Pumping from the beginning

Re: Pumping from the beginning

• michellersayer member

  March 2014

  I did that with my first son and ended up having to give him formula! It was a nightmare. I couldn't keep up with the amount of milk my baby needed.. And I was a stay at home mom. I didn't want to breastfeed bc honestly I was uncomfortable with the whole idea. That child is now 2. I now have a 3 month old that I breastfeed because I did research and became comfortable with the idea.. Girl it's awesome! My biggest regret in life is not breastfeeding my first child. All I got to stay is get a gooooood pump and pump ALOT!

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• Myaflowers member

  March 2014 edited March 2014

  I had to start off pumping because LO was in the NICU. I wasn't able to pump enough to feed her, and they ended up giving her formula. We had to supplement with formula until we switched to exclusively nursing at about a month because I was so tired of pumping. I was very sick, though, with HELLP and preeclampsia, so that may have impacted my supply in the beginning. I also had an emergency c-section. Pumping from the start may work much better for you than it did for me. Good luck!
  
  ETA: I was pumping every 2 to 3 hours with a hospital grade pump and still getting basically nothing for the first week and only about 3 oz a day after that even though we weren't nursing at all.
  

  
  

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• kalette member

  March 2014 edited March 2014

  I did it with DD by choice. I started in the hospital with a medela Pisa every 2 hours or so. I had way more than enough to feed her and kept going for 16 months until she weaned herself off the bottle. We did BM in a sippy for another week or two and then switched to whole milk. She never needed formula.
  
  ETA: by 6 months we were down to 3x a day and then 2x by 8 or 9. I stayed there until weaning when I moved to once and then just stopped.

   
  

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• amlea81 member

  March 2014

  Thank you for all these tips. And I did actually consider the shield early on, so that's a great suggestion for stimulation. Who knows, things may change once she gets here, but it's very empowering to have knowledge and choices.
  
  I have to admit that I'm nervous to reach out to an LC, just because I don't want to feel pressured to decide to BF. I guess I could ask around to get a feel for those in the area first.

  BFP #1: 7-26-08, natural m/c 6w4d; BFP #2: 12-6-08, natural m/c 6w5d
  BFP #3: 2-26-09; DD born 10/30/09; 7lb3oz, 20.5in!
  
  BFP= #4: 9-8-13, hcg @ 14dpo: 507, 17dpo: 1731, doubling: 39 hours
  Found a strong hb @ 5w6d; Measuring 4 days ahead, hb of 168 @ 8w4d!
  So excited for Baby Sister! EDD: 5/24/14
  

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• cerafina205 member

  March 2014

  I had to pump from the beginning. I tried hand expressing colostrum from the beginning but my baby had such an appetite that I had to supplement until my milk came in.

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• StephNordenmalm member

  March 2014

  My little guy is in the NICU so I had to pump from the beginning. The hospital was great they bought a pump to my room and I pumped evrery three hours. At first it was just a tiny amount buy I kept with it and by day three I had a nice supply. I would pump and DH would have to run it down to the NICU. I still pump every three hours during the day if I'm not at the hospital, and I try to go 4-5 hours at night. Luckily my supply is great so I think it just sticking to it on a routine that really did it. 

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• seawater member

  March 2014

  My experience was much like a pp that ended with a C-section due to preelampisa and HELLP, and babies in the NICU.  They ended up needing formula for quite a while until I got my supply up.  I'm not saying this to discourage you AT ALL.  I think that making the choice to only feed your baby breast milk is amazing and it's a goal I've been working toward for the last 3.5 months, but it was just not possible for me in the beginning.  I felt like such a failure as a mom and was so stressed and depressed about it.  I just wanted to say that if they need formula in the beginning, try not to be too hard on yourself.  I felt so guilty and it really affected what little supply I did have.  BF is the hardest thing I've ever done but so worth it.  Exclusively pumping is SUCH HARD WORK and I just want to say that you are doing an amazing thing for your baby.  I wish you the very best!

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