Switching to scheduled feedings and pumping

Re: Switching to scheduled feedings and pumping

• beachbumsc member

  August 2014

  This is the advice I got from a friend who had to pump for her three kids.  I'm a FTM so I haven't tried it yet, but hope it helps you:

  
  

  Once your milk comes in, start pumping 5-10 minutes after every feeding for the first 3 weeks using the "let down" setting on the pump.  There may be nothing coming out, but you are establishing a supply based off demand

  
  

  When you start pumping 2 ounces of milk after nursing, you can decide what time of day you want to produce the most amount of milk- so since you are going back to work, you might decide you want to produce the most milk in the morning and evening when are home and have the most time to pump.  In this case you want to pump 10 minutes after your morning feeding and evening (~7pm) feeding.  For the rest of the feedings, pump 5 minutes after each feeding.  The more your pump and build up your supply, the quicker you can drop the number of times you pump in a day.  

  
  

  
  

  

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• jenn43 member

  August 2014

  I started back to work at 2 weeks (yes, I realize that is crazy), and it is scary.  But you will be okay!

  Here's what worked for me:

  - From the first week on I pumped after the first morning feeding, usually at 6am.  I still do this, and usually get enough for 1 or 2 bottles.  I pump both breasts after LO nurses.  He usually nurses on just one side.

  - I pump twice a day while at work.  Sometimes I add a session if my supply seems low.  

  - I read the book "On Balancing Breast and Bottle"  It goes through what types of nipple to use, how to introduce a bottle, and how to do paced feeding.  We ended up using the Dr. Brown's blue bottles with a preemie nipple, and LO does great with those.

  
  

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• NADA-H member

  August 2014

  I tried pumping when she took the one formula bottle at about midnight and then I fed her the pumped breast milk the second feeding afterwards.

  
  

  I've double pumped 4 times so far since Friday. The first 2 times I got a total of about 3 oz in 20 minutes and then the second 2 times I got 4 oz! I'm so glad.

  
  

  I'm trying to pump one side while she nurses on the other one but the problem is once my baby wakes up she wants food NOW so I don't get a chance to put the pump on and if I expose my other breast to even try it starts letting down cause my baby is nursing on the other side and everything gets so messy that I just cover it back up.

  
  

  my problem is now my baby is cluster feeding in a weird manner and I'm not sure if this is normal or not. She is very gassy and since Thursday has had 1 really dirty diaper and a tiny bit of stool in another diaper only, the doctor gave me Infacol for her because she's very uncomfortable. She'd feed for 10 minutes max then snoozes off and nothing would wake her up ever, I tried every trick, then she'd wake up for a half hour and nurses for 5 minutes, then again for an hour and then wakes up for 5 minutes worth of feeding. She used to feed for 40 minutes to an hour before or at least 20 minutes. Is this normal? She isn't sleeping deeply because of the gas and because she isn't full and I don't know if she is getting any hind milk in those 5-10 mins feedings...is she?

  
  

  I'm trying to do paced bottle feeding, so far I can stretch the 4 oz bottle to last a little over 10 minutes but haven't reached 20 mins yet. I've looked up the amounts of expressed milk a baby should take and apparently it's about her weight in Kg, so my baby is 4Kg right now which makes the 4 Oz I get just right?! 

  
  God Bless You my Little One
  Farida, our first child, born on the 19th of July 2014
  
  Farida, at 8 weeks
  
  

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• NADA-H member

  August 2014

  @‌theresat858
  
  Thank u so much for replying
  
  I pumped when she got the formula for the midnight feeding but when she got up at 3 am to feed i didnt pump and she got the expressed milk in a bottle which made me really engorged in the morning because she slept until 8 am.
  
  It seems like my baby will start sleeping through the night soon, does that mean that i still have to get up and pump? Or would not feeding or expressing at that hour make my body not produce milk at that hour after a while? Or would it affect my overall supply?
  
  The amounts i got are for when i pumped to replace a feeding. I didnt try to pump in addition to a feeding, i'm worried it would cause oversupply because since birth my baby feeds every 3 hours except for when she is cluster feeding so at the 3 hours mark my breast is full and hard and when i put her on lately she'd feed for 5-10 mins on one side then would feed again for 5-10 mins on the other side an hour later and then goes down for 2-3 hours. I tried everything to keep her awake but nothing works my breast does get soft but not empty after feeding though and my let down is super fast that she chokes on it (i'm trying to work on solving this issue) so i guess she is getting enough?
  
  When would i fit the extra pumping session for stash build up?
  
  As to paced bottle feeding i have the smallest flow nipples from pigeon and Dr Brown but i guess i need to find me a preemi nipple? I did try pausing during feeding but not the burping and holding the bottle horizontly i will try that.
  
  I do have the medela calma nipple which is really slow and she needs to suck on it to get the milk as oppose to let down but its much longer than other nipples and it bothers her so she wont take it.
  

  
  God Bless You my Little One
  Farida, our first child, born on the 19th of July 2014
  
  Farida, at 8 weeks
  
  

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