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Babies: 0 - 3 Months
LouRN09
member
EP with a newborn
LouRN09
member
Hi all! Due to some severe nipple cracks, bleeding, scabs, etc. (and many more issues that I wont get into!!!) I am going to pump for a few days to give my nips some time to heal. We are seeing yet another LC this afternoon to hopefully get some more answers on why I am in so much excruciating pain, why DS's latch isnt good, etc. I have never EP before (I was able to always nurse DS1) so this is all new to me. Random questions...
How much does a week old baby need? 1 oz? More?
If he doesnt finish a bottle of BM, can it then be put back in the fridge to use later or is it wasted?
How often do you pump? I have a double electric pump. Would I still pump every 2-3 hours?
Do you typically pump and then use that milk for the next feeding?
What is your night time routine?
Any tips or suggestions are greatly appreciated!
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Re: EP with a newborn
I EP but I started when my LO was about 3 weeks old and as crazy as it sounds, I don't even remember how much we started with!
If he doesn't finish a bottle, you can definitely put it back in the fridge. I try to make sure it gets used first the next time he eats. You can mix it with fresh milk too if you need to.
I have a double electric pump and I pump every 3 hours. The thing with your LO only being a week old is that your supply isn't really regulated yet, so I don't know if you could end up with an oversupply issue. Probably a good question for the LC.
When I was home and not yet back to work, I tried to make sure there were always 2 bottles in the fridge. One for his next feeding and an extra in case something happened and I missed a pump session or we wanted to go somewhere.
I pump first thing in the morning and then every 3 hours after that. I skip the middle of the night though because sleep is important and when I pump in the morning, it makes up for the one I skipped.
This is helpful re: storage https://kellymom.com/bf/pumpingmoms/milkstorage/milkstorage/
Thanks!!
So you mentioned that if I didnt finish a bottle that I could put it back in the fridge and then use it the next time. However, isnt it not good to reheat it after its already been heated and cooled again? I may have made that up.
When your LO was getting up in the middle of the night to eat, what was your routine then? I assume I'd feed DS a bottle, put him down, and then pump? And he sleeps 3-4 hr stretches at night so couldnt I easily just pump and leave out the milk to use for his next middle of the night feeding?
Just trying to wrap my brain around the logistics of it all. :-)
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Any BM that has been started must be used within 1 hour, we sometimes go a little over and it hasn't seemed to hurt. But bacteria can still grow in the fridge.
You're supposed to pump whenever the baby would normally be eating, I used to pump every 3 hours, and I'd get about 1 to 2oz per nipple in the beginning, up to 4oz per nipple by the first month, but I also had twins. We had a great frozen supply. I recommend hanging a piece of paper on the fridge with storage guidelines written on it, I've found it helpful.
I pump around midnight and then 5 or 6am. By then my breasts hurt and I just need to get the milk out. I think your body will tell you how long you can go without pumping at night.
I might also mention that I didn't breast feed, I had preemies, now 2 months old, and I wasn't comfortable putting them to breast so I only pumped.
Milk that has been pumped can stay out 4 to 6 hours at room temp. And as far as using the milk you just pumped if there was time, I always heat up the oldest first. The older they get, the less nutritional. If your oldest stored bottle is only a couple days, I don't think it much matters. But I definitely recommend getting a back stock of milk.
DD was a NICU baby, so I have pumped for her a ton since birth, although she sometimes nurses now.
She ate 1.5 oz per feeding when she first came home, but increased quickly to 2 oz, then 2.5, then 3. She has pretty much stuck with 3 other than during growth spurts.
BM that doesn't get finished can definitely be refrigerated, just make sure you change the nipple the next time. The one hour rule applies to formula, not breastmilk. It might be different if you really heat it up, though - we only heat it to room temp. Per the NICU (and you know they are super conservative), breastmilk can be at room temp for up to 6 hours.
At first, you should pump every time baby eats. I would pump after getting her down to sleep after each feeding. My hospital LC said I could drop a middle of the night pumping and go up to 6 hours on occasion once I was consistently getting 120 mL per pumping session (total, not per side).
I keep milk in the fridge and use the first-in, first-out system, so oldest first. It can stay in the fridge for up to 5 days.
Daughter born at 34 weeks due to PPROM, July 2012
Expecting baby #2, May 8, 2015
May 2015 signature challenge for January: "You had ONE job!"
As far as I know, there is no problem with reheating a bottle that has already been heated and then put back in the fridge. I do it often and have never noticed a problem with my LO. I just make sure that if I have a situation like that, I always use that bottle next/first.
My LO gets up once in the middle of the night to eat. I pump after he goes to bed, right before I go to bed. Then he gets up in the middle of the night and I change his diaper, give him a bottle, and put him back to bed. I don't pump. Then in the morning, I pump first thing and end up getting two full bottles. So that morning pump makes up for what I skipped in the night. If your LO is getting up more than once a night (which I guess at 1 week old he is!) then yeah you could leave the milk out. It can be left out at room temp for up to 8 hours.
That's true for formula, not breast milk.
Sorry if this was already mentioned, because I didn't read all of the other replies...
I would caution you when EP so early, because I started pumping in the first week too and ended up with MAJOR oversupply issues. (I was pumping and BFing at the same time though)
I was amazed that I could get 3 ounces from each breast, and figured that I could just freeze whatever we didn't need at the time!!
Breastfeeding went very well for me the first two weeks, and because of that I wish I had never started pumping so early (I did it so that DH could give LO a bottle once at night to allow me a little longer stretch of sleep).... It was all fine and dandy, but then at 2.5 weeks the issues started. My body started to make more and more milk because I was was pumping after nursing. This resulted in LO screaming, choking, and sputtering at every feeding... as well as foremilk/hindmilk imbalance. I've been block feeding for almost 3 weeks now, and the issues are finally starting to resolve.
Unless you have an issue with low-supply, my only advice would be to pump smaller amounts at the same frequency that your LO would be nursing.. If you could do a weighed feeding (weigh baby before and after nursing at the breast to see how much they are eating) and find out exactly how much your LO is eating each time, that would be perfect. That way you only pump the amount that your LO would have eaten during that nursing session... Don't drain the breasts more than your LO would eat. And don't skip the night sessions!!!! Your body produces the most hormones in the late night/early morning hours and that's what really will establish your supply for long-term breastfeeding.
ETA: Also, yes you can re-refrigerate a bottle... but use it up at the next feeding. It's ok to re-warm it. The link that the first PP put up is the same one that I go by. Kellymom.com is a very good resource. I asked my LC about it and she said that it's reliable. Kelly is an IBCLC, and knows what she's talking about!
I EP and my pediatrician gave me a schedule to help with my supply.
Days 1-3 Pump 8-10 times for 10-15 mins.
Days 4-10 or until after full milk production is reached pump 8-10 times a day for 20-30 mins
Once you are pumping 25-35 ounces per day pump 5-7 for 10-15 mins.
Also I was told pump sessions do not need to be evenly spaced out so for night time pumping I try to pump right before bed and then as soon as I wake up and squeeze the rest of of sessions during the day.
My son was starting with 1 oz but it was not enough so I asked my Pediatrician and they said that newborns sometimes eat up to 3 oz. in a feeding! So just give your LO what they need.
If Jack doesn't finish what I pumped I put it back with the milk supply I got from the same day in the refrigerator (because I'm still pumping just enough for him to eat in a day)
I hope this helped
GL!
Here is what I have been told in regards to pumping/bottles:
Baby needs 2.5x their body weight divided by the number of bottles per day per feeding. Ex. (baby weigh 10 lbsx2.5=25 oz divide that by the 8 times a day they eat and each bottle should be roughly 3.1 oz.)
And the rule of 6 for breast milk....6hours not refrigerated, 6 days in the fridge 6 months in the freezer.