Preemies
Pumping Exclusively
Has anyone else had problems transitioning from bottle feeds in the NICU/home to BF? DS will not breastfeed. We had no success BF in hospital and went home with pumped breastmilk bottlefeeds. How long did you pump? Did you switch to formula eventually?
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Re: Pumping Exclusively
I feel your frustration. have you tried the nipple shield? that's the only way our son will bf.
i have been pumping every day, and also giving him the formula they said he needs to have until he is 6 months old.
Friday will be 9 months of pumping. If you're planning to EP, a few bits of advice:
~drink lots and lots of water
~invest in a good pump (some insurance will cover hospital pumps for preemies)
~pump 6-8 times per day, every day
~get a hands-free pumping bra. Simple Wishes and Medela make them
~invest in some extra pump sets. I have 7 sets of Y adapters, flanges, etc. They get washed once a day.
There are several ladies here that EP. Feel free to ask more questions
This is a very common struggle around here!
Andrew did latch some in the hospital - very mixed success. However, when he came home on mostly bottles, he was really struggling to get his calories in. At that time, we increased his nipple flow to a 3 month flow (He was a month adjusted age) and he did much better. BFing was too hard, so he absolutely refused to do it and I gave up. I ended up EPing for 15 months. It was awful. I was too scared for him to get sick. He never had formula (except to fortify) and he switched to milk at a year adjusted.
I really wanted him to have BM at first, because once he came home I started to drop pumping sessions. I started wtih 7. Then when he came home and I had to go back to work I dropped to 4. About 6 months later-ish, I dropped to 3 pumps. Over the last 2 months I dropped to 2 and then 1 pump, ending when RSV season ended after 15 long months.
My goal was to provide him at least one bottle of breast milk a day for the antibodies during RSV season. I am not anti-formula. I know that some formula won't hurt (at least once they are older and NEC isn't a real risk) It just so happened I had enough output to support him. But I dropped pumps as I needed to to maintain sanity, knowing I might have to supplement and that's OK. I knew I could just do my best and that was all I could do.
DS2 was a 35-weeker and I BF/FF in the hospital for a week, and then because of multiple stresses, and it was summer time, I threw in the towel. So DS2 has been almost entirely FF.
I've done both extremes, do what's best for you!
been EPing for 7months. ds did well nursing in the hospital but it was a downward spiral once he came home and got stronger. to make a long story short i finally called a lacation consultant a couple months after being home. and it turns out DS is tongue tied. we had it fixed(twice since the 1st one reattached) so we are just now trying to him back to nursing buts its been a struggle.
one thing my LC and i have discussed is that we as a society do a horrible job at supporting moms(especially moms of preemies) when they come home from the hospital. insurance companies usually dont cover LC visits etc. so transitioning home can be tough and many people give up. i only WISH i had an LC who came for a few visits when we first came home(just like the visiting nurse did) because i feel like we would have fixed any issues early on.
so my advice is that when u get your LO home have an LC come for a visit within a couple weeks to give u some tips and check on you. then if u still have issues have her come again. spending the $$ on a few LC visits is A LOT cheaper then formula and bm is a lot more superior to formula.
good luck. ultimately u have to do what is right for your family and your sanity. i have been very close to giving up a few times
I never thought I would still be pumping 10+ months later, but here I am! DD was incredibly small when she was born - 2lbs 12oz at 34 weeks - and while I was encouraged to BF it was too stressful for me NOT to know how much she was getting. Additionally, I was not allowed to BF more then twice a day because I had to fortify her BM. So I decided to just stick to pumping. Initially I was pumping 7-8 times a day and when she came home I cut back to 6x a day. I was producing 30-35oz a day, which was more then enough for what the little one consumed on a daily basis at the time. I work at a school and went back to work in April, but had a much more flexible summer schedule, so I was able to continue pumping 4-5x a day until August and was able to keep up with her daily intake. Once school started again in the fall I had to drop to 3 sessions a day and my supply has dropped dramatically. Since September I've had to add 2-3 formula bottles a day. If I didn't have such a flexible work schedule, there is no way I'd still be pumping. Currently I'm not certain how long I'm going to go for. I'm definitely going to her first bday, but depending on where I'm at, I might continue through the end of RSV season. I am pro feeding your baby - whether that be with BM or formula - so you should do whatever feels right for you and your family. Pumping takes a lot time time and there are mornings that I dread having to get up early to pump.
My daughter was born 5 1/2 weeks early, she was in the NICU for 3 weeks 2 days and her main issue was eating all of her meals on her own and gaining weight. because she was not gaining that much weight from the start we had to fortify my breast milk with some formula to add calories. Once she was out of the woods with gaining weight she still was not latching on and she would not complete her meals. From the beginning I have exclusively pumped and continue to do so now she is now 5 1/2 weeks old adjust age 4 months old. She is eating more than I can produce, but I still continue to pump because I feel that any amount of BM is better than none. Roughly she gets 4 bottles of BM a day and 3 bottles of FM. My goal is to continue to pump until she is a year old.
Good Luck in what ever you decide to do!
Ditto. If I could go back, I would have invested in a medical grade pump. I was able to use the hospital's pumps while little man was in the NICU. It does a much better job stimulating supply. Also in my experience the regular grade pumps are not made to be used so much. I am on my 3rd pump )=
I have been pumping 10 1/2 months now. My son is almost exclusively breastfed. he just has 2oz formula supplementation (for extra calories)