Pumping questions

Kadyra

I may xp on BFing depending.

DS2 is 3 days old now. He's on 5cc feeds every 3 hours. They tried 10cc but he hadn't pooped yet and got backed up, so they took a break. Now we're back on track.

I'm pumping. My milk came in today, which is great. However, I hurt so badly. I don't remember it being like this with ds1. Of course, he was strong enough to BF from the start so that may be contributing.

The 27mm flanges chafed so they gave me 30's. I think they're too big, so anything above the let down mode is excruciating. Feels like my nipples are getting yanked off. I am trying hand expressing, but am frustrated because i am only effective with my left hand. So the left hand gets super tired and the expressing just takes forever. And now that I'm engorged, I just don't feel empty ever. 30 minutes after pumping, my boobs are rock hard and painful again. I wait to express because I don't want oversupply problems.

I've read a bunch of stuff online on kellymom and a few other sites. I'm just not sure what else to do. I'm using warm compresses prior, massage prior and during if I can. I'm probably going to call the LC tomorrow, but I wondered if you ladies had any tips. I'm discouraged because I really dislike pumping and even though it's early days, I don't think I can do this if it doesn't get better. TIA.

thishappyhouse

ditto PP - try lanolin and soothie pads between pumpings. "comfort fit" soft sheilds may help too.  

good luck.. In my experience pumping does get easier after the first week or so. 

jcsntms06

When your pumping what speed are you using on the breast pump? I would turn it down a notch or two. When I pumped for DD#1 pumping always hurt for me. Then when DD#2 was born, the LC told me I should turn it down the speed, and only select speeds that were comfortable. Hopefully a LC can help you.

Kadyra

Thanks ladies! I had a tough night trying to avoid the pump and it was taking an hour to hand express. I'm already getting almost an ounce each side, so obviously I'm thrilled about that. I looked at all my flanges just now and decided to try my pumpin pals ones. Hadn't tried them yet. I don't know what happened, but it was finally tolerable. Thank God.

I had used lanolin up til now, but didn't think of the soothies pads. And my pump was on the absolute lowest setting. Hopefully this was just a hurdle that I'm past now. I'll probably call the hospital LC before I make the 80 appt with the private one. Hopefully today is a better day! Thanks again.

Kadyra

Soothies. Best 13 dollars I ever spent!

urbanflowerpot

Great advice from the PP's but I wanted to throw in that pumping for a preemie was hard work - and it was so painful! I don't remember how long it took for my body to get in a groove but I want to say 4-6 weeks. I appreciated when people told me it was likely to really suck for a while - whereas on the BF'ing page I got a lot more "you're doing it wrong" no matter what the topic re: BF'ing my prem. 18 months later and I can tell you I was doing everything A-OK. Circumstantial. FWIW I pumped 4 mo before I was able to switch him.

jacque_z

I had a similar problem with the 27mm flanges so I switched to the 30's.  It hurt at first (not as bad as the 27s) but then I got used to it and I was fine. 

thishappyhouse

Kadyra:

Soothies. Best 13 dollars I ever spent!

 

absolutely!  Ask the LC's in the NICU they may have ones that they can give you... they are expensive but lifesavers for me.  The LCs did warn me to use them for extended periods of time ... cant remember why though.  Sorry, I know not very helpful but Im glad you are getting some relief