advantages/disadvantages of EP

[Rose-Roget]

I am not to this point, but I am wondering about exclusively pumping. Why do some people choose to EP? What do you see as the advantages for you and your lo? What are the disadvantages?

Dd has not been gaining weight very well. Since I've been back to work, she's been drinking quite a bit of milk during the days from a bottle - more, it seems, than she takes from me many days (I know I can't be sure, but I estimate based on some weighed feedings I take at different times during the day). Yesterday and today, when she wouldn't continue to nurse, I tried a bottle on a couple of occasions and she took it. I'm wondering if there is something uncomfortable about nursing that she is responding to? Or whether she just gets impatient waiting for the letdown? The latter is especially true this week, but the former is a question I've had along the way.

I'd be sad to EP, I think. I love nursing. But I want my lo to be comfortable and healthy. I'm probably overanalyzing and obsessing too much - I tend to do that when I worry. *sigh*

[bandgeek]

I don't think many people here EP by choice. As someone who has both nursed and EP'd I'd encourage you to stick out the nursing. EP'ing is difficult and it's harder to keep up your supply. I nursed my son for 3 1/2 years but only lasted 9 1/2 months pumping because it was just so difficult. Your baby might just find the bottle easier, but if she's managed to drink enough from you to keep your supply up, she's probably doing ok.

How old is she? Many babies slow down on the weight gain around 6-9 months.

[Rose-Roget]

I figured the supply issue would be a biggie. I've only been back to work shortly and am already worried about it. It's kind of a vicious cycle, though, because I think my supply is low from her not intaking much and then could lower quickly with the pump being less efficient than her.

She is 3 months old and we've been fighting weight gain for over a month. Here's another thread with more information, if you're interested. http://www.mothering.com/discussions...717&highlight=

Like I said, I'm not to the point, but I'm looking for information.

[babynatasha]

Off topic, sorry: I have noticed that you have said you are having a problem with your milk supply. I just wanted to make sure that you knew mint reduced milk supply? I had a problem with my milk supply going down, then realized I had been eating a lot of breath mints. I stop eating them and supply went back up. Just an FYI. I also had/have a small baby. I EBF until she was about 10-ish mths. My DS 6mths is much bigger and eats less. I think some kids just process the milk faster than others. I think my DD has a faster metabolism. The doctors have always been worried about DD, but she hits milestones and that seems okay to me.

[Rose-Roget]

That's interesting that you said that, Babynatasha! I remembered recently that I'd heard 5 years ago with ds that mint could reduce supply, and I do drink teas with mint or eat peppermints semi-regularly. Kellymom said it takes a more significant amount to affect supply, but I am cutting it out just in case. I almost posted something about this the other day - we hear a lot about ways to increase our supply, but those things that we might do that inadvertently decrease our supply are not mentioned so often.

[alegna]

I don't think there are *any* benefits to EP. Nursing is always better *if possible*

EP is a LOT of work- super kudos to moms who manage it, but nursing from the tap is better in every way that I'm aware if you can make it work.

-Angela

[Rose-Roget]

I would think bf is easier, too. So what are some reasons people end up ep'ing?

[zwitterion]

I EPed for my DD for 3 months, starting when she was 11 days old. She was not gaining and was not nursing effectively. I do think misinformation partially led me to my decision to EP, as my LC said that since DD was nursing more than every 90 minutes, something was wrong (and I've since learned that that is just plain false--plenty of perfectly nursing babies nurse all.the.time). Looking back on things with my LLL leader, though, she did show signs of a weak suck, so perhaps big problems were really there.

Anyway, my DH was working 80-90 hour weeks and I had no family any closer than a 4 hour drive away, so I was essentially a single mom to a newborn. I was trying to do the cycle my LC recommended of nurse, then supplement with a syringe (and all she gave me were little 5-ml syringes; DD often took 60 ml+ per supplementation, so you do the math on how convenient that was), then pump for milk for the next supplementation cycle. Once I was done with the pumping and cleanup, it was almost time for the next nursing to start. And of course, I couldn't hold DD while I was pumping, so it was very stressful because she really wanted to be held (and why wouldn't a newborn?). My whole life revolved around getting her fed rather than spending any time playing with her or taking care of me or of any of her other needs. I tried nipple shields. I tried the SNS, which worked well in the LC's office, but was a massive failure once I got home and tried it on my own. I was slipping into some severe PPD and I just couldn't keep up anymore. It was almost a relief to EP at that point, though I cried about it for weeks and weeks. I would do it again in a heartbeat if my baby *needed* it, but I would never choose that road if I didn't have to. All that pumping time when I could have been holding the baby, washing all those bottles and pump parts, missing out on the simple joys of nursing, having to get out of bed to feed her at night, ugh.

DD did develop a bottle preference while I was EPing, but she also did develop a good latch/suck, and I was able to get her back to nursing when she was about 3 to 3.5 months old and she still loves her nursies now at 20 months. I am so glad I did it, but I am ecstatic that I no longer need to do it.

Here is my recommendation to you (recognizing, of course, that I am no LC and it's only my opinion). I would not give her bottles when you are with her. The bottle is easier to eat from, especially if her caregiver isn't following the proper procedure for bottle-feeding a breastfed baby. She may be reacting to the increased work when she nurses, and if you give her a bottle, she may learn that if she fusses, she'll get the easy way to eat. Again, this is just my take on the matter, and you have to trust your mommy instinct.

[bandgeek]

Originally Posted by Rose-Roget

I would think bf is easier, too. So what are some reasons people end up ep'ing?

My DD has a feeding tube and cannot eat orally.

[Llyra]

I EPed for DD1, and I think I can say that the only benefit I can see is that it is better than formula feeding. I nursed my other two, and there's no comparison. Breastfeeding is maybe more frustrating in the beginning, but as the months go by it gets easier and easier. EPing is not like that.

It's hard work, and it gets harder as the months go on, because baby gets more active and mobile and more interested in being out in the world. It's really hard to drag your pump to playgroups and story hours and Grandma's house and the mall and the park. But if you start to slack off on your pumping schedule, your supply will start to drop-- noticeably, and it doesn't take all that long. I remember sitting in the bathroom at an outdoor concert, trying to pump, while DH walked DD around just outside the bathroom door. It had been HOURS since I pumped last, and I was engorged, and I had to sit in this skanky little bathroom to pump. A breastfeeding mom could have simply fed her child, right there at the concert-- happy kid, because she's with mama and fed, and happy mama, who wouldn't have been missing the show.

EPing successfully really ties you down, and thus ties baby down, too.

FWIW, it's really hard to keep up a supply at all with a pump, even if you do pump on a consistent routine. I pumped every two hours and still wasn't able to keep up with DD1's needs. She wound up with part formula from about 4 months to about 9 months, and then I managed to boost my supply a bit to get through about a month more without the formula, and then I quit. It was arduous.

The hardest part was having to choose between meeting baby's needs (picking up her up when she cried, for instance, or cuddling her when she was sad, or playing with her) and sticking to the pumping schedule. It was not sticking to the schedule that led to my supply decline, and it was because I wasn't willing to say here, honey, I'm sorry but I can't take you outside right now even though you want to go, because I have to pump, and stuff like that.

I EPed because of misinformation, largely. DD1 had a tongue tie and thus a lousy latch, but nobody caught it-- "they" kept sending me home telling her her latch was just fine, etc., but she wasn't wetting and her jaundice wasn't clearing and she hadn't started to stool, at like eight or nine days old. So we pumped a bottle and gave it to her. Apparently, DD1 was one of those babies very subject to nipple preference, because once she'd had a few bottles, she refused to latch any longer, and after two months of fighting that battle, I gave up.

Babies often take more from a bottle because it's difficult for them to control the flow. They seem to guzzle it, but really it's that they can't help but drink. I would encourage you to check out kellymom.com for some tips on bottlefeeding a breastfed baby, and pass them on to your caregiver too.

[annekh23]

Most EPers end up that way because breastfeeding doesn't work out or because it wasn't possible to initiate at birth and if later attempts are possible, they don't work out.

With my 3rd I did spent a few weeks wondering if I should just stop trying to bf direct, she couldn't transfer milk well at the breast and just depending on what stage we were with training her the right way to suck (long story, but when snipping her tongue tie didn't help, thankfully someone noticed she was moving her lower jaw the opposite way to how it should and there were some issues with her upper lip too, so we were doing exercises as well as positioning strategies) sometimes it was painful and whilst I was still trying to breastfeed her, she wouldn't take supplements from me, she liked the breast, she'd rather be comfy at the breast without solving her hunger than solve her hunger. Some how, by the skin of our teeth things fell in to place and she's breastfeeding (now!), but keeping going was so fragile, that even it raining one day if I wanted the sun to shine could have been the straw that broke the camels back!

I could see EPing if I was working and didn't have the desire or the means to change that and the baby had such a bottle preference that switching around was making everyone miserable, my first switched without a problem, my 2nd would have probably flat out starved herself to avoid a bottle, but was an efficient feeder who'd have been fine reverse cycling, assuming I didn't have to be away for more than 12hrs. This little one was extremely confused and sometimes didn't seem to know what to do and would refuse both breast and bottle, I don't work, she last had a bottle in October, nothing has cropped up where I would want or need to be away from her if it did, we'd probably try a sippy cup not a bottle, but she seems relatively content without nursing for about 4hrs as long as she's with Daddy.

Babies will take more from a bottle than a breastfeed, it's been studied, I'm no expert, but it's something to do with how they finish up, the flow doesn't slow the same way it does at the breast, the pressure of the teat on their palate is different to a nipple. It's also a known phenomenon that even babies who appear to be thriving at the breast will often take an ounce or so from a bottle if offered, again, it's thought to be to do with the sensation of a harder nipple on their palate. So taking more than you think during the day is a bottle feeding phenomenon that your caregivers should be alert to and you can educate the about and that she takes a bottle after a breastfeed isn't a sign she didn't get enough, but may delay her next feed.

[anj_rn]

I bf DS with no problems (other than way too much milk). I pumped at work and BF at home. It was easier. Frequently he would drain one side and I would pump 6-8 oz out of the other side.

I EBF DD until 4 months, when she had a near SIDS event, I have EP'ed for the last 7 months, with no plans to stop. I have enough milk for her, but way less than when I was EBFing.

Supply would be a big problem if I was not a milk making machine (I swear I was born to be a wet nurse).

EPing is better than formula, but for me BFing was much easier.

[groovyem]

I am Eping due to my flat nipples, very fibrous breast tissue and after my c-section I had sooo much edema. After a few weeks, the edema was gone but I could never get her on. She just didn't want my boob, it upset her. I wish I never gave up. We are 6 mo into it now and I hate it, I mean I REALLY HATE IT.

I recommend getting slow flow nipples for her bottles so when she does have to have a bottle she has to work for the milk, I have heard mention of some bottles on this website that do a really good job mimicking the breast.

Good luck to you!