Advice! Bottle feeding breastmilk

tullidoodle · December 2015

I'd like some advice! This is our second child, the first is almost 7. I want to use breastmilk, but I had a really hard time breast feeding our first. I would like to pump, but i'm not sure how I should start? I can't in the hospital can I? It may sound silly, I almost feel like this is our first, it's been so long!

mandyjulie · December 2015

You can in the hospital, in fact hospital-grade pumps are very good. Maybe ask about it on your hospital tour. They may allow you to rent one to take home.

Also, pumps are generally covered by insurance now so you could look into getting one, but you may want to wait and rent one first. Oh and it's possible breastfeeding will be different this time so maybe try first? Either way your hospital should be able to help you get started.

mrsmommya · December 2015

I found the pumping to be painful after we established nursing...probably around 2 weeks. The nursing had become easy, while pumping was bruising my entire areola's. I agree that hospitals will do anything to promote BF in any form. It may be tricky though to get that colostrum going to signal the real milk to come in. I think giving your baby any amount of breast milk in any form is great, however I will warn that (for me) my daughters sucking was much more powerful than the pump. After about 4 months of pumping more because I was back to work and less nursing at home my supply was diminishing.

Croscrew · December 2015

Are you going to go back to work? That for me makes a big difference when to start. I had 3 months off with DD, but have a feeling I'll have to go back at 6 weeks with this LO, so I would have to start pumping a lot sooner. I only fed DD off one side for a while, so I think I will pump the other if the same thing happens.

DobbysSock · December 2015

Just keep in mind that pumping can be way more difficult than breastfeeding. I'm not trying to discourage you, there are moms who successfully exclusively pump, but it is by no means an easy alternative to breastfeeding. It's incredibly time consuming (it used to take me half and hour to pump both sides, and I'd get 4-6 ounces). I also found it physically uncomfortable, although not painful. Plus there is the cleaning of all the parts after each pumping session, and having to label and store milk. Prepare yourself in advance for the challenges! Hopefully some exclusive pumping moms will see this and can give you some more specific advice from their experiences.

Also keep in mind that breastfeeding experiences can be different with different babies. Can I ask what your challenges were first time around? If it was an issue with the baby, such as latch difficulties or tongue tie, there's a good chance the next baby may not have those issues. Also, how long did you breastfeed for? The first 4-6 weeks were incredibly difficult for me but then we turned a corner and it ended up being really great. Are you willing to try breastfeeding again before committing to exclusive pumping or have you decided 100% you don't want to breastfeed? (For the record - I think it's totally fine if you don't want to breastfeed and there is no judgment from me! Do whatever works to keep your sanity and get baby fed. Just want to offer support if you decide you do want to give it another try!)

Taymiller · December 2015

Try try try to breastfeed! This coming from an exclusive pumper. It becomes a logistical nightmare to pump. I breastfed for 6 weeks and my baby left my nips a mangled mess so I had no choice but to pump. Keeping up your supply when only pumping is so hard. I was one of those unlucky people that had the smallest thing make my supply dip, not eating enough and exercise made my supply dip, all my time was spent pumping or worrying about pumping and my supply.

That being said, they do have pumps you can use in the hospital. My baby wouldn't latch because he was too tired so I pumped colostrum and syringe fed him that first day and then luckily the second day my milk came in and we fed him some bottles. My insurance paid for my pump and I brought it to the hospital so that I made sure I knew how it worked before I left home, the lactation lady wasn't thrilled with that but I am glad I did it.

The best way to get a good supply early on is boob to baby because of the hormones that are released, you don't get that from the pump.

Writing this has seriously left me all nervous and freaked out about breastfeeding again. I don't want to have to pump again!

MamaOlive · December 2015

You can absolutely pump in the hospital. Find out if your hospital has an LC on staff and request an appointment with her ahead of time if you have questions. The first few days you'll get tiny amounts of colostrum, but that is all your baby will need because their stomach will be smaller than a grape.

afrazer521 · December 2015

My experience with breastfeeding/pumping is a little different because my son was born early and was in the nicu for 6 weeks so at first he literally wasn't mature enough to get the suck and swallow reflex so I was pumping for him to be fed through a feeding tube. I had a c section and as soon as I could sit up they had a pump ready and waiting for me so they could get the colostrum to my munchkin. It actually ended up he got my milk before he got to meet me. But yes, if you think you'll need to pump start right away. And yes. Pumping is the biggest pain in the butt and looking back I don't know how the hell I did it, but when you're in that zone you are so focused on doing what's best for baby you don't care that you look like a cow hooked up to a milking machine. Oh the horror stories I could tell you...everything from falling asleep while pumping and spraying milk across the room to having so much milk to pump I had to stop halfway through to switch the bottles to having my district manager walk in on me pumping, and yes there was a sign on the door that he apparently ignored, but in the end it's all worth it. My son eventually started breastfeeding after 4-5 weeks or so and I was lucky enough to have such a good supply that I had a HUGE stockpile of pumped milk that took us a couple months to go through after my supply dried up.

mandyjulie · December 2015

Also remember it takes a few days for milk to come in and starts with just a little colostrum. To get production going you will need to either BF or pump as much as possible starting in the hospital. But don't get discouraged because not much happens at first!

tullidoodle · December 2015

Thanks ladies! I am going back to work with this one. I pumped for my first one after he stopped latching on when we got back from the hospital. Because it takes longer for the milk to fully come in I wasn't sure if pumping would do anything at the hospital.

Singingmama10 · December 2015

My DS refused to bf after 3 months (they say that doesn't happen... but I'll tell you first hand it does) I ep'ed for 4 more months and I will agree with pp's, it is much more difficult. But if this the route you want to take, imo, there is nothing wrong with that. You can most definitely start in the hospital. DS was in the nicu for one day and I pumped for him every two hours. You will not get much, but that is totally normal for colostrum.
Here's some advice for ep'ing that I found very helpful.
-check with your insurance, almost all will cover a pretty good pump (I got the medela in style and it works great)
-Get a hands free bra
-Put all your parts in a tupperware and store in the fridge, then clean and sanitize every night. (some may not like this advice but I got it from a La Leche consultant and it helped a TON)
-pump in advance of when your lo needs it. BM stays fresh for 6 hours at room temp.

ladythrice · December 2015

tullidoodle said:

Thanks ladies! I am going back to work with this one. I pumped for my first one after he stopped latching on when we got back from the hospital. Because it takes longer for the milk to fully come in I wasn't sure if pumping would do anything at the hospital.

@tullidoodle, first, I want to absolutely echo what others have said that breastfeeding changes with each child! Just because you had difficulties with the first doesn't mean you'll encounter them again with the second. Try to think positively!

If your goal is to breastfeed, I highly recommend you start nursing and add pumping later. A baby with a good latch and strong suck (two key things LCs can help establish) are substantially better at helping to establish your milk supply than pumping alone. Also, remember that it takes some time for your milk to come in. Studies have shown that skin to skin contact with the baby, in addition to the physical act of nursing, are the most effective ways to help your milk come in.

All that being said, from a breastfeeding momma (officially 12+ months as of Saturday!), there are so many things that WILL inhibit your milk production (they did for me) so *I* personally will be pumping (in addition!!!) to nursing while in the hospital. I'm desperate not to experience the delayed arrival of my milk and low production that I suffered with #1. However, my primary focus will be getting baby on the breast as much and as often as possible.

My hospital 'issues' that contributed to supply issues:
-I was on an IV for fluids from the moment I arrived at the hospital. Excess fluids in your body can delay milk coming in (it did for me).
-I had a C/S with no immediate skin-to-skin. This can also delay your milk coming in.
-Because of the fluids, LOs weight was higher than it would have been (fluids bloat both mom and baby). This is important because the hospital tracks a baby's gain/loss and recommends supplementation if a baby drops too much weight. When a baby is losing water weight (from fluids given during labor) this is less of an issue, but weight loss is sometimes seen as weight loss no matter what.
-We supplemented in the hospital on the advice of the nurses because of weight loss. By the time we'd left the hospital, LO had lot 9% of his weight (10% is the max hospitals like to see). Supplementing (with anything, formula or breastmilk) early on GREATLY affects your body's ability to know how much milk it needs to make. Milk production is a supply and demand process. When a baby is supplemented, it demands less from the breast which ultimately affects your supply.
-Supplementing led to a weak suck which took MONTHS to fix. A weak suck also contributes to low supply.
-We messed up timing of our nursing sessions. Babies in the hospital should nurse every two-three hours. The countdown starts from the start-time of the nursing session. I will be much more diligent about nursing every two hours while we are in the hospital.

Breastfeeding is a passion of mine. I spent the bulk of my 19 weeks of maternity leave researching the crap out of breastfeeding because it was important to *me* and my research ultimately ended up saving my breastfeeding relationship with my LO.

Puddles03 · December 2015

@ladythrice yes, yes, yes to everything you said! I couldn't agree more!

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