Pumpers unite!

[Logan Sapphire]

My longestflight was cross country, not overseas, but I also pumped on a plane with a Freestyle. I was by myself and had aisle seats, sitting next to strange men. I didnt use the bathrooms because I pumped for 30 mins as well, but if your husband will be with you, you should be all set!

If you're interested, I can type exactly how I set up and prepared.

 

[moxie.moo]

I've pumped flying cross-country--I just used the cover and the battery pack. The flight attendants gave me extra ice when my ice packs got warmish, too, so I kept the extra and put it in the fridge on the other side. Also, I packed the milk in bags instead of bottles--that way we only needed our small cooler and we just stashed clean and empty bottles in multiple carry-ons and got them out as needed. Good luck! It is definitely doable!

 

[lliang_chi]

Question for moms who pumped, once my supply is established do I still need to pump after each feeding? Do I still need to pump 8-12 times a day? I still get up to pump at night as long as he's feeding at night, but I just want to know if I need to pump with the same frequency as his meals. I can yield on average ~8oz total (both breasts) per pumping session.

 

[Skippy123]

Question for moms who pumped, once my supply is established do I still need to pump after each feeding? Do I still need to pump 8-12 times a day? I still get up to pump at night as long as he's feeding at night, but I just want to know if I need to pump with the same frequency as his meals. I can yield on average ~8oz total (both breasts) per pumping session.

wow, that is a lot of milk. My LC said every 3-4 hours if you are producing a lot and you are! I would still pump in the middle of night, but make sure you get 5 hours of sleep. If you are bfing, you don't need to pump.

 

[Logan Sapphire]

Question for moms who pumped, once my supply is established do I still need to pump after each feeding? Do I still need to pump 8-12 times a day? I still get up to pump at night as long as he's feeding at night, but I just want to know if I need to pump with the same frequency as his meals. I can yield on average ~8oz total (both breasts) per pumping session.

How many weeks post-partum are you? You could probably go down to 6 pumps a day, but until you hit 12 weeks, I would pump as often as you could. My "sweet spot" for pumping was 4 pumps per day. I got 12-14 oz the first pump session and 8-9 oz the remaining 3 sessions. That included no MOTN pumps.

 

[Kunzite]

LC - I think at this point you could probably drop to 7, but I wouldn't go under that. It sounds like our supplies were similar in that you have an over supply. At first I thought that meant I could pump less, since I didn't need all of that milk, but then you start to get non-supply issues like clogged ducts and the like. I went down to 6 pumps a day pretty quickly (like you're talking about) and ended up with mastitis twice before I went back up to 7-8 (lesson learned!!). Once I got closer to 10-12 weeks is when I slowly (and I do mean slowly since I did not want mastitis again) went down to 4/day. Like LS my sweet spot was 4/day. So I know this is a long way off for you (or I'm sure it feels like it) but there will be a time when you'll have a much better schedule and still be able to keep your awesome supply. My LC told me to go 5 hours at night, like Skippy said, but with oversupply that was too long for me at first so I compromised at 4 hours. In your shoes I would do every threes hours during the day and fours hours at night (so 7 pumps). I still have all of my outputs logs at home, I'll have to look to see when I started getting comfortable with less (while still producing the same amount daily).

 

[mayerling]

I'm trying to learn about pumping so I'll jump in if that's okay. Kunzite, when you say "7 pumps a day", do you mean in addition to all the regular nursing sessions? As in breasts emptied 16 times a day or more?

 

[Kunzite]

I'm trying to learn about pumping so I'll jump in if that's okay. Kunzite, when you say "7 pumps a day", do you mean in addition to all the regular nursing sessions? As in breasts emptied 16 times a day or more?

No, I'm talking about exclusively pumping, which I realize now might not be what LC was talking about. Sorry if that's the case LC!!

 

[mayerling]

Thanks for the clarification, Kunzite. I have another question: as long as breasts are emptied via nursing/pumping at least 8 times a day, does it matter if no pumping/nursing happens for about 6 hours? Let's say, baby wakes up for a 3am feeding and you give him a bottle with breast milk and you don't nurse/pump again until 6ish or so. Will it mess up the supply?

 

[lliang_chi]

LS and Kunzite, thanks for your replies. I've got a pretty decent supply, and I'm getting inundated with milk now. I'm freezing and still have WAY deep stash. Sigh! I guess I'm getting something around 6-8oz per pumping session if I do both breasts.

Gah!!! 12 wks sounds like it's SOOOOO FAR AWAY! Right now I'm still *trying* to get Ethan to nurse, but he's inconsistent and I still have to pump. I'm pretty sure I'm going to end up EPing, but DH is trying to keep me encouraged to keep trying. I'm just getting tired of If I can get down to 4 pumps a day, I'd be OK with doing EPing. But if I have to do 8-12 pumps a day, OMG I'd about shoot myself.

I'm 3 weeks PP right now. Sometimes when DS does a decent nursing session (>10 mins), I get lazy and decide not to pump the other breast. It's been OK but eventually I have to do one pump during the day that totally empties both breasts. Yesterday I nearly yielded 14oz from that one.

So far (touch wood) I haven't had much issues of bad engorgement, clogged ducts etc. I think the longest I've gone without pumping is 6 hrs.

 

[NewEnglandLady]

LC, I'm sooo jealous of your supply. I pump 8 - 9 times per day and usually 2 nursing sessions and I still only get 2 - 4 oz. per session. If I miss a session, it does affect my supply. The idea of only pumping 4x per day sound amazing. If I were you, I might just see what happens if you try dropping a session. But I'm no expert!

 

[lliang_chi]

NEL, your supply is great, you have more than enough for Katie. Honestly just hoarding milk like what I'm doing is kinda useless. Maybe I should just start boozing more so I can pump and dump and then use up my stash, LOL.

Right now I'm trying to follow Kunzite and LS's suggestion and do 7 sessions (pumping or nursing) a day.

 

[Kunzite]

LC - I'm honestly not trying to scare you about the non-supply issues because you might never have any problems, but I think mine came around 3-4 weeks too. Just like you I realized I was making way too much milk (at least compared to what I needed) and decided to give myself a break and pump less. Then BAM! Problems! Just a word of caution because I would hate to see you go through that, it was seriously miserable. I couldn't even get out of bed to go see O in the hospital I was so sick. So from my own experience I'm probably more on the paranoid side, so take my advise with a grain of salt. It's just eerie how similar our supplies sound. I also amassed a giant freezer stash quickly. Instead of trying to get my supply lower I donated all of my freezer milk when the freezer got full. You should look into Human Milk for Human Babies if you start to run out of room and don't want to get a deep freeze. I never wanted to hoard milk either because we didn't really have the room and I was always worried that I would do that and then the power would go out or something and it would all be ruined. My philosophy was to keep enough frozen in case I needed it and donate the rest so it was actually getting used. I know 12 weeks sounds a long way off, but if you get down to 4/day around 12ish weeks and then keep at that for a year, the majority of the time you're feeding LO would be one nice relaxed schedule.

mayerling - Sorry, I don't know the answer because I never nursed. I'm sure it's person specific just like pumping. I had clogged ducts and the like while pumping, but LC doesn't so far, you know? So I'm sure nursing is the same. I've known lots of moms who EBF and still had clogged ducts, etc, and many who didn't. I think it's just a matter of figuring out your body.

 

[Logan Sapphire]

I also had a huge freezer stash- had to buy two deep freezers, but it was ok since we now use them for storing food. It was nice b/c it gave me 3 months of breastmilk after I stopped pumping.

LC- I'm sure I wasn't pumping 12 times a day by 12 weeks...I'm sure I'd decreased it by then. 8-12 times a day is pretty unsustainable, no?

 

[lliang_chi]

Kunzite, I totally appreciate your word of caution. It's great getting the straight up skinny from experienced mama. The upside with your abundant supply is that you know you'll be set for the twins when they come right? I think I might go the donate route myself too. I'd love to have a deep freeze stash like LS did, but sadly my tiny Chicago condo doesn't have space for a chest freezer....

LS I'd love to get a chest freezer, but it's not in the cards for us in our tiny place.

 

[amc80]

Hi guys! I'll be a pumper, since I'll be going back to work at about 8 weeks. I'm also hoping to pump fairly early on so DH can participate with the feedings. Question about pumps- The pump I think I'm getting has different sizes of flanges. How do I know what size I will need? What's the difference in the sizes, is it for different boob sizes, nipple sizes, what?

Also, I just found out my hospital offers a pumping class, which I am thinking about taking. Has anyone taken one of these?

 

[lliang_chi]

AMC, I think the flanges are dependent on nipple/areola size. Keep in mind your nipple/areola size might change as you pump/breast feed. Mine got "enlarged" with pumping, so I switched to the larger flanges. The first 2 days, the small size was fine, but then it started chafing. Don't have any experience with the pumping class, but the ladies here on this thread have been fantastic as a resource.

AFM, I logged how much I pumped yesterday and it was just over a litre from 4 pump sessions. I managed to get a few nursing sessions in with Ethan, so I had less pump sessions.

~LC

 

[NewEnglandLady]

amc, I agree that I think it has to do with nipple size. That being said, I always thought I had tiny nipples, but found the larger flanges (29 or 30mm) to be much more comfy. I had some chafing with the 27s.

I'm getting really frustrated with my supply. Katie had only been eating 2 - 2.5 oz. every few hours and I had enough supply (barely) to feed her. For the past couple of days, she's been eating 3+ ounces at each feeding. I've been pumping 8 - 9 times per day AND including a few nursing sessions each day in order to try to get my supply up, but I just can't produce enough to feed her. For the past two days, I've had to supplement with formula.

I'm starting to wonder if I'm demanding too much of my boobs--I feel like my supply is actually worse than ever!

 

[drk]

NEL - I was in your shoes, and nearly killed myself to pump for K. She was slowly drifting down the weight growth curves for the first 3 months, as I was too stubborn to supplement her with formula. That was probably the wrong decision. Once I started her on solids at 4 months, she took off like a shot and it took the pressure off me a lot on the production side. I was maxed out on domperidone, blessed thistle, and fenugreek. I was eating oatmeal every day, baking lactation cookies. Basically, I was insane. I was pumping every 2-3 hours around the clock, including 2 times in the middle of the night.
You're doing a great job, and whatever milk you can produce for K is a huge benefit to her. Stay sane though. I think I was nuts, and I really don't know that I could do that again. Hang in there! Your supply seems pretty decent, and I think it should still continue to increase over the next few weeks. Too bad you and LC aren't neighbours, or she could just give you her extra milk!

 

[NewEnglandLady]

Thanks, drk. I'm sorry you went through all of that. I think it's one of those things where you just cope when you're in the middle of it, but looking back you wonder how you made it through. I also pump around the clock. Usually the night pumps are around 11pm, 2am and 5-6am. It can be frustrating feeding her, getting her back to sleep and being so tired, but having to return to my pump. I'm used to it now, though. I feel like I smell like Fenugreek when I sweat. And I drink water constantly. And I'm sick of oatmeal. But there is only so much you can do, you know? I'm giving her everything I can produce.

Hearing others' stories is always helpful because it makes you realize that everybody's experiences are different, but we all make it through!

 

[lliang_chi]

NEL, don't be too hard on yourself. It might just take a day or two for your body to adjust to Katie's needs. She's doing great and is gaining nicely, so you should be take it easy a little. I can see how you want to have ton of milk, but you're doing great. You really are, and like DRK said you're giving her your everything and she's getting bigger and staying healthy. You should be really proud of that.

And I agree with DRK, I wish you and I were neighbors. 1) so I can give you some milk and 2) because then we can hang out. YOu're my kind of people I think we'd have a blast.

 

[Kunzite]

AMC - The flanges are nipple size, they say this can increase after you start nursing but that didn't happen to me (I know, I measured with my calipers to be sure ). My hospital also gave me the Symphony part kit that had three different sizes in it, so I was set just in case.

LC - I sure hope I can feed these twins, it still scares me to death. I was already worried about trying to make nursing work this time since I'm basically going to be new at this...but times two!! I don't know. I'm mostly worried that I'll just fall back into EPing when it's hard since that's what I know. I finally found my pumping log and it looks like I got down to 4 a little slower than I thought. I went to 3/day because the schedule was so much easier for me, but it slowly killed my supply. Each day I got about 10mL or so less than the day before. Granted it was still another 6 months until it died completely (and that was because I got really sick), but I knew it was slowly dying. So that's my advise, when you get to a spot that you're not maintaining think about going back up. I wish I had.

6.5 weeks - 7/day
10 weeks - 6/day
14.5 weeks - 5/day
15.5 weeks - 4/day
18 weeks - 3/day
10 months - zero

NEL - Don't beat yourself up mama!! You're doing an amazing thing for little K, even if you supplement here and there. She might be going through a small growth spurt and her higher demand is just temporary. Like drk said, it's easy to get caught up in it while you're going through it. The most important thing you can do for your supply is rest. On days I didn't sleep well I saw my supply go down. I know it's hard with the stress, but you need to take a break. DH and I had an agreement that since I was pumping at night he fed O at night. It shouldn't all fall to you. Some nights he would get more sleep because O would eat fast and some nights I would because O took his time. It all worked out equitably and I never would have been able to do both! I don't even try to be super mom

 

[NewEnglandLady]

Kunzite, thanks so much for the encouragement. I think that when I go back to work, I might have D do the nightime feedings (he sometimes does it now--he did last night). K has been really good about going right back to sleep and I haven't felt overly tired, so I usually do the feedings and the pumping. Also, your pumping schedule is really handy, thank you for sharing!

LC, I would love to be your neighbor. In fact, I have a chest freezer in my garage that I don't use at all (we used to feed the dogs raw food and I needed it to store all of their food). Then you could pump and store enough milk to last a few months, haha. The thought of filling a freezer full of milk that I produced with my own body sort of makes my head spin. Also, not only are you totally cool, but you love to cook and bake. Who wouldn't love to be your neighbor??

 

[lliang_chi]

NEL, I'm glad you haven't been feeling overly tired. Must stay rested. It's fantastic that D helps with the overnight feedings while you pump. I must admit I opt not to pump during one of the two overnight feedings just so I can get some extra snoozes.

Oh and this is kind of interesting... before I was pumping with the Medela Symphony, rented from the hospital. My last pumping session I used the Medela Pump in Style Advanced. I got a lot less milk than I normally do with the Symphony, 180ml vs 280ml. Did anyone else do a hospital vs non-hospital pump comparison?

~LC

 

[Logan Sapphire]

NEL, I'm glad you haven't been feeling overly tired. Must stay rested. It's fantastic that D helps with the overnight feedings while you pump. I must admit I opt not to pump during one of the two overnight feedings just so I can get some extra snoozes.

Oh and this is kind of interesting... before I was pumping with the Medela Symphony, rented from the hospital. My last pumping session I used the Medela Pump in Style Advanced. I got a lot less milk than I normally do with the Symphony, 180ml vs 280ml. Did anyone else do a hospital vs non-hospital pump comparison?

~LC

LC, I've used both a hospital pump (Ameda Elite) and a consumer-grade pump (Medela Freestyle). I rented the hospital one for 9 months and bought the Freestyle at 5 months when I went back to work. I always got the same output with both, but I wonder if the key is that I established my supply/started out with the Elite and used it exclusively for the 1st 5 months of pumping.

Did you use the same flanges for both the Symphony and PISA? I know with the Freestyle, I couldn't use the soft shield flanges that came with it.

 

[lliang_chi]

Yes same flanges with both. I haven't played around with the suction strength in the PISA so maybe that's it. Going to try the PISA today maybe I'll alternate between the two. I have the hospital pump until Weds.

 

[NewEnglandLady]

LC, I would totally drop one of the night sessions if I had more supply! And that is interesting about the hospital pump vs. the PISA. My milk didn't really come in while I was in the hopsital, but when I had to go back for the hemorrhage I felt I got less from the hopsital pump. But they had just switched to a new pump (it was a Hygeia, so not a Medela or Ameda) and the lactation consultants sort of hated it. In fact, I'd planned to rent a hospital pump, but then had D run to Target to get the PISA right before I went home. In any case, I do think the pump can make a difference in what you produce

 

[lliang_chi]

I played with some of the PISA suction settings and got a little more output than I did last time approx 6 oz\. I think I just need to dial in the proper settings.

LS, why did you keep both pumps from 5M -9M? Did you use one at home strictly (Hospital) and one that you packed up for work?

 

[Logan Sapphire]

I played with some of the PISA suction settings and got a little more output than I did last time approx 6 oz\. I think I just need to dial in the proper settings.

LS, why did you keep both pumps from 5M -9M? Did you use one at home strictly (Hospital) and one that you packed up for work?

That's right- I kept my Freestyle at work (carted the cooler home daily though) and used the hospital one at home. I have an hour commute via train, bus, and car and couldn't handle lugging the whole pump/bag along with my work briefcase and gym clothes every day, plus deal with two kids. I did take the Freestyle home on the weekends though, as I found it very handy to pump in the car or whatnot, rather than being tied to the house to pump every so many hours.

The hospital told me I was the longest renting customer they'd ever had.

 

[NewEnglandLady]

Quick question: I have had a dramatic decrease in supply in just one of my boobs (getting about a half an ounce per session vs. 1.5oz per session). I have no idea why--I don't have any symptoms of a clogged duct and I don't believe it has anything to do with pump parts because the other boob is producing the normal amount.

I had been trying to pump more than 8 times per day in an effort to increase my supply as I was no longer producing enough to exclusively feed breastmilk to K. I'm afraid that by pumping more I somehow hurt my supply? With her eating more per session and my supply drastically reduced, I'm giving her more formula than breastmilk at this point.

I'm frustrated. I spend soooo much time chained to my pump, which would be fine if it meant giving her breastmilk. But I can't even do that anymore!

Anybody else have experience with this? I don't know what to do.