Pumping Mom's

tetiananina

I have only been pumping for 5 days now since my milk didn't come in right away. My question is how often to do you pump? I'm not nursing right now, J doesn't latch on and he gets so tired sucking on the bottle I can't imagine him sucking on my nipple. I had no intentions to pump but with him coming 4 weeks early he needed formula when my milk wasn't in. In the past few days I noticed my milk supply isn't as much, I drink alot of water and I was pumping every 4 hours getting about 5 ounces. J is eating about 1.52 ounces per feeding about every 23 hours. I want to increase my milk supply for when he starts eating more. How often do you pump to insure you have an adequate milk supply? I have a good amount in the freezer/fridge about 14 2.5 ounces tubes and I produce enough for feedings but to me I can never have enough.

johnnys june

Your body won't respond nearly as well to the pump as to the baby sucking.  My LC recommended pumping as often as the baby was eating, which in my case was every 1.5 - 2 hours.  I would pump 10 minutes on one side then 10 on the other, or until empty.  You can also try to power pump.  Have you looked at kellymom.com?  Will he not latch at all?  Emma came 4 weeks early and was so tiny that she couldn't get her mouth open wide enough and would only latch for mere seconds.  I could get her to nurse but it would literally take an hour to feed because she'd get so tired she's fall asleep.  The lactation consultant encouraged me to continue to latch her and try to get her to feed for atleast 10 minutes on one side.  After that, I'd pump until empty.  I also used a nipple shield.  This gave Emma the extra length to my nipple that she needed.  After a few weeks I was able to wean her off of it.

tetiananina

I will look into getting nipple shield, that would be a great help. I guess I'll just have to have him keep trying. Right now with my nipple he just plays with it. I usually pump for 10 minutes on each side. I don't go til it's empty maybe that's my problem too. Ill try doing it til I can't pump any more. My nipples were getting sensitive at first so it was harder to pump longer. Thank you for your help. What you went through with Emma is similar to what I'm going through with Jackson. Thank you for your input. I'm willing to try anything

luvmyducks

If you are wanting to produce for his needs, I would pump every time he needs to eat--so every 2-3 hrs.  But preferably more than that since the pump isn't as efficient as LO.

bluebonnetmeg

My babies were 8 weeks early, so I ended up pumping for several weeks. Initially to get my milk supply established, I pumped every 2 hours during the day and every 3 at night for 30 minutes with the hospital-grade pump. After about a week and a half I switched to 2-3 hours during the day and 3-4 at night. I was not nursing then though, since my boys were still in the NICU. I would image that you would pump for a shorter amount of time if you were trying to nurse also.

My littlest just weaned off the shield a week ago. His mouth was just too small to get a good latch on his own. Good luck!