pumping for premie

[kets1]

My friend gave birth to a precious wee one at 32 weeks. The babe is doing well, and Mom is an awesome Mom. She is doing her best to nurse her little one and then pump milk to mix with formlua per doctor's directions (2oz every feeding). She is having a really tough time. She has been a champion pumper in the past but is now struggling. The baby had been a great nurser but is now not latching well. She is also having trouble pumping and the flanges are causing her great pain which is making nursing painful. She is also not able to pump as much now (2 or 3 weeks after baby's birth) as she was when she first started pumping. Compounding everything is that baby is home (wonderful!) so she has less help (sad) and 2 older sick children. Her DH is wonderful and helping everyway he can, but she is drained and stressed and needs suggestions. Any ideas from BTDT moms??

Thanks In Advance

[guestmama9916]

Originally Posted by kets1

My friend gave birth to a precious wee one at 32 weeks. The babe is doing well, and Mom is an awesome Mom. She is doing her best to nurse her little one and then pump milk to mix with formlua per doctor's directions (2oz every feeding). She is having a really tough time. She has been a champion pumper in the past but is now struggling. The baby had been a great nurser but is now not latching well. She is also having trouble pumping and the flanges are causing her great pain which is making nursing painful. She is also not able to pump as much now (2 or 3 weeks after baby's birth) as she was when she first started pumping. Compounding everything is that baby is home (wonderful!) so she has less help (sad) and 2 older sick children. Her DH is wonderful and helping everyway he can, but she is drained and stressed and needs suggestions. Any ideas from BTDT moms??

Thanks In Advance

She may need a prescription med to help boost her supply. I was a champion pumper as well with my first but my baby was full term and he nursed right away to help establish a good supply. With my second I struggled much like your friend and I think it was the combination of having the baby prematurely and not with me for the first 10 days of her life. Domperidone can be purchased over the web without a script and its commonly used for helping moms of preemies boost their milk. I would encourage her to look into it more.

[henriksmom]

Kets1,

I responded today and it was very long but it is not here. I will try to respond tomorrow again when I have time. I am still pumping after almost nine months. Here are some really good sites: http://www.kellymom.com & http://www.exclusivelypumping.com.

[sarlusan]

BTDT... pumped for my 32 weeker for 3 weeks in the NICU and another 3 weeks at home while we figured out the bf-ing thing. It's really important to keep pumping - even if she is nursing the baby, she should only drop one pumping session every few days at the most. My supply dropped suddenly when I tried to let go of the pumping and go straight to nursing. SLOWLY - like over a few weeks - drop the pumping to let her supply match the baby's needs. But I wouldn't worry TOO much about supply going down; after all the baby is still small and doesn't need much.

I think my main advice is just to hang in there - it will get better - even though it is truly awful at the time. So much work. But baby will figure it out - she is still really little! Just hang in there, keep pumping for now, and get a few ounces in that baby any way she can. Keep trying her at the breast. In another few weeks everything will start to click.

And, of course, any help she can get from anywhere... or just let the older ones watch lots of tv... let all the cleaning go... order pizza every night... anything that she needs to do in order to focus on resting, pumping, and breastfeeding!

[henriksmom]

I tried to breastfeed my son for five months. Once he was starting to get the hang of it I got sick. I continued pumping so I would not lose my supply and after he never really went back. If pumping was my full time job then I have been doing it for over 14 weeks now. I saw a lactation consultant and she helped so maybe that could be something that she could look into.

Pumping is stressful, it hurts, and it is time consuming. I want to quit all the time but when my supply goes down I worry and realize that I am not ready to give it up yet. I plan my day around pumping sometimes I feel like I have no life. But it is one thing that I can do for my son during this crazy, depressing year.

So my advice is to keep at it. I made mini goals. If I were to say at the beginning that I would pump for 1 year I would have been nuts. So I said until six months, then until he is eight and a half and can eat solids, now he is almost nine and I am still doing it. My next goal is until he is one. I look to these women here for inspiration. Good luck to your friend.

[kets1]

Thank you for your responses! My friend seems in much better spirits. She has spoken to both her son's ped. and her LC and they have decided to drop a pumping or two and a supplementing or two and just expect her son will get hungry quicker. This way HE will build her supply rather than a pump, and she will get more skin time with her son and less with her pump! Thank you for the encouragement!

[moremonkeykisses]

Also make sure she has the correct flange size. Some women need bigger/smaller ones depending on their body - not the standard size.

Laura

[jlovesl]

I pumped for my 31 weeker for 11 months. We did get 3 months of just BFing but because of reflux problems it was better for him to sit up to eat. So pumping was my only option. My supply was REAL low at the beginning because of my c-section. So Lac-Consultant prescribed me Motillium. I went from pumping 1/2 oz. (both breasts) to 8oz. (both breasts) in 24 hours. It was such a relief. I periodically had to take more through out the 11 months but in the end with out baby to boob contact I eventually went dry.But I still made it until the 11 month mark. So I was proud of myself that I was that determined. Also in the beginning, my breast shields for my pump were 2 sizes too small which made pumping a horror. But once my lac consultant fitted me with the right size everything was just peachy.