Hi Nicole,
First of all, congratulations on the birth of your daughter!
And I'm so happy for you that, overall, nursing is going well.
My sympathies on your struggles pumping. I EP (exclusively pump) for my daughter, so my situation's a little different, but hopefully I can offer some help on the pumping side of things.
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Originally Posted by Nicole915  The pump I have is a Medela PIS, and it seems to do an okay job.
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I bought a Medela PIS while I was pregnant. When I realized I'd need to pump more than just at work, etc., I rented a hospital-grade pump. What a difference! For me, my output is *significantly* better with the hospital-grade pump and it's about 10 times more comfortable with the hospital-grade pump. I was amazed. I recommend seeing if you can rent a hospital-grade pump and try that out. You can use a hospital-grade one even if you don't EP (my sister nurses and uses a hospital-grade pump for work and the occasional pump at home to all her DP to feed their baby. The place I rent from has rentals as short as a week, so you don't have to make a big commitment to a hospital-grade, you can just try it out and see if you're more comfortable.
Because I do need to pump around the clock, I personnally use my hospital-grade one for pumps at home and at work, but occasionally use the PIS if I'm going to be out someplace where I don't want to lug the heavier hospital-grade pump. I like portability of the PIS and it's adequate when I need to use it, but it reminds me every time that it's not as comfortable as my other pump
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Originally Posted by Nicole915 I know part of my angst is that I expected pumping to be more fruitful... but part is that I just feel dehumanized. Anyone else have this experience? Any wisdom to share?
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I too have had the angst about how much I'm pumping and I try hard not to angst because I've noticed I pump less when I'm angsting. Much easier said then done! I second all the suggestions to pump hands-free and be distracted...then I angst about the amount less.
I also did feel dehumanized at first. Some of the things that helped me including making sure I pumped in a comfortable place and had fun things to do while pumping. But the biggest thing for me was a great conversation with my DP who helped me see that making milk for our daughter, however that happened (pumping, nursing, etc.) was a beautiful thing. Following that conversation, I really started to look at pumping differently and seeing the machine as something that was helping me and my daughter and not dehumanizing me.
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Originally Posted by Mosaic 1) Go hands-free. Then you can read, type, do an impressive number of things, even play with your baby (heck, I've even changed a diaper while pumping, though I don't recommend it!) while pumping, and it becomes less of a chore, so you may produce more. Kellymom has great instructions on how to do this on the cheap (which I used for over a year), but there are also special bras you can get to help you out as well.
2) Keep pumping for a little while after the milk stops. Sometimes you will get a second let-down; and even if you don't, you will be signalling your body to produce more milk and getting it used to the pump.
3) Do whatever it takes to make it comfortable. Sit somewhere cozy, pop in something on tv, have a throw nearby in case you get chilly, and look at pictures of your baby or even snuggle one of her blankets. Anything that reminds you that you're doing this for her.  |
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Originally Posted by Nicole915 So here's the short version of her challenges so far.
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Just want to mention that you've been so supportive of her with these various challenges.
Your daughter is very lucky to have you as her mama!
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Originally Posted by Bokonon And way to go for kicking out the LC who came with formula!!! That just boggles my mind that anyone trying to encourage breastfeeding would bring formula to a new struggling mom!
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Originally Posted by cristeen Is your MW an IBCLC? I would highly recommend finding one if not. My MW looked at my little guy's latch and pronounced it good all along. It wasn't until after he was on formula, was refusing the breast and I had dried up that I hired an IBCLC and she took one look at him and discovered that he was tied.
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Just wanted to second this. My daughter was evaluated by more than 1 LC and more than 1 ped who missed her tongue-tie as well as another issue. All of them declared that her latch was fabulous. In my daughter's case, her latch was good, but she still was having an inability to transfer milk (due to her tongue-tie and the other issue). The suggestion of pre- and post-feeding weigh-ins makes a lot of sense to me. The other thing is, if your daughter is struggling with the bottle (mine was), that may indicate that there's something going on. That was the first clue that finally led to us discovering her tongue-tie and, getting that fixed, was a huge step in helping our daughter transfer milk better and, thus, gain weigh more easily.
I'll be keeping you in my thoughts and hoping things smooth out for you. Feel free to PM if you have any pumping questions.
