help BF vs. pumping (26-weeker)

lemen99 · April 2009

Our DS was born at 26 weeks. He just came home from the hospital after a really long stay with lots of struggles with feeding.

So right now I"m basically still exclusively pumping. A BF's 2x/day (approx) because we don't want to suddenly change his routine from the hospital until his eating is a little stronger, and also BF just wipes him out still. He does well with BF but just can't go that long.

I don't know how much longer I can handle getting up in the middle of the night to feed him AND pump. I can do it now because DH is on vacation and my mom is here helping, but I don't know what I'll do when DH goes back to work.

It still takes a LONG time to take his bottle, so like last night I was up for 2 whole hours (just one feeding) between feeding him, burping him, holding him upright (for reflux), and pumping.

I want to transition to more BF, but we want to wait until he has his weight check next Monday, and then introduce 1 new BF session at a time to see what he can handle (energy-wise).

He is required to get 2-4 formula bottles a day, because he needs those extra calories to gain weight...and he also sleeps longer after those, because he gets more volume and more calories. (He's on 24-cal Neosure)

Right now my supply is WAY more than he needs or that he's capable of taking. I'd love to phase out that need to pump in the middle of the night, but I'm not sure if it's possible right now, or how to do it.

The hospital suggested I would need to pump until he "catches up" to me, but who knows when that will be.

Any ideas??? tia!

dmblack · April 2009

I don't know how helpful I can be because I had the exact opposite issue. I never produced enough milk to BF. How much BM do you have stored up? If you have quite a bit you could always cut out your night pumping and get some sleep.

jillian6 · April 2009

I know how hard that it. my dd was a 34 weeker but never learned to latch properly. so i had to pump non-stop. while she was in the nicu i pumped every 2 hours. just freeze all the extra milk. you will use it all, i promise. once dd was able to stretch out the time in between feedings, i spaced out the time between my pumping sessions. dd would always fall asleep while breastfeeding, after a couple weeks, she still wasn't able to do it. i decided it would be much less stressful to pump and give bottles. the good news is your baby is latching on. he will get stronger. i don't want to say that is gets easier, but it does just become a routine. i don't know that i would want to eliminate a session, unless you know your supply isn't going to drop. i know that it is hard, but you can do it! hang in there!

Aidge · April 2009

I know how hard it is, but eventually you won't have to be up for that amount of time. That being said, it might be awhile (as it was for me). Luckily, I had a freezer stash so that DH could help feed Sam in the middle of the night. I got up anyway, b/c I didn't want my supply to diminish. ?This is where you need to be careful, b/c if you cut out a night session, you are basically telling you body to produce less, and this could become a problem when your LO is EBF and wakes at night to eat. ?It really is such hard work, and I too was up all night it feels like, but it does get easier. ?I found that BFing during the day was a lot easier, and then you can give him the bottles at night (before he becomes EBF). ?Wish I had more advice, but trust me in that it gets easier and you are doing such a good thing for your LO!

lemen99 · April 2009

I have a TON TON TON (116 days worth) of breastmilk in the freezer.

I get about 8 ounces of milk when I pump at night. DS only eats ounces each time.

Right now we fortifiy the frozen milk to feed him at night...so he will get breastmilk either way, but I was concerned about eliminating that pumping for fear of "drying up"...

Maybe I just need to give it time?

kamcfarlane · April 2009

we also had a hard time BFing. after DS came home, he was only gaining a couple of ounces a week, so we had to start giving him a bottle every other feeding with some formula mixed in. i met with the LC one last time and she said it best - DS had a different beginning than most babies and sometimes it just doesn't work out. it was taking him an hour and a half to eat and then he would still cry and take a 4oz bottle. i was SO frustrated.

then i did the best thing for both of us. i made a decision to EP and not stress out about it anymore. if i was up in the middle of the night feeding, i would pump, otherwise, i wouldn't. i had a pumping schedule that i kept during the day regardless. when DS was with me, he had my BM via bottle and when he was at daycare, he got formula. it worked out to be about 2/3 BM, 1/3 formula by my estimation. he still got quite a bit of BM and the benefits, but without the stress.

i had to let go of the dream of having a EBF kid. but then again, he had been getting formula since early on in the NICU (sometimes they were too lazy to defrost my milk, yeah, they were great). he is gaining weight like a champ and is a happy baby boy. i'm not saying this would work best for you, i'm just saying it worked best for us. the key is to find a system that is going to work for you and to go with it. you'll feel a lot better once the decision is made!

ijack · April 2009

I too had an oversupply, but it didn't last as long as I would have liked. What I did was have DH get up one time at night to feed DD. I would pump right before bed and he would take the first feeding around midnight or whatever and I would keep sleeping. Then at the next feeding I would do the feeding and the pumping. This way we were both getting a slightly longer stretch of sleep. I would advise against eliminating night pumping all together. If you think about it your son is basically a brand new baby and you're producing milk for a baby that is a couple months old, but soon he'll catch up more to what you're eating and you'll be able to scale back on the pumping as you start BFing more.

Good luck! I know it's a huge PITA to pump and feed at night, but you'll get be able to BF soon

C.P.C. · April 2009

I know it can be so exhausting pumping and giving the bottle. It's double the work and time. Try to hang in there. My daughter wouldn't latch when she first got home because she was used to the bottle from the nicu. She was also not easy to feed like your dc. Each feeding took a long time and she didn't sleep at night. I eventually ended up slacking on the pumping because I was so tired. She started latching and being ready after about 4 weeks of being home (38 wks), but my supply had gone down. I was trying to do both, but once she started bf that's all she wanted. I could not get my supply back up so I had to wean

So moral of the story...try to hang in there. I kno it's hell, but he will be ready soon enough.

sweetpea18 · April 2009

DD gets a bottle for her night feedings. Dh gets up with me and starts to feed her while I pump. If she's not done eating when I'm done pumping, I take over the feeding so dh can go back to sleep.

I continue to pump every 3 hrs around the clock, even though I'm "ahead" of dd. She's catching up to me very quickly and I don't want my supply to tank.

Carilyn · April 2009

I'm not a preemie mom, but I've breastfed and pumped at work, so maybe I can offer some suggestions? Could you pump and feed him at the same time? I know it sounds stupid, but it could maybe work. I would always hooked my tank/bra around the cup of the pump and it held them in place, hands free. If you hold him out in front of you when you feed, you could maybe do both.

Also, I would think that with your great supply and that it is well established at this point, if you phased out one night pumping so you get a longer stretch of sleep, it shouldn't hurt your supply much. Remember, being tired also affects your supply, so there has to be a balance. Your DS may never "catch up" to your supply. If you're getting 8oz and pumping every 3 hours, that's 64oz every 24hours! That is a ton. Even term newborns and throughout infancy, babies need 24-40oz of formula/milk a day.

Kudos to you for keeping up with the pumping! It amazes me. I pumped for 10months at night when I worked (3-4nights a week) and it was exhausting and I hated it and I only got 10oz in a 12hour period (way less than my DS ate while I was at work). You NICU moms work so hard! It is very admirable.

help BF vs. pumping (26-weeker)

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