Going from breastfeeding to exclusively pumping?

cassietegtmeier · June 2015

Lately I've been considering this. My son has been awful at feelings lately. He's hungry but pulls himself off or does a shallow latch and only feeds for a short time so not only do I have super sore/bruised nipples I'm engorged.
Any advice?

cassietegtmeier · June 2015

I'm also having really painful letdowns. Which I could deal with if it wasn't for everything else.

ldmw · June 2015

I've been exclusively pumping for 4 weeks. For me, it is so much better than breastfeeding as we had issues with it. It is a lot of work however and you have to be committed. I am thinking of trying to go back to breastfeeding for some of our feedings because I'm still grieving the nursing relationship we lost.

jennygirlmt · June 2015

I absolutely loathe EPing. LO won't latch and I'm desperately trying to get her to, she'll be 4 weeks tomorrow. She latched perfectly in the first two days then quit.

I got mastitis after 3.5 weeks of pumping. I had one clogged duct and never mastitis in 4 years of nursing my first two.

It's definitely a time commitment. Between all three kids I don't get to pump enough. It's infinitely more painful than nursing ever was. My nipples are stretched out and sore. I've started rubbing coconut oil in my flanges which helps some of the pain.

I know it works for some people but I'm fearful that if LO doesn't latch that it will be a painful year for me. A thousand times worse than my other two never taking bottles.

I can Nip, but I can't pump. The other day I raced home from a play date bc I was full and hadn't wanted to take my pump bc that would be ridiculously annoying.

Middle of the night pumping also significantly blows.

I can't see signatures so I don't know how old your LO is but if he's still young it could get much better in a few weeks.

And this is just my pumping life, I know lots of people do it and it's totally fine and manageable.

orangecurls · June 2015

I would try half and half. His latch will hopefully get better soon, and you don't want him to 'forget how to BF'. EP is very time consuming, but maybe you could find a happy medium, maybe offer bottles at night and pump before bed and first thing in the morning. Though you may need to pump in the middle of the night to relieve engorgement.

ali0608 · June 2015

I pumped with my first boy. When I was done, I told myself that if this baby didn't latch, I wasn't going to pump. It was so miserable. All the benefits of breastfeeding are lost, other than giving breastmilk. You have to invest so much time in pumping then feeding then washing bottles plus pump parts.
I would say do anything you need to so you can get past this hurting so you can still breastfeed. Pumping is terrible!

cassietegtmeier · June 2015

My LO will be 7 weeks this Sunday. I've been doing bottles every now and then but primarily breastfeeding. It's just been the last few days where he fights latching and when he does he pulls off quickly or slips to a shallow painful latch. One of my nipples is litterly black. I just went and bought a nipple shield hoping that will help us get over this hump!

babinante · June 2015

I'm switching to exclusively formula on Saturday. LO will be 4 weeks. I'm just over bf. Much happier baby and momma! No need to feel guilty

saric83 · June 2015

I agree with PP's that EPing is brutal! DS has multiple latch issues, so I've been EPing for three weeks, and I HATE it so much simply due to the sheer volume of time it takes. I do love that DH can feed him. But on the flip side, DH and I both get up every time each night, so he can feed DS while I pump, or I'm getting no sleep if I have to do both since DS isn't sleeping more than two hours at a time.

I'm still working on getting my supply up, so I'm pumping 8-10 times a day, and when you factor in the prep and clean-up, I'm spending nearly five hours a day pumping, and this is on top of actually still having to feed DS. So every time he's done feeding and is all sweet and milk-drunk, I can't cuddle with him for long because I have to put him down and pump. It sucks.

Maybe spend a few days pumping each time after your son eats now and see how it goes. If it's okay, introduce the bottle to him maybe half of the time and see works best for you guys since it doesn't necessarily have to be all or nothing. I haven't used it yet, but our pediatrician recommended the Medela Calma nipple as it simulates the same vacuum-like suction the baby needs to do for breastfeeding, so apparently, it reduces nipple confusion.

cassietegtmeier · June 2015

Thanks guys. I have introduced bottles and he takes them with no problem. I like to have them for when we go out. I've also been pumping two-three times a day just to get a freezer full for when I go to work. I've been freezing between 8 & 12oz a day when I was exclusively breastfeeding.
I'm going to try a nipple shield and see if giving my nipples time to heal from the bad latches helps out breastfeeding time.

Going from breastfeeding to exclusively pumping?

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