@chiquita928 I've never seen anything like that! Looks complicated, yet simple... did it ever pop off?
Nope, worked like a charm every time. Once you position the flanges, the pumps suction and the hair ties kept it all in place. My work friend and I pumped together using this and a nursing cover while we ate lunch. We've both spread the concept because it's so simple. I had little figure 8 hair ties lying around the house for ages.
@AdaByron I have a question for you! I start my first official year teaching in the fall and am a little worried about a pumping schedule and I don't know any teachers who have ever pumped before. What is your schedule like when you pump?
Married: 05/26/2012
DS Born Happy and Healthy via C-section: 10/04/2013
Natural M/C: 07/08/2014
DD Born Happy and Healthy via Emergency C-section: 06/30/2015
@AdaByron I have a question for you! I start my first official year teaching in the fall and am a little worried about a pumping schedule and I don't know any teachers who have ever pumped before. What is your schedule like when you pump?
@chiquita928 might chime in here too. I think she's done it before?
I teach on a block schedule, so our day is made up of 4 85-minute blocks, and a 25-minute lunch. I'm free one block each day. Every other day is a different schedule for me. So last time I had a day where my free block was in the morning, and I would pump during that block, then again at lunch, then again right after school (3:00). The other day my free block was in the afternoon, so I would just pump at lunch and then on my free block. It's not ideal, because your body will respond better if you are able to pump at the same time every day. I would sometimes get just enough, and sometimes be about 2 oz short for the bottles I needed to send to daycare the next day.
I would always start the week on Monday by taking 6-8 ounces out of my freezer stash just to sort of "get ahead" for the week so I wasn't stressing about bottles daily, and also because it's good to rotate your freezer stash. So then my goal would be to end of Friday with 6-8 ounces extra to freeze by the weekend. Sometimes I would get a MOTN pumping session in during the night if LO was keeping me up anyway (you produce a lot MOTN) or sometimes I would add a pumping session on Saturday if I needed to, and some weeks I just said eff it, it's not happening, that's the purpose of the freezer stash.
Around Thanksgiving (DS was 6 months) I started sending one formula bottle each day to take the stress off if I wasn't pumping enough. That was a HUGE weight off my shoulders to just give myself permission to say "I pump what I can, and who cares if I'm a little bit short" and since I was only about 2 ounces short a day, but I was sending 6 oz of formula a day, I actually built my freezer stash up during that time, and then when I decided to stop pumping altogether, I was still able to send BM for several more weeks.
@cssme13 - I went back to work when my first was 4 months old. I would pump first thing in the morning (5:30am) if he was still asleep, and was usually able to separate that into 2 bottles. 1 for when he woke up, and 1 for daycare. School started at 8, and my first break was from 10:00-10:15 (nutrition). I basically shoved my kiddos out of my class at 9:59 and pumped till 10:10 (this would get me about 8-10 ounces). My lunch was 11:50 - 12:20, so I used that to eat/drink ALL the water. I was done teaching by 2:52, and I'd race out to my car and pump while driving home.
As as my son got older, he began sleeping through the night so I'd set my alarm for 1am to pump (sucked, but it's what I needed to do to keep my supply up). Hope this helps!
@cssme13 Just seeing that your comment said it's your first year teaching. I don't want to discourage you, but please don't put too much pressure on yourself to pump. You will need your free periods during your first year of teaching to get work done and possibly meet with other teachers. The half-year that I pumped was a really lonely time because I had zero time to interact with other teachers. And during your first year, that time with your colleagues is so important. I would strongly suggest taking an attitude of pump what you can, but it's totally ok to supplement with formula. I went quite a while giving my kid a mix of BM and formula bottles, and was still able to breastfeed evenings and weekends.
Maybe I have weird shaped boobs or something but the hands free pumping bra did NOT work for me. I bought the simple wishes bra and made a few attempts at using it before giving up. Plus I didn't want to wear it all the time and having to put it on and maneuver the flanges every time seemed like more trouble than it was worth. I just used my pump time to relax and be on my phone. I found a specific way to sit where I needed one hand to hold both flanges and bottles and used the other hand to just browse the net.
BFP May 2013 - MMC at 8 weeks BFP September 2013 - MMC at 12 weeks BFP February 2014 - early loss/CP at 4.5 weeks BFP May 2014 - MMC/ complete molar pregnancy at 11 weeks BFP December 2015 - DD born 8/18/2015 BFP November 2016 - pending...
@cssme13 I started pumping as soon as DS was born in order to build up a stash in the freezer. My lunch was 10:30-11:!5, so during the summer, I made sure that one of DS's feedings was at 10:45, and I would pump right before feeding him. Once school started, I did the same thing on the weekends. The nursing baby can almost force your body to make more milk, whereas the pump doesn't do that the same way. This trains your body to make even more milk, and I was essentially telling my body to make 10:30 "Go time!" with regards to milk. When school started, my body was used to making a lot of milk at 10:30, and it would pump 2-3 bottles each session. (In the beginning, that meant 6-9 ounces, and by the end of the school year, that was 18oz of milk!) I always left the pump on until 11:10, whether more milk was coming out or not, so my body would get the stimulation. I was lucky enough to have a coworker who was doing the same. I also tried to pick DS up from daycare early enough that he would only need 2 bottles there, instead of three. So, once things got really rolling, I would nurse him before leaving for work, pump 2-3 bottles at lunch, nurse him when I picked him up, and then again at night. He usually took 2 bottles at day care, and then the extra would get stashed. Sometimes he needed the third bottle, and I would pump that out at home, but not always.
As @AdaByron said, though, your first year teaching is insane, and this may be a huge challenge. If you can find a time where this works for you, then awesome. I know I was incredibly busy and stressed my first year, and pumping would have added to that. If you can "train" your milk to wait until after school, you can try to feed the baby after pumping in the car on your way home, and try to make and after school time as your "go time." Otherwise, it would be quite reasonable to supplement.
I also used the method that @chiquita928 mentioned in the beginning! It worked well, but then I found that I could keep my nursing bra clipped, slid the flanges inside the bra cups (from above), and pump hands free that way. I did purchase the medella bra prior to birth, but was unable to use it. I was generally so engorged that the hands free medella bra could not be zipped. @AdaByron mentioned having one that was adjustable! That might be a great help!
@WeddingNotes13 the simple wishes bra is adjustable in the back (there's a fairly large range you can move the Velcro to) and has an extra piece you can zip in in the front. Much more comfy than the medela one.
@AdaByron@chiquita928@mslynn2012 thank you ladies! I had already planned to just not worry about nursing at all because of how many issues I had with my other two so I will definitely take it easy on myself when it comes to whether or not I can pump.
Married: 05/26/2012
DS Born Happy and Healthy via C-section: 10/04/2013
Natural M/C: 07/08/2014
DD Born Happy and Healthy via Emergency C-section: 06/30/2015
Is there anything you will be doing differently to keep your spirits high after birth? I think that would be a crucial part of my postpartum recovery. Any suggestions?
@BusyZee This is a tough one because everyone is different and hormones hit us all differently, but I can say that I felt substantially better emotionally when I was better rested than when I'd been up all night and all day. Everyone says to nap when the baby naps and it sounds wise-- but then when the baby naps you want to eat something or shower or get the laundry into the wash... so my advice would be to take care of as much of that as possible while baby is awake so that when he does sleep you can too. Hard to do, and realistically you won't nap every time he does but even once or twice a day will make a huge difference in your sanity early on. At least it did in mine!
The Dairy Fairy makes some dual-purpose nursing/pumping bras that look ingenious. I haven't been able to try them because they don't make my size, but I know folks who swear by them. https://shop.thedairyfairy.com/handsfree-pumping-bras/
Is there anything you will be doing differently to keep your spirits high after birth? I think that would be a crucial part of my postpartum recovery. Any suggestions?
I watched a ton of TV and played casino games on my phone while BF lol. That was a lot of fun for me. I remember watching a ton of TV in the middle of the night when I woke up to BF. I just indulged in those behaviors that I never let myself do when I'm busy all the time working. And this time with a summer baby, I'm gonna stroll a lot out in the sun and get lots of vitamin D. I think I might take my serious camera and take pretty pictures of the beautiful neighborhood I live in. Last time it was fall and I have some great falling leaves pictures I took with my phone, and now it's gonna be summer with green trees and flowers, and I wanna use a real camera this time.
Another thing that lifted me up was to accomplish things around the house like cleaning and cooking and getting into a groove and feeling like I can do this, I can maintain a household and raise a kid. I wanted to feel empowered.
Is there anything you will be doing differently to keep your spirits high after birth? I think that would be a crucial part of my postpartum recovery. Any suggestions?
Call me naive, but I had no idea how hard it would be to have a newborn (or to be in pain and have a newborn). And I didn't know the misery would be temporary - it felt ETERNAL and permanent. Now I know that I will be Me again, and I am hoping that just having faith in that will be enough to get me through the newborn phase, with less emotion and more awareness of the temporary-ness of it all.
Last time, my mother and MIL came to help for 10 days. They were a massive help, and will definitely be doing that again. Also, DH will be staying home with me. He was clutch last time.
What I will be doing differently: taking pain medicine. Last time I was bullied into thinking it would harm my baby because I was breastfeeding. I think that did a lot of emotional harm to me. This time, I will not take No for an answer. There is zero reason that in this day and age, a woman should be crying from pain and given NOTHING post-partum. Hell. No.
Yes! Take the pain meds!!! It's hard to sit, hard to walk, hard to function without them!! I was offered Percocet or Tylenol and I opted for the Tylenol because I had that at home and could continue that when we left and that worked wonders for me! Idk if they give a perc perscription once you leave the hospital?
@virginiaunicorn11 sorry to hear how hard PP was for you! I'm glad you feel confident in your plan to manage it this time. I guess now you know what to prepare for. A lot of things come at you during the first few weeks that you never see coming. It's good to get ahead of them and being in control. I hope it's easier this time around.
I couldn't move for 3 days because I have back issues that got out whack during labor. I needed to slide off the bed to a bench because I couldn't bend my body. I took lots of pain meds for my back so that I could move around. Then the BF pain that was the worst pain my life. Now I have a special cream already made.
@nktrodden826 They gave me percocet in the hospital. When the OB came to check on me before discharge, I asked him for a prescription to take home, and he said sure. I didn't even know at the time it was regulated, or that it might be some sort of red flag. I was glad, too, because OUCH.
@virginiaunicorn11 I get so frustrated when people act like breastfeeding and pregnancy have the same restrictions on the mother (like meds and drinking)! I have a book from the American Pediatric Society, and I read the section on breastfeeding several times. There's a lot less that will be transferred through breast milk than the placenta, and it makes me so mad and sad for you that you went through that.
@virginiaunicorn11 I get so frustrated when people act like breastfeeding and pregnancy have the same restrictions on the mother (like meds and drinking)! I have a book from the American Pediatric Society, and I read the section on breastfeeding several times. There's a lot less that will be transferred through breast milk than the placenta, and it makes me so mad and sad for you that you went through that.
Do you remember anything that really was a red flag? I avoided so many things back then, it was getting crazy. We should have read more about it probably but once the baby was here, we were just trying to get through the day so we relied on stuff we heard people say.
I was given a prescription for percocet when I left the hospital too. I had c-sections, not sure if that makes a difference in what pain meds they will prescribe.
@virginiaunicorn11 I get so frustrated when people act like breastfeeding and pregnancy have the same restrictions on the mother (like meds and drinking)! I have a book from the American Pediatric Society, and I read the section on breastfeeding several times. There's a lot less that will be transferred through breast milk than the placenta, and it makes me so mad and sad for you that you went through that.
Do you remember anything that really was a red flag? I avoided so many things back then, it was getting crazy. We should have read more about it probably but once the baby was here, we were just trying to get through the day so we relied on stuff we heard people say.
Nothing that impacted me. I know that certain anti-anxiety drugs or anti-depressants are not ok. Birth control needs to be a specific kind. You can't be sloshed while nursing the baby. Other than that, I don't think there was anything huge for me. I'm definitely going to read up again soon, though.
@chiquita928 doesn't sound like anything I would consume, thanks. We were told that cabbage would make baby gassy, so I didn't eat cabbage and subsequently other gassy foods to be on the safe side like broccoli and chickpeas, but ended up weak and dizzy. Not repeating that mistake. DH was adamant about it and I was too overwhelmed to argue with him at first. I was like, fine, whatever... but then my health suffered. What a rookie mistake ha...
My pediatrician said that caffeine and alcohol *could* be transferred through the breast milk, but not nearly as much as through the placenta. He said that as long as you give it some time to process, i.e. drink a cup right after feeding, that the amount passed on is negligible. I didn't ask about medication. This is FTM info, so take it as you will.
@NutellaToast The line in my book is literally something to the effect of , "If you are ok to drive, you are ok to nurse." The amount of alcohol in the milk is very little in the first place, and fades over time, just as it does in the bloodstream. Here is a great site: https://kellymom.com/bf/can-i-breastfeed/lifestyle/alcohol/
@NutellaToast The line in my book is literally something to the effect of , "If you are ok to drive, you are ok to nurse." The amount of alcohol in the milk is very little in the first place, and fades over time, just as it does in the bloodstream. Here is a great site: https://kellymom.com/bf/can-i-breastfeed/lifestyle/alcohol/
The bold is exactly what my OB told me. Kellymom was a great resource with my first... thanks for reminding me of it!
I never noticed a difference in DS in terms of cabbage or broccoli making them gassy or caffeine giving them more energy. Someone told me to label any milk I pumped with a C for caffeine to not give him at night but I never noticed a difference!
DS did develop an egg allergy so he would poop blood if I ate eggs but otherwise no reaction from the foods I ate affected him!
+1 on the Kellymom. I totally followed the "if you're ok to drive, then you're ok to nurse". And if I wanted to drink, I'd have a glass of whatever WHILE nursing. The alcohol hadn't hit my bloodstream so for sure it hadn't hit my milk yet!
i was given mebo cream to use twice a day, it helped a lot but i needed it more than twice a day so this time i will ask my doctor for something i can use whenever i want.
someone told me that putting anything on pads could cause an infection so i was too scared to try even though i had pinned at least 5 "pad recipes" on pintrest
get as many mesh panties and gigantic postpartum pads from the hospital as they will give you, eat a lot of fiber and drink a lot of water because you wont be able to push for a while.
get nipple balms (mama mio is the best!) get something thick to sooth the pain(yes they will hurt if you breastfeed)
belly wrap helped my belly defy gravity, i could see the difference after wearing it but it only works for a like a month.
most importantly listen to your body! i couldn't stand for long periods of time for about a month and every time i pushed myself (to bathe LO for example) my stitches would hurt like hell. you have to be cleared by your doctor to resume exercise but most importantly make sure you feel ready.
@supermom83 i'm also thinking about getting period panties they sound like a good idea.
Is there any way to guess how many pads I will need? I'm talking about the super massive ones. I have to order them online, and I can't decide if I should order 40 or 60. It's cheaper per pad to buy the 60, but if I don't need that many it would suck to spend the extra money to get them and not use them.
Hubby and Me Friends since 2008 Started dating: July 1st, 2013 Engaged: July 1st, 2014 Married: July 1st, 2016 R born: July 8th, 2017 N born: June 30th, 2019 Baby #3 Due: July 7th, 2022 (maybe I only ovulate in October XD)
@kerils I would guess that 40 is enough. I grabbed a bunch from the hospital (probably not more than 20) and still had some leftover. I bled fairly heavily, but I still reached a point where the mega pads were too much, and I switched to smaller pads (jumbo, but not massive like the hospital ones) from the store.
@kerils I used the MASSIVE (stick on diaper type) ones for the first few days in the hospital and probably the first MAYBE second day home- until I ran out of the ones I snagged from the hospital. So 3-4 days.. then came home and used Always overnight (just because they're longer) for heavy flow and never had an issue with leaking! In fact I exchanged two full boxes of overnight to the shorter ones for lighterflow after about 10 days.
Eta I encapsulated my placenta which they say causes less pp bleeding. Sooooo don't listen to me.
@kerils I don't think you'll even need 40 ginormous ones. Like others, I used the footlong ones (seriously, they're huge) for a few days, then switched to regular heavy-duty pads. I had leftovers of both. I might wait, and get some at the store.
Re: Postpartum Recovery
Married: 05/26/2012
DS Born Happy and Healthy via C-section: 10/04/2013
Natural M/C: 07/08/2014
DD Born Happy and Healthy via Emergency C-section: 06/30/2015
BFP #4: 11/15/2016
EDD: 7/27/2017
I teach on a block schedule, so our day is made up of 4 85-minute blocks, and a 25-minute lunch. I'm free one block each day. Every other day is a different schedule for me. So last time I had a day where my free block was in the morning, and I would pump during that block, then again at lunch, then again right after school (3:00). The other day my free block was in the afternoon, so I would just pump at lunch and then on my free block. It's not ideal, because your body will respond better if you are able to pump at the same time every day. I would sometimes get just enough, and sometimes be about 2 oz short for the bottles I needed to send to daycare the next day.
I would always start the week on Monday by taking 6-8 ounces out of my freezer stash just to sort of "get ahead" for the week so I wasn't stressing about bottles daily, and also because it's good to rotate your freezer stash. So then my goal would be to end of Friday with 6-8 ounces extra to freeze by the weekend. Sometimes I would get a MOTN pumping session in during the night if LO was keeping me up anyway (you produce a lot MOTN) or sometimes I would add a pumping session on Saturday if I needed to, and some weeks I just said eff it, it's not happening, that's the purpose of the freezer stash.
Around Thanksgiving (DS was 6 months) I started sending one formula bottle each day to take the stress off if I wasn't pumping enough. That was a HUGE weight off my shoulders to just give myself permission to say "I pump what I can, and who cares if I'm a little bit short" and since I was only about 2 ounces short a day, but I was sending 6 oz of formula a day, I actually built my freezer stash up during that time, and then when I decided to stop pumping altogether, I was still able to send BM for several more weeks.
As as my son got older, he began sleeping through the night so I'd set my alarm for 1am to pump (sucked, but it's what I needed to do to keep my supply up). Hope this helps!
my happy boy
BFP September 2013 - MMC at 12 weeks
BFP February 2014 - early loss/CP at 4.5 weeks
BFP May 2014 - MMC/ complete molar pregnancy at 11 weeks
BFP December 2015 - DD born 8/18/2015
BFP November 2016 - pending...
As @AdaByron said, though, your first year teaching is insane, and this may be a huge challenge. If you can find a time where this works for you, then awesome. I know I was incredibly busy and stressed my first year, and pumping would have added to that. If you can "train" your milk to wait until after school, you can try to feed the baby after pumping in the car on your way home, and try to make and after school time as your "go time." Otherwise, it would be quite reasonable to supplement.
Edited for clarification
Married: 05/26/2012
DS Born Happy and Healthy via C-section: 10/04/2013
Natural M/C: 07/08/2014
DD Born Happy and Healthy via Emergency C-section: 06/30/2015
BFP #4: 11/15/2016
EDD: 7/27/2017
I think that would be a crucial part of my postpartum recovery. Any suggestions?
https://shop.thedairyfairy.com/handsfree-pumping-bras/
DS1 - 7/2011, DD 12/2012, DS2 - 4/2014, MMC - 12/2015
Another thing that lifted me up was to accomplish things around the house like cleaning and cooking and getting into a groove and feeling like I can do this, I can maintain a household and raise a kid. I wanted to feel empowered.
Last time, my mother and MIL came to help for 10 days. They were a massive help, and will definitely be doing that again. Also, DH will be staying home with me. He was clutch last time.
What I will be doing differently: taking pain medicine. Last time I was bullied into thinking it would harm my baby because I was breastfeeding. I think that did a lot of emotional harm to me. This time, I will not take No for an answer. There is zero reason that in this day and age, a woman should be crying from pain and given NOTHING post-partum. Hell. No.
I couldn't move for 3 days because I have back issues that got out whack during labor. I needed to slide off the bed to a bench because I couldn't bend my body. I took lots of pain meds for my back so that I could move around. Then the BF pain that was the worst pain my life. Now I have a special cream already made.
@virginiaunicorn11 I get so frustrated when people act like breastfeeding and pregnancy have the same restrictions on the mother (like meds and drinking)! I have a book from the American Pediatric Society, and I read the section on breastfeeding several times. There's a lot less that will be transferred through breast milk than the placenta, and it makes me so mad and sad for you that you went through that.
We were told that cabbage would make baby gassy, so I didn't eat cabbage and subsequently other gassy foods to be on the safe side like broccoli and chickpeas, but ended up weak and dizzy. Not repeating that mistake. DH was adamant about it and I was too overwhelmed to argue with him at first. I was like, fine, whatever... but then my health suffered. What a rookie mistake ha...
DS did develop an egg allergy so he would poop blood if I ate eggs but otherwise no reaction from the foods I ate affected him!
my happy boy
someone told me that putting anything on pads could cause an infection so i was too scared to try even though i had pinned at least 5 "pad recipes" on pintrest
get as many mesh panties and gigantic postpartum pads from the hospital as they will give you, eat a lot of fiber and drink a lot of water because you wont be able to push for a while.
get nipple balms (mama mio is the best!) get something thick to sooth the pain(yes they will hurt if you breastfeed)
belly wrap helped my belly defy gravity, i could see the difference after wearing it but it only works for a like a month.
most importantly listen to your body! i couldn't stand for long periods of time for about a month and every time i pushed myself (to bathe LO for example) my stitches would hurt like hell. you have to be cleared by your doctor to resume exercise but most importantly make sure you feel ready.
@supermom83 i'm also thinking about getting period panties they sound like a good idea.
Friends since 2008
Started dating: July 1st, 2013
Engaged: July 1st, 2014
Married: July 1st, 2016
R born: July 8th, 2017
N born: June 30th, 2019
Baby #3 Due: July 7th, 2022
(maybe I only ovulate in October XD)
Eta I encapsulated my placenta which they say causes less pp bleeding. Sooooo don't listen to me.