Experienced Exclusive Pumpers ? Come on in!

mamahawk12 · June 2012

Hi ladies!! Since we've found out our son will have a cleft palate and will not be able to breastfeed, I plan on exclusively pumping. I pumped for 1-2 feedings a day after I returned to work with DS, but no where near the commitment of an exclusive pumper. So I guess I'm just looking for some advice on logistics, tips, tricks of the trade, etc.

My biggest concern at the moment is night time feedings. It was so easy to pop DS on the boob for a little and put him back down. I assume I'll need to invest in a bottle warmer? How did you manage warming bottles, feeding baby, and pumping all in the middle of the night? Obviously we'll need all hands on deck (sorry DH... no more sleeping through feedings for you...) - any tips on getting this done as efficiently as possible?

Any and all advice is appreciated!! I'm really trying to motivate and prepare myself because I know it will be a big commitment and a lot of work - hoping for the best!

MommyMelRN · June 2012

I'm a FTM myself, so I have no experience with this, but I am a NICU rn and have to ask, are you just assuming you won't be able to breastfeed, or have you actually spoken to someone (a craniofacial surgeon, to be precise) who told you that you wouldn't be able to? All the evidence out there shows that feeding at the breast, if able, is still better for babies with cleft palates, and still a very viable option. I will note, though, that bf'ing a cleft palate baby is often a more time consuming process than you experienced with your first one. All that being said, I do know that there are some craniofacial surgeons out there who will advise against putting babies to breast (while the rest of their peers and neonatal community give them the side eye), and if you are choosing to follow their advice, disregard all of the above, it doesn't apply to you. I just want to make sure you had all the info before you make more work for yourself!

In any event, hook up with a lactation consultant. If the hospital you plan on delivering at has one, call them up and chat with them about it before you deliver. I had a friend (another NICU rn) who had to exclusively pump with her first due to a very rare form of "tongue tie". It was a lot of work for her, but she managed to do it for over a year while working full time!

Good luck girl!

AprilAngie · June 2012

you may get more responses on the breasdfeeding board ?

they dont have an exclussive bottle fedding forum..

morgs8384 · June 2012

I pumped and supplemented with formula as needed, so I wasn't as hardcore of a pumper... but still wanted to reply.

I would pump every 2.5 hours during the day ( from 5 am until 8 pm). Normally his nighttime bottles were just the formula since I didn't want to go down stairs and mess with warming them up. You could get a bottle warmer, or you could warm it under some warm running water in the faucet.

I don't know if it would work, but the bras that hold the pump might be an option? You could hold and feed LO while your pumping. Otherwise it would be doing one thing or the other at a time.

Definitely get a double electric pump. I have the ameda purely yours ultra and love it. It is a closed system so you could resell it down the road. I believe they offer a 50$ mail in rebate on their site that you can add to the 20% sales babies R us does.

Good luck!!

noah-bear · June 2012

I EP'd while DS was in the NICU and shortly after.

It doesn't have to be warmed up and some LO's dont even care if it's cold. You do, however, have to keep it cold until use if it will be a while.

I highly recommend getting a hands free pumping bra so that you can hold LO while pumping. This will help you get a good letdown and more milk and feed at the same time.

My pump was battery powered as well and I took a nursing cover when I went out so I could pump anywhere without being tethered to an outlet. It's a great investment to get one of those.

AprilAngie · June 2012

I just had to recomment- about the bottle warmers, BM cant be heated in the mircowave as you get hot spots. The best way is to either pump and feed, so its still warm - or when it is in the fridge you just heat under warm tap water. boiling water sometimes is too hot. Just get a jar / type container and put the frozen or breastmilk into the jar- obviously sealed and you warm it. Have you read that blog - I cant thing of it - about breastfeeding- (come on prego brain work). It has tips on breastfeeding.

Sweetest116 · June 2012

meaknigh:

Hi ladies!! Since we've found out our son will have a cleft palate and will not be able to breastfeed, I plan on exclusively pumping. I pumped for 1-2 feedings a day after I returned to work with DS, but no where near the commitment of an exclusive pumper. So I guess I'm just looking for some advice on logistics, tips, tricks of the trade, etc.

My biggest concern at the moment is night time feedings. It was so easy to pop DS on the boob for a little and put him back down. I assume I'll need to invest in a bottle warmer? How did you manage warming bottles, feeding baby, and pumping all in the middle of the night? Obviously we'll need all hands on deck (sorry DH... no more sleeping through feedings for you...) - any tips on getting this done as efficiently as possible?

Any and all advice is appreciated!! I'm really trying to motivate and prepare myself because I know it will be a big commitment and a lot of work - hoping for the best!

I'm lurking, sorry.

I'm an EPer right now. This is how I do nights: I pump at 9pm prior to sleeping. I prepare three 2oz bottles and put them next to my nightstand. They are good until 3am (fresh BM is good for 6 hours), no warmer needed. If those are done then I have a box of ready-to-use nursettes that I'll crack open, they're 2oz, again no warmer needed. I've got my pump set up at 9pm for my next pump, so I pump after the 3am feeding... takes 15 mins and I'm on fbook on my phone the whole time so it goes by. No warmers, no trips to the kitchen, quick pump routine.

Lurk is over.

LittleApple · June 2012

I am an EP'er! I actually did use a bottle warmer (my kids preferred body temp milk and this was much faster than running...er wasting tap water).

I would get the bottle and stick it in the warmer and while that was heating, I would go get the baby and change the baby's diaper. By the time that was done, the bottle would be ready. Sometimes I would have just pumped and the milk was ready to feed.

The key is to create a pumping schedule (ever 3-4 hours) and stick to it, no matter what. I pumped once during the night.

Drink lots of water.

Good luck!

Jerzeygrl784 · June 2012

I ep'd with DS for 6mths and then had enough frozen supply to last us another 4mths until dr told me reg milk was ok for him. If you have any ?s def feel free to ask me anything and I'll do my best to help you. DS got some formula in the hospital bc he was losing too much weight while my supply was building up, but once we got home it was bm only. In the beginning while my supply was building I'd go pump and turn around when finished and give him that bottle (fresh pumped milk doesn't need to be warmed). Eventually when I was pumping more than he'd eat at a feeding I'd start my overstock supply. When DS was fed any milk from the fridge I did use a bottle warmer to warm it up for him. Later down the road when he was getting milk from the freezer, I would take the frozen bag out and thaw it in a bowl of warm water, but keep that in the fridge until I was ready for it and then again use bottle warmer when ready to feed DS.

When it came to nighttime feelings DH was essential if I even wanted to think about sleep. DS would wake for feeding and DH would warm his bottle (bottle of already pumped milk), and I would sit in bed pumping. About 20-30min later we were both done and back to bed until the next feeding!

In order to build up your fridge/freezer stash you have to be pumping frequently. I would go every 2-3hrs in the beginning to really get it going then 3-4hrs the rest of the time I was pumping. You can keep bm in the fridge for up to 3 days and in a reg freezer for up to 3mths. (longer in a deep freezer, which i ended up having to buy bc my stash was that large, but i dont remember the length of time in there) Label everything so you don't waste milk. Organize everything by dates and when you go to freeze bags of milk, lay them flat (I made that stupid mistake the first mth).

You mentioned that you did pump a little with your first son so idk what kind of pump you have from that, but doing ep requires a good double pump. I used the Madela Pump in style advance. A lactation consultant the first time around advised me if I wanted to ep not to get a cheap pump. I also had found this website the first time since most boards are women who bf the situations or probs you may encounter wont be the same. This website is for ep and was pretty helpful... https://forums.ivillage.com/t5/Exclusively-Pumping/ct-p/iv-ppexcluspump

Hope this helps for now, and like I said def feel free to ask me anything and I'll help you the best I can. Let me know if you want my email address for future questions.

eaglei1 · June 2012

I exclusively pumped for my first born and fully intend to do it this time around too.

I did have a bottle warmer and frankly they are really easy. I'd get the bottle warming before I changed my LO and by the time I was done changing her, the bottle was warm and she was ready to go.

I made a chart of when I pumped, how much I got and labled each bag as I froze the extra to make sure I kept the freezer supply in rotation. My biggest thing that made me do this was that originally I tried to BF my daughter but I wasn't effective at it and she lost over a pound the first week she was home. By keeping track of everything I knew exactly how much she ate, how much supply I had left and I also could see when my BM supply was starting to go down.

I was able to EP for 8 months, then I had a 2 month supply frozen, the dr let us switch to whole milk at 11 months so she only had to do formula once.

My favorite thing about EP was that it gave DH a chance to bond more with her. A few of my friends hubbies, were really kind of uninvolved for the first year or so because they said they were never really needed. By EP, my DH could feed during the day or my mom could, etc, and then at nite DH took the 11 pm shift, so I could be in bed by 8 pm and sleep until about 2 or 3 am for that feeding.

Some say that EP is double the work and yes it is work, but I found it to work best for my family. After LO would feed and be burped, I'd lay her down for a bit or sit her up on the boppy a bit so I could interact with her and then I'd pump while. After 20 minutes, particularly at nite, she was ready to go back to sleep and I was done.

Hope that helped.

mamahawk12 · June 2012

MommyMelRN:
I'm a FTM myself, so I have no experience with this, but I am a NICU rn and have to ask, are you just assuming you won't be able to breastfeed, or have you actually spoken to someone (a craniofacial surgeon, to be precise) who told you that you wouldn't be able to? All the evidence out there shows that feeding at the breast, if able, is still better for babies with cleft palates, and still a very viable option. I will note, though, that bf'ing a cleft palate baby is often a more time consuming process than you experienced with your first one. All that being said, I do know that there are some craniofacial surgeons out there who will advise against putting babies to breast (while the rest of their peers and neonatal community give them the side eye), and if you are choosing to follow their advice, disregard all of the above, it doesn't apply to you. I just want to make sure you had all the info before you make more work for yourself!
In any event, hook up with a lactation consultant. If the hospital you plan on delivering at has one, call them up and chat with them about it before you deliver. I had a friend (another NICU rn) who had to exclusively pump with her first due to a very rare form of "tongue tie". It was a lot of work for her, but she managed to do it for over a year while working full time!
Good luck girl!

We have met with the entire craniofacial team that will be treating our son. They've definitely encouraged attempting breastfeeding, but they also don't want to "get my hopes up" that it will work out. From what they can tell, the cleft is pretty severe and it's not likely that he will be able to create suction. I should be able to put him to the breast for the foremilk, but I'll need to supplement with the pumped hindmilk to make sure he's getting enough nutrients. They definitely haven't advised me against it - I guess they are just trying to prepare me for the more likely situation.

They did suggest to meet up with the LC prior to delivery so I can be own advocate should she be unavailable at the exact time of delivery... so I need to do that Thanks for the response!!

mamahawk12 · June 2012

morgs8384:
I pumped and supplemented with formula as needed, so I wasn't as hardcore of a pumper... but still wanted to reply.
I would pump every 2.5 hours during the day ( from 5 am until 8 pm). Normally his nighttime bottles were just the formula since I didn't want to go down stairs and mess with warming them up. You could get a bottle warmer, or you could warm it under some warm running water in the faucet.
I don't know if it would work, but the bras that hold the pump might be an option? You could hold and feed LO while your pumping. Otherwise it would be doing one thing or the other at a time.
Definitely get a double electric pump. I have the ameda purely yours ultra and love it. It is a closed system so you could resell it down the road. I believe they offer a 50$ mail in rebate on their site that you can add to the 20% sales babies R us does.
Good luck!!

I have the Medela Freestyle (hands free) from my last, but the hands-free bras do look more comfortable, so I'll have to try one out. Thanks!!

mamahawk12 · June 2012

Sweetest116:
meaknigh:

Hi ladies!! Since we've found out our son will have a cleft palate and will not be able to breastfeed, I plan on exclusively pumping. I pumped for 1-2 feedings a day after I returned to work with DS, but no where near the commitment of an exclusive pumper. So I guess I'm just looking for some advice on logistics, tips, tricks of the trade, etc.

My biggest concern at the moment is night time feedings. It was so easy to pop DS on the boob for a little and put him back down. I assume I'll need to invest in a bottle warmer? How did you manage warming bottles, feeding baby, and pumping all in the middle of the night? Obviously we'll need all hands on deck (sorry DH... no more sleeping through feedings for you...) - any tips on getting this done as efficiently as possible?

Any and all advice is appreciated!! I'm really trying to motivate and prepare myself because I know it will be a big commitment and a lot of work - hoping for the best!

I'm lurking, sorry.

I'm an EPer right now. This is how I do nights: I pump at 9pm prior to sleeping. I prepare three 2oz bottles and put them next to my nightstand. They are good until 3am (fresh BM is good for 6 hours), no warmer needed. If those are done then I have a box of ready-to-use nursettes that I'll crack open, they're 2oz, again no warmer needed. I've got my pump set up at 9pm for my next pump, so I pump after the 3am feeding... takes 15 mins and I'm on fbook on my phone the whole time so it goes by. No warmers, no trips to the kitchen, quick pump routine.

Lurk is over.

Thanks for lurking I posted over on the BFing board too and got lots of responses similar to yours - that a lot of people will just leave the first few bottles out on the nightstand ready to go. I never thought of that, so that will be easy!

mamahawk12 · June 2012

Jerzeygrl784:
I ep'd with DS for 6mths and then had enough frozen supply to last us another 4mths until dr told me reg milk was ok for him. If you have any ?s def feel free to ask me anything and I'll do my best to help you. DS got some formula in the hospital bc he was losing too much weight while my supply was building up, but once we got home it was bm only. In the beginning while my supply was building I'd go pump and turn around when finished and give him that bottle (fresh pumped milk doesn't need to be warmed). Eventually when I was pumping more than he'd eat at a feeding I'd start my overstock supply. When DS was fed any milk from the fridge I did use a bottle warmer to warm it up for him. Later down the road when he was getting milk from the freezer, I would take the frozen bag out and thaw it in a bowl of warm water, but keep that in the fridge until I was ready for it and then again use bottle warmer when ready to feed DS.
When it came to nighttime feelings DH was essential if I even wanted to think about sleep. DS would wake for feeding and DH would warm his bottle (bottle of already pumped milk), and I would sit in bed pumping. About 20-30min later we were both done and back to bed until the next feeding!
In order to build up your fridge/freezer stash you have to be pumping frequently. I would go every 2-3hrs in the beginning to really get it going then 3-4hrs the rest of the time I was pumping. You can keep bm in the fridge for up to 3 days and in a reg freezer for up to 3mths. (longer in a deep freezer, which i ended up having to buy bc my stash was that large, but i dont remember the length of time in there) Label everything so you don't waste milk. Organize everything by dates and when you go to freeze bags of milk, lay them flat (I made that stupid mistake the first mth).
You mentioned that you did pump a little with your first son so idk what kind of pump you have from that, but doing ep requires a good double pump. I used the Madela Pump in style advance. A lactation consultant the first time around advised me if I wanted to ep not to get a cheap pump. I also had found this website the first time since most boards are women who bf the situations or probs you may encounter wont be the same. This website is for ep and was pretty helpful... https://forums.ivillage.com/t5/Exclusively-Pumping/ct-p/iv-ppexcluspump
Hope this helps for now, and like I said def feel free to ask me anything and I'll help you the best I can. Let me know if you want my email address for future questions.

Thanks for all the info!! I also think DHs help will be mandatory for this to work out - I can't imagine doing it all myself. But between this post my XP over on the BFing board, lots of ladies seem to make it work and get into a pretty steady routine. I have a Medela freestyle (hands-free) from my last, so I should be good on the pump. I'll probably still invest in a couple of those hands-free bras though, they seem like they might be more comfortable. Hopefully this works out for me as well as it's worked out for so many others!

emtjen79 · June 2012

You have already gotten a lot of advise, but I want to have you keep the faith to try to BF, I work for a plastic surgeon and a lot of our moms of CLP babies have been able to breastfeed.

The bottle warming, my co-worker said she kept a crockpot of water on her counter at all times, so when it was time to rewarm breast milk she would put it in there for a short time. She said it saved on water, so you aren't running the bottle under the water in the sink? She said it was just enough to take the chill out of the bottle.

VolFanRN · June 2012

Jerzeygrl784:

I ep'd with DS for 6mths and then had enough frozen supply to last us another 4mths until dr told me reg milk was ok for him. If you have any ?s def feel free to ask me anything and I'll do my best to help you. DS got some formula in the hospital bc he was losing too much weight while my supply was building up, but once we got home it was bm only. In the beginning while my supply was building I'd go pump and turn around when finished and give him that bottle (fresh pumped milk doesn't need to be warmed). Eventually when I was pumping more than he'd eat at a feeding I'd start my overstock supply. When DS was fed any milk from the fridge I did use a bottle warmer to warm it up for him. Later down the road when he was getting milk from the freezer, I would take the frozen bag out and thaw it in a bowl of warm water, but keep that in the fridge until I was ready for it and then again use bottle warmer when ready to feed DS.

When it came to nighttime feelings DH was essential if I even wanted to think about sleep. DS would wake for feeding and DH would warm his bottle (bottle of already pumped milk), and I would sit in bed pumping. About 20-30min later we were both done and back to bed until the next feeding!

In order to build up your fridge/freezer stash you have to be pumping frequently. I would go every 2-3hrs in the beginning to really get it going then 3-4hrs the rest of the time I was pumping. You can keep bm in the fridge for up to 3 days and in a reg freezer for up to 3mths. (longer in a deep freezer, which i ended up having to buy bc my stash was that large, but i dont remember the length of time in there) Label everything so you don't waste milk. Organize everything by dates and when you go to freeze bags of milk, lay them flat (I made that stupid mistake the first mth).

You mentioned that you did pump a little with your first son so idk what kind of pump you have from that, but doing ep requires a good double pump. I used the Madela Pump in style advance. A lactation consultant the first time around advised me if I wanted to ep not to get a cheap pump. I also had found this website the first time since most boards are women who bf the situations or probs you may encounter wont be the same. This website is for ep and was pretty helpful... https://forums.ivillage.com/t5/Exclusively-Pumping/ct-p/iv-ppexcluspump

Hope this helps for now, and like I said def feel free to ask me anything and I'll help you the best I can. Let me know if you want my email address for future questions.

WOW! Thank you for this - very helpful!!!!

Want a personalized experience?

Experienced Exclusive Pumpers ? Come on in!

Re: Experienced Exclusive Pumpers ? Come on in!

Choose Another Board

Search Boards