Almost exclusively pumping so far

[Laura575]

My son was born 2 weeks and a day early at 5lbs 9oz.  He was due 4 days ago - so he is 2w 5 days old.  He lost quite a bit of weight the first week of life and is now gaining.  I started trying to breastfeed right away and thought things were going okay until we realized how much weight he lost.  Since then, I began pumping, first 20 times in a 24 hr period, now I'm down to 8-9 times.  I was trying to put him to the breast a few times a day but then we discovered he had thrush (currently day 2 of treatment) so my LC said we should not expect him to latch much until  that is cleared.  It is so hard.  I wish I could just feed him at the breast and know he is eating enough. 

[foreverinbluejeans]

He has already been exposed to the thrush so I don't see the harm in nursing. It doesn't sound like the LC said you couldn't breastfeed.

I had a baby that was born at 36 weeks and I had thrush on my breasts, in my mouth and a vaginal yeast infection after I took IV antibiotics for pneumonia when he was a month old (around his due date). I never stopped breastfeeding and my baby never got thrush. Usually by the time an infection is diagnosed your baby has been exposed.

You may be pumping too much. Pumping can cause nipple trauma. Pumping better may be more important than pumping 20 times a day. You can use the Marmet massage technique before pumping to encourage let-down and improve the amount you pump. The let-down reflex can be conditioned by using guided imagry, relaxation techniques, or hypnosis.

[APToddlerMama]

My son was born at 35 weeks and also was losing weight so I had to do the pumping thing.  Both of us got thrush as well from the antibiotics I had to treat mastitis.  Nobody ever mentioned to me that the thrush could cause an issue with latch, so I don't really know.

A couple things came to mind though.  First, how long are you pumping each time?  That sounds like an awful lot of pumping.  Also, are you giving him a bottle or using an SNS or Haberman?  It was suggested to me that I always put DS on the breast, let him take what he could, and then feed him with a bottle/SNS/Haberman.  The SNS was what was suggested but it was a pain so I didn't do it long term.  After he had the bottle, I would wait an hour and then pump.  This worked pretty well. I would be a little concerned that if you're not putting him on the breast frequently, that he is going to develop a real preference for the bottle. 

Also, does your LC know *why* your son isn't able to nurse well?  Is she certain that he isn't tongue tied?  Does she think he's just getting fatigued?  Have you been able to get weights on him (to the gram) before and after several nursing sessions?  Do you think your supply is okay?   Good luck.  I know how rough all that pumping can be.  Something clicked for my son around his due date and he suddenly could latch well enough that I didn't have to pump. 

[Laura575]

when we tried to bf, he would root around and not latch.  The dr and lc both figured it was bc he is so small and he was really sleepy for the first week. I still feel like i have to wake him to eat sometimes i stopped trying often and only tried a few times a day since i was pumping so much.  he also doesn't transfer much when he is on the boob based on frequency of swallows - but i've noticed some improvements there too.

.  My goal with pumping has been to get my supply up - it went from 9.5 oz a week and a half ago to 14.5 yesterday.  we also wanted to make sure he was eating enough.  he's had great gains since last Friday - up 1lb 1oz - so he is finally over his birth weight.  We've supplemented with some donated milk but not much. 

I had been using a syringe on the finger to feed him and tried the SNS, both on the breast ond finger.  No bottles.

i pump for 15-40 minutes depending.  generally i get 1-3 oz total a session.  i'm going to try a hospital grade pump for this next week and see if that helps with output and time.

[APToddlerMama]

Originally Posted by Laura575 

when we tried to bf, he would root around and not latch.  The dr and lc both figured it was bc he is so small and he was really sleepy for the first week. I still feel like i have to wake him to eat sometimes i stopped trying often and only tried a few times a day since i was pumping so much.  he also doesn't transfer much when he is on the boob based on frequency of swallows - but i've noticed some improvements there too.

.  My goal with pumping has been to get my supply up - it went from 9.5 oz a week and a half ago to 14.5 yesterday.  we also wanted to make sure he was eating enough.  he's had great gains since last Friday - up 1lb 1oz - so he is finally over his birth weight.  We've supplemented with some donated milk but not much. 

I had been using a syringe on the finger to feed him and tried the SNS, both on the breast ond finger.  No bottles.

i pump for 15-40 minutes depending.  generally i get 1-3 oz total a session.  i'm going to try a hospital grade pump for this next week and see if that helps with output and time.

Oh, you poor mama.  15-40 minutes of pumping and you were doing it up to 20 times a day???  Your body needs time to recover in between.  You need rest to be able to produce milk.  I saw three different LCs and eventually a speech therapist in my son's first month.  The speech therapist was the most helpful and told me to cut my pumping from the 20-22 minutes I had been doing down to 9 or 10.  It made a big difference in terms of time, exhaustion, pain in my nipples etc., and didn't change my supply at all.  I totally get that drive to breastfeed at all costs, because that was my goal too, but those are some seriously long and frequent pumping sessions.  I would give myself permission to cut back a little, and I doubt it will negatively impact your supply.  Is there another LC you could talk to?