Exclusive Pumping, does the pain get better with time?

babybean82 · March 2014

I am exclusively pumping for my preemie because he is in the NICU and won't be able to try breastfeeding for at least another 5 weeks or more. t's been just under a week and I am attempting to pump 8 times a day, but the pain each time is really intense I can barely last 10 minutes. I use lanolin on my nipples but it barely seems to help anymore, does this get better at all? are there any tips that anyone has for making pumping less painful?

TIA

BootsOrHearts · March 2014

I found it painful at first too, try turning the level way down and slowly build your way up. At first I could only pump on the lowest setting, turning it up one or two after a few minutes, now I pump on a medium/medium high setting and it's fine.

Also check to make sure the flanges are the right size for you - your nipples should NOT touch the sides, if they do they will get rubbed raw and will hurt.

I hope your little boy gets to come home soon. Our little guy came early (though not as early as yours) because of pre-e, he was 4lb11oz and spent 3 weeks in the NICU. Will they let you have lots of kangaroo care time with him? I really enjoyed that time with him and I think he did too.

klitwin1 · March 2014

In my opinion pumping is a lot less painful than nursing. I think the best advice is start at a lower setting and keep using the lanolin. Hopefully your body gets use to it soon. Good luck

babybean82 · March 2014

BootsOrHearts said:

I found it painful at first too, try turning the level way down and slowly build your way up. At first I could only pump on the lowest setting, turning it up one or two after a few minutes, now I pump on a medium/medium high setting and it's fine.

Also check to make sure the flanges are the right size for you - your nipples should NOT touch the sides, if they do they will get rubbed raw and will hurt.

I hope your little boy gets to come home soon. Our little guy came early (though not as early as yours) because of pre-e, he was 4lb11oz and spent 3 weeks in the NICU. Will they let you have lots of kangaroo care time with him? I really enjoyed that time with him and I think he did too.

Oh wow so that might be my problem, I thought it always had to be all the way up, I didn't realize I could use the lower levels. I will try that next time and see if that helps, I will also look into the size cause I think my nipples are rubbing. I had a LC come visit with me when I was still in the hospital the day after he was born but I had only done it once at that time with the hospital pump and my nurses help. After I got discharged my MIL bought me a Medela pump that I pretty much figured out how to use on my own.

As of right now we can't hold him but Saturday they are running some more tests and will reevaluate that, and if we can we will be able to do kangaroo care pretty often I think.

BootsOrHearts · March 2014

While baby is still in the hospital, you might want to consider renting a hospital grade pump as they are more effective at getting milk out and so it's easier to build up and maintain your supply. I know some insurance carriers cover the cost of hospital grade rentals if your baby is in the NICU. Ask your hospital's LC about it.

Oh and good job mama! It's not easy to pump when your baby is in the NICU but I know for me it made me feel like I was doing something to help him when there was very little else I could do.

RootBeer29 · March 2014

I don't EP but pumping hurt me worse than nursing until I started using lube on my nipples. Nipple butter is great.

Stephanie2167 · March 2014

Yes, it gets better. I was pretty sore and bleeding early on. I still get sore sometimes (especially when I get clogged ducts and pump for quite a bit longer to try and clear them up).

Try and rub some olive oil on the inside of the shield to help with friction, make sure you have the right size shield and don't put the suction up to high. I can actually pump on pretty low suction and still get the same output.

I also just ordered these shield to see if they help me any (not sure I like them yet but I'll try anything that will make pumping better/easier).

www.pumpinpals.com I ordered from Amazon.

Good luck and keep at it. You're doing great.

mommatotwo2 · March 2014

I definitely found it painful at first even with the correct size flanges and a medium suction. It for sure got better with a little time. Hang in there, and congratulations!!

haziedaze · March 2014

I second all the great advice that others have mentioned. I want to clarify though, is the pain in your nipples? Do they look raw/cracked etc. If they do then you have great advice.

After talking with our NICU LC, I realized about 5-6 days into pumping that the main painful sensation for me was actually my let down. I was fine until about 4-5 mins in and then it felt like there was a vice constricting my breast. The LC explained that this was likely let down. So I tried breathing through it and turning down the suction just a bit and sure enough the milk would start flowing like crazy. This also relieved my engorgement and once I was less engorged my let downs hurt less. Once I figured this out my pumping output quickly improved as well. So yeah, just another etiology to consider. Good luck!!

To give you some encouragement, I started putting my preemie to the breast around 31-32 weeks adjusted after pumping. He started latching with a shield just before 33 weeks adjusted and then was really nursing my 34 weeks. He came home at 35 weeks adj mostly nursing with 2 fortified bottles a day, but was always better at nursing (we delayed introducing bottles until 34 weeks to let him work on nursing first). By his due date I actually dropped the fortified bottles and he started gaining 2oz a day or more and chunked up fast. He was EBF until a year and then weaned at 21 months when I wanted to get pregnant again (combo child and mommy led). Nursing a preemie is crazy hard work but can be really rewarding also! I love that in the end we had a pretty "normal" breastfeeding journey despite the slow start. Good luck!

VitaLuna · March 2014

Oh girl, turn that thing down! My nips hurt just thinking about running full blast as a new mom. I started pumping in the hospital and could only stand it as far as 1/4 way up. I still only pump about 1/2 way up. My LC said you only need to turn it up enough to get good milk flow. GL!

babybean82 · March 2014

Thank you everyone for your responses, I switched to some bigger flanges 30 mm instead of 24 mm and I also turned it down to a medium and wow what a difference! I have stopped dreading each pumping session now.

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