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Preemies
Pumping at home?
Hi everyone,
I'm new here. My son was born at 27 weeks and is still in the hospital (he's 36 weeks now). I've been pumping since he was born, but haven't had great success. My supply is really low (7 ounces per day) even though I've done everything the lactation specialists suggest. At this point, my son is only getting breastmilk for 3-4 of his 8 feedings per day.
I've been talking to nurses and lactation specialists about what to expect regarding feeding when my son comes home, but they're very evasive.
Have any of you had low supply issues and been able to successfully breast feed at home (even with supplemental formula)? Have you continued exclusively pumping with your baby at home? How does this work for you? Was there a point when your supply was so low that you decided to give up? What was that point and why?
I'm not ready to give up right now, but given that pumping takes a good 3-4 hours out of my day, I'm starting to wonder when the payoff is too low to justify it.
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Re: Pumping at home?
i'm sure they're giving you good advice- it's great that you have a lactation consultant to work with.
i had great supply while my daughter was in the nicu (except for a few days after i got mirena- and then had it promptly removed). since she's been home growth spurt times were always stressful times because your body has to learn to make more. right now my daughter is 10m and i'm supplementing with goat's milk formula and pumping, bfing her only once or twice a day. i had some supply issues after her last spurt, and wasn't able to get it back up too well- along with the fact that she's now trying to wean! *sigh*
i will say, bfing will help supply tremendously... just the stimulation from it will make the body produce more. that, coupled with the reduction of stress when your baby comes home, can really help to naturally boost supply. in addition you can try several different Rx's or natural stimulants. (i've got a link on "new to the nicu" below that talks "all about the milk".. more of that stuff is on there- though i'm sure they've already told you all about it.)
pumping sucks, that's for sure! i exclusively pumped for about 2 and a half monthsish, then pumped/bfed, then ebfed, then pumped/bfed.. it's like lactation olympics in my house! i have stuck with it because as they say "breast is best"... i know there are lots of mommies on here who exclusively pumped for MONTHS some even more than a year. i know that is really hard... and i admire them so much for sticking with it. if your lo can latch it becomes easier because of the bonding blah blah blah- it's all true.. the pumping seems like what you do until you can breast feed again- if you can breast feed.. and that helps with making it seem "worth it". if not, then you just choose to do it because breast milk is good for him.
that said.. there are lots of moms on here who have used formula too! i'm sure they can tell you about their decision.. sometimes the stress or production issues are too much... that is totally understandable. the nicu is a hard place!
I pumped exclusively for 2 months before giving up, I really wanted to do it longer, but I was basically getting about 5oz a day and DD was taking more ounces at each feeding. So from the beginning we were supplementing with formula. In the NICU I would try and breastfeed her as much as possible, but normally she would latch on for 5 minutes and then start screaming. I knew she had already made up her mind that the bottle was easier. I wanted to give her as much of my milk as possible and talked it over with DH and we both decided if at two months, if she wasn't latching on, then we would do formula. Plus my supply started tanking to even lower oz.
Good luck with your decision. Just remember even the littlest bit of breast milk is better then nothing at all.
I can't relate to the low supply at the start, as I had a great supply at first, but I can talk a little about deciding whether a low supply is worth maintaining and still pumping for. Mine dropped rapidly when I returned to work, and I was only making about half of what he needed (similar to your current situation). I considered stopping but a lot of the research out there shows the benefits of any bm, so part-time bm is still better than just formula. Only you can decide if it's too much time and frustration to keep pumping, though. If it were me, I would keep up the pumping and try bfing when he gets home, supplementing with formula as needed; I would stick with it (personally) until he was at least 4 mo. old, even if I was only making 1/2 of his feeds. 1/2 is pretty good! If it got to where I was only making enough for one bottle per day, I'd quit.
It's a personal decision though, so don't feel guilty about whatever YOU decide to do. You've been dedicated to giving him the best while he was in the NICU and needing it most. Good for you!
Hi and congrats! Great job pumping this long! The first couple of months are the hardest until you get into the swing of things.
I wanted to switch to breast feeding when Andrew (26 weeker) came home but it didn't happen, so I continued to pump. I EPed for 15 months and I just stopped. I never counted up my ounces for the day or worried about it (granted I had a good supply) because my attitude was any little bit was good and provided some antibodies for the little guy.
Do what you can, and remember you have to do what's best for you. If it's causing stress you may find it better to stop. In the mean time, try not to worry about how many ounces you're getting, and know that any little bit is AWEsome!
Thanks ladies!
I'm going to keep at it as long as I can, and I'll just have to see what life is like when my son comes home. We've been practicing breast feeding in the NICU, and he has been able to latch on successfully. I'm hoping that he'll be able to breastfeed so that I won't have to do so much pumping.