Exclusive Pumpers Check-In

MrsWilson2013 · August 2013

First of all let me say it has been my privilege to do these posts the last couple weeks, i will be continuing my pumping journey for a little while still but plan to move on to formula around 2 months PP. If anyone wants to take the reins that would be great! But for now, this weeks check in :-)

How old is LO, how often does he/she feed & how much?

How often are you pumping?

What is your average total daily output?

Any issues or questions you need help with?

MrsWilson2013 · August 2013

How old is LO, how often does he/she feed & how much? 5 weeks today. She normally eats every 3 hours during the day and 2 stretches at night of 4-6 hours. She is taking about 3oz but i might be upping that after this growth spurt is over.

How often are you pumping? I dropped down to 5 times a day (about 5 hrs apart), this is not advisable for most women, but i plan to stop in about a month and am still making plenty this way for the time being.

What is your average total daily output? About the same 20-25 ounces for the day

Any issues or questions you need help with? I have excess Lipase in my milk, sadly i didnt figure this out until i had over 200 oz in my freezer :-( I advise ANY women freezing her milk to thaw a bag and do the sniff test once you have one frozen for 1 week, 2 weeks and 3 weeks to see if you might have this issue. Trust me, you dont want to wait and find out like i did.

gutsymama · August 2013

How old is LO, how often does he/she feed & how much? 11 weeks tomorrow. Still getting essentially 100% of his nutrition via IV; taking 10ml every 4 hours or so for comfort and to keep his stomach active and populated, except occasionally we have days where he doesn't get any because of other things going on or he gets Enfalyte instead because he has so much output (belly poop!) and that seems to produce less output than breastmilk does.

How often are you pumping? 6-8x/day. Shooting for every 3 hours during the day and once at night but if I'm only going to get 5 hours of sleep anyway (which is what we've been averaging by the time we get home from the hospital) then I just sleep through.

What is your average total daily output? I think around 40oz, but I haven't been tracking it all that closely since he's not using hardly any of it.

Any issues or questions you need help with? I have such a huge supply that I feel a little silly worrying about drying up, but it seems like I'm having to apply quite a bit more pressure with my hands to get the same amount of milk. Thoughts/suggestions? Also, we need to buy a second deep freeze to hold it all, and no one on craigslist will answer us....

gutsymama · August 2013

MrsWilson2013 said:
Any issues or questions you need help with? I have excess Lipase in my milk, sadly i didnt figure this out until i had over 200 oz in my freezer :-( I advise ANY women freezing her milk to thaw a bag and do the sniff test once you have one frozen for 1 week, 2 weeks and 3 weeks to see if you might have this issue. Trust me, you dont want to wait and find out like i did.

I actually don't know what this means - does that make the milk unusable? Is there some way to prevent it? The NICU has used some of my thawed milk, so they would notice if there was a problem, right?

ETA: I'm sorry you're having problems with your stash. That must be so frustrating! Is it kind of a relief to have an end in sight, though? If we find out after the next surgery that DS is going to always need measured bottles and won't be able to nurse, I'm going to count up what we've got and give myself a timeline for being done.

MrsWilson2013 · August 2013

Alicia0817 said:

MrsWilson2013 said:
Any issues or questions you need help with? I have excess Lipase in my milk, sadly i didnt figure this out until i had over 200 oz in my freezer :-( I advise ANY women freezing her milk to thaw a bag and do the sniff test once you have one frozen for 1 week, 2 weeks and 3 weeks to see if you might have this issue. Trust me, you dont want to wait and find out like i did.

I actually don't know what this means - does that make the milk unusable? Is there some way to prevent it? The NICU has used some of my thawed milk, so they would notice if there was a problem, right?
It does not mean the milk is unusable. Some babies won't take it, some will. It can be scalded before cooling to fix the issue.

It just means that the milk fat breaks down quicker, like the milk is pre-digested. It doesn't hurt them, some babies just wont drink it because it smells/tastes funny. Since your LO is being tube fed (i assume) then he wouldn't taste it anyway. PP is right though, you can scald the milk before cooling to halt the enzyme, but doing so will take some of the nutrients away from the milk. What i do is just make sure to give her milk as fresh as possible (within the first 48 hours, 24 if possible) that way it doesn't break down and she will drink it.

Luckily my 200oz wont go to complete waste, i can donate it to a milk bank if everything else is ok with me and my milk. I applied yesterday, so i should be getting a call in the next couple days to start the process to find out if i can donate. I chose milkinmamas.com, they are in my area and offer a $300 breast pump reimbursement if you donate at least 300 qualified ounces during your initial qualification period. So anything that goes over 48 hours in the fridge that LO doesn't eat i will freeze and add to the stash, i figure i will be at 300 ounces by the time she is 2 months old. That is when i plan to quit anyway, so it works out perfectly! Plus its good to know my milk will go to help NICU babies :-)

gutsymama · August 2013

MrsWilson2013 said:

Alicia0817 said:

It just means that the milk fat breaks down quicker, like the milk is pre-digested. It doesn't hurt them, some babies just wont drink it because it smells/tastes funny. Since your LO is being tube fed (i assume) then he wouldn't taste it anyway. PP is right though, you can scald the milk before cooling to halt the enzyme, but doing so will take some of the nutrients away from the milk. What i do is just make sure to give her milk as fresh as possible (within the first 48 hours, 24 if possible) that way it doesn't break down and she will drink it.

Luckily my 200oz wont go to complete waste, i can donate it to a milk bank if everything else is ok with me and my milk. I applied yesterday, so i should be getting a call in the next couple days to start the process to find out if i can donate. I chose milkinmamas.com, they are in my area and offer a $300 breast pump reimbursement if you donate at least 300 qualified ounces during your initial qualification period. So anything that goes over 48 hours in the fridge that LO doesn't eat i will freeze and add to the stash, i figure i will be at 300 ounces by the time she is 2 months old. That is when i plan to quit anyway, so it works out perfectly! Plus its good to know my milk will go to help NICU babies :-)

He does actually get to take a bottle, and he's never had any problems with it - he just can't have very much because he only has about 15 cm of small intestine between his stomach and his ostomy right now, and that's not enough to really absorb anything so everything that goes in just comes right out and leeches electrolytes along the way, so too much milk would actually dehydrate him.

That's really cool about the pump reimbursement - I'll have to look into that. My insurance company d*cked me over and refused to reimburse for my pump even after I called 4 separate times to make sure I was filing it properly, and if I end up being able to nurse after his next surgery I was planning to donate some anyway because I'm running out of freezer space!

vanessapolack · August 2013

How old is LO, how often does he/she feed & how much?

Baby Girl is just about 5 weeks old. She is eating every 2 hours during the day and only wakes up twice at night. Each feeding she is drinking 2 ounces

How often are you pumping?

Pumping every two hours still. I may miss a pump here and there during the night but I try not to.

What is your average total daily output?

Was getting 3 oz per breast each pump session last check-in now I am up to 4 oz per breast each pump session

Any issues or questions you need help with?

Going to be starting work at the end of the month and hoping I can keep up but I am getting tired of working everything around my pumping times. Its controlling my life I feel like. My question is I see a lot of LOs eating 3 to 4 oz and I am wondering how you know when to give more? She doesn't cry after her feedings and really doesn't cry for her feedings so I have just been doing what others are. Suggestions?

MrsWilson2013 · August 2013

Look for hunger cues like rooting, but if LO is giving you plenty of wet and dirty diapers a day then she is prob getting plenty. Every baby is different.

Mrs JillB · August 2013

@mimi4347 I just wanted to chime in that we bought a deep freeze a couple of months ago at Costco and have been very happy with it. It is 7.1 cubic feet and was $170, I think. This was the best bang for our buck that we could find. Hope that helps!

Clyde013 · August 2013

MrsWilson2013 said:
First of all let me say it has been my privilege to do these posts the last couple weeks, i will be continuing my pumping journey for a little while still but plan to move on to formula around 2 months PP. If anyone wants to take the reins that would be great! But for now, this weeks check in :-)

How old is LO, how often does he/she feed & how much?

How often are you pumping?

What is your average total daily output?

Any issues or questions you need help with?

E is 4 weeks today and eats about 3-4oz every 2-4 hours.
I am pumping 6-7 times a day.
My output is pathetic. About 4-6 ounces per day. And I'm taking fenugreek!
I'm thinking about pumping every 1.5 hours for a couple days next week when my mom will be able to help with E to see if my supply increases.

nicant11 · August 2013

Hello! Love this!!

LO is 5 weeks old. She eats usually every two-three hours. She usually takes 3 oz.

I pump every 4-5 hours. 5 times a day.

I'm averaging 40 oz a day.

No issues as of now thankfully. Going back to work Monday. So well see how it goes. I'm hoping to last to 6 months.

Now off to go thaw some milk and smell it!

merc5411 · August 2013

Aiden is 3 weeks old. He eats 3oz every 2.5 to 3 hours
I pump every 3 to 4 hours, except for a 5 hour break at night.
I'm getting about 24 oz a day
I would like to pump more do u can freeze some but can't seem to pump more than just enough

gutsymama · August 2013

Mrs JillB said:
@mimi4347

I just wanted to chime in that we bought a deep freeze a couple of months ago at Costco and have been very happy with it. It is 7.1 cubic feet and was $170, I think. This was the best bang for our buck that we could find. Hope that helps!

Thanks! We have a Sam's membership, I hadn't thought to look there. I'll check it out.

pgermain11 · August 2013

Hello!
Baby A is 3 weeks old and does 2.5 oz every 2-2.5 hours and every 3-3.5 hours at night. I pump between 6-8 times a day for 15 min. and I'm between 26-30 oz a day.
I am really disliking pumping but happy LO is drinking so much breast milk. I feel guilty sometimes bc I find myself wishing is dry up.. I'm basically just going to keep pumping until I can't take it any more and then start weaning off.

gutsymama · August 2013

pgermain11 said:
I feel guilty sometimes bc I find myself wishing is dry up..

I've wished this too (and felt guilty about it). It's okay. Pumping is hard.

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