because I can't get her to BF but the other part is just happy she is getting breast milk one way or another. 

Any words of advice or tips?  TIA!

OregonPachey

Congrats on your little girl!  I am sorry that she had a rough start.

I made the decision with this LO early on to exclusively pump.  I know it's what is best for both me and DS#2.  He had a sucky latch after my milk came in and I was not going to struggle with trying to BF again after a huge struggle the first time.

I started EP'ing at about 2 weeks and have been going strong ever since.

Please don't feel like you have failed.  You are doing a great job by giving LO breastmilk.

And if you are interested, there is an EP group on Facebook.  Here is the link.

babystinkbreath

OregonPachey:

Congrats on your little girl!  I am sorry that she had a rough start.

I made the decision with this LO early on to exclusively pump.  I know it's what is best for both me and DS#2.  He had a sucky latch after my milk came in and I was not going to struggle with trying to BF again after a huge struggle the first time.

I started EP'ing at about 2 weeks and have been going strong ever since.

Please don't feel like you have failed.  You are doing a great job by giving LO breastmilk.

And if you are interested, there is an EP group on Facebook.  Here is the link.

Thanks for the welcome and the encouragement.  I will def check out the FB group.  

I guess I'm just having a hard time coming to the decision to EP but after all the struggles we have been through (getting pg, during pg, and after she was born) I feel like I need to not struggle with this too.

cmhicklin

You shouldn't feel guitly for EPing or even giving formula if that is what you decide.  I made the decision to EP over BF for a lot less reasons than you have, and I felt it was a great thing for my DD. 

Bblund

no advice but I wanted to say congrats on your baby and i wish her all the best.

haisy

You've been through a heck of a month, so try to treat yourself gently.  You're feeding your LO and she is doing great.

We struggled at first, too.  I ended up exclusively pumping for 6 weeks until my LO gained enough and grew into a good latch.  Now, I pump at work, but we otherwise nurse exclusively.  So, just try to focus on whatever works best for your family in the moment.