Help with a school project

[mommylovesra]

I need to do a project for the statistics class I am in and I was hoping some of you ladies could help. It is my theory that the earlier you give birth the harder it is to be successful with breastfeeding. So I am doing a correlation study to see if I can prove mathmatically if the 2 are related.

I need 30 responses and I need your exact week of gestation when you delivered. Don't worry about the days like 31 and 5 day for example just 31 weeks etc. I need responses only from those who delivered below 37 weeks.

I also need the exact number or weeks or months that you were able to pump or breastfeed. If you intended to breastfeed and did not get to at all please list zero as the amount of time breasfeeding. If you never intended to nurse then I don't need to include you in the data.

This is not that scientific just for an assigned project that I need to complete but I really appreciate everyone who takes the time to help me out!

[justmama]

birth at 34 weeks, pumped exclusively until 3 months, nursed until 21months.
birth at 33 weeks, nursed until 24months, no need to pump exclusively.

[alliteration]

Birth at 30 weeks 3 days,
exclusively pumped for one month,
pumped for 1 year,
breast fed for 4 years, 8 months.

[sparklett]

Birth 33 weeks, breastfed from 2 weeks to present (almost 3 years)

One thing you might need to account for is bias on the board. MDC mamas, just due to their nature, might have worked a bit harder at BF/pumping. If you ask the same question on a mainstream board, you might have different results.

[mama2soren]

Birth at 31 weeks. Exclusively pumped for about 4 weeks. At 21 months we're still breastfeeding with no end in sight! I will agree with the PP, though, that MDC mamas might not be the most "average" women to ask about breastfeeding successes. Shortly after my son's birth, I posted on a local moms forum for advice on breastfeeding a preemie. EVERY response (perhaps 12-15) were moms saying that they "really wanted to" breastfeed their preemies, but just couldn't and gave up pretty quickly.

[boobs4milk]

dd2 born @ 35 wks, exclusively bf until 6 mos the ff
ds born @ 30 wks, pumped for 6 mos then ff
dd3 born @ 37 wks (hospital had her as 36 wks 6 days :P ) exclusively bf until 6 mos, then bf with table foods (no ff) until 26.5 mos
dd4 born @ 35 wks, ep+ ff for extra cals/minerals for 4 wks the bf until current time (4.75 mos)

and dd1 was 39 wks and only bf 2 1/2 mos. i think that i had the hardest time with her because of the misinformation.

[moaningminny]

31 weeks.

11 weeks of pumping/breastfeeding, and I worked incredibly hard at it.

Was definitely going to breastfeed.

[susienjay]

32 week ds (twin)- pumped 6 weeks then mostly breastfed except for 1 bottle of formula a day with his meds for about a month and was able to drop the bottle- breastfed until 19 months

32 week dd (twin)- pumped around 9 weeks then transitioned to nursing exclusively- breastfed until 19 months

29 week dd- pumped 12 weeks and transitioned to nursing exclusively over the next few weeks- breastfed until 10 months old (I was pregnant and was strongly advised to wean her due to cervical shortening- I had already been supplementing a couple months due to low supply with the pregnancy)

[OGirlieMama]

Birth at 29 weeks, twins.
Exclusively pumped for 18 months.

I think multiples vs. singleton probably makes a pretty good difference, too.

[mommylovesra]

Originally Posted by sparklett

Birth 33 weeks, breastfed from 2 weeks to present (almost 3 years)

One thing you might need to account for is bias on the board. MDC mamas, just due to their nature, might have worked a bit harder at BF/pumping. If you ask the same question on a mainstream board, you might have different results.

Yeah I figured that too. Most of my other responses are from a very mainstream board. For that reason and because I did not want those who practice extended nursing like myself to skew the number I decided to cut off at 12 months what I count.

Thanks a lot for all the responses.

[lalemma]

My son was born at 33 weeks.

I pumped for about 3 weeks (we would do a "practice" nursing about once a day, but mostly he ate breastmilk in bottles), and then we switched to full-time BFing. He's three and a half months, and we're still nursing.

[Zan&Zav]

born at 26 weeks. pumped exclusivly for 5 months. wanted to breastfeed at least 2 years, like my older son.

[Lousli]

DD1 born at 36 weeks. A little difficulty in the beginning but with the help of a nipple shield began breastfeeding exclusively except for when I was working (I pumped only when away from home.) She nursed for 4 years 3 months.

DD2 born at 33 weeks. It took about 3 months of pumping for her to transition completely to breastfeeding. She then nursed until age 5.

[squeekybuddha]

Born at 27 weeks
Pumped BM for 10 weeks

[Amys1st]

Born at 24 weeks, 7 days but is refered as a 24 weeker

I started pumping an hour after she was born and pumped exclusely until I could start nursing her. I started putting her to the breast at about 33 weeks. I breastfed her for a year.

I was also active in LLL and nursed my first for 2 1/2 years. Both did a child led wean.

[Amys1st]

Originally Posted by sparklett

One thing you might need to account for is bias on the board. MDC mamas, just due to their nature, might have worked a bit harder at BF/pumping. If you ask the same question on a mainstream board, you might have different results.

I have to agree. I would also gather data from another place. Just due to my natural family living ways plus my strong parenting beliefs in breastfeeding, extended breastfeeding, AP, and natural ways of healing, my way might be a minority.
I insisted I would have a hospital grade pump at bedside after my emergency c section. The nurse actaully LOL at me until I left 48 hours with 7 little containers of the early breastmilk. By day 4 I was pumping a gallon. The hospital actaully changed its policy because of me and my telling the dept supervisor after my stay what happend and how its better to get a mama pumping asap. This was also my second baby, who knows how it would have been as baby #1.

[2Miracles]

I had twins at 26 weeks and started tying to pump that day. I was never able to produce enough milk (the most ever was 3 oz per pumping - but usually 1 oz to 1-1/2 oz). I tried everything...fenugreek, reglan, extra sleep, warm compresses, massaging, power pumping, etc. Even tried latching them several times. We went to a lactation specialist after they came home as well. Nothing worked for me with frustrated me so badly as I had always wanted to breast feed my babies. I pumped for 4-1/2 months before giving up.