Exclusive Pumpers Tribe - Page 6

[BakerALM]

Originally Posted by Darcy37

If Iam pumping 5 times a day and getting 20 ounces total for the day and my baby is 2 months old is that enough milk for her?

Every baby is different! Mine took about 18-24oz at that age but as she grew her appitite also increased. Before we added solids she was eatting between 32-38 oz . I think we all would aggree that her intake will increase before she levels out again so you might want to think about working to increase your output before she outgrows your current supply. Also it would allow you to put together a freezer stash for those crazy growth spurts.

[Darcy37]

Here is pic's of my 2 month old Athena Marie
http://i58.photobucket.com/albums/g2...eepthought.jpg
http://i58.photobucket.com/albums/g2.../Iamsocute.jpg

[mama-a-llama]

Originally Posted by Darcy37

If Iam pumping 5 times a day and getting 20 ounces total for the day and my baby is 2 months old is that enough milk for her?

That's what my ds was getting at that age, I think. He has fixed intake b/c he's tube fed. But I agree with pps that trying to increase now might be good, even if you end up with a big freezer stash. I actually donated my surplus back in the day when I had more than enough. Now I sort of wish I'd just kept it, but I guess it was nice to help someone.

[mamanurse]

Has anyone else's : eaten their breastpump tubing? My wicked kitty Pagan has eaten it not once, but twice. I have replacement tubing stored in my closet for the next time I forget to put the tubing away

[GooeyRN]

Originally Posted by mamanurse

Has anyone else's : eaten their breastpump tubing? My wicked kitty Pagan has eaten it not once, but twice. I have replacement tubing stored in my closet for the next time I forget to put the tubing away

My cat does not mess with the tubing, but dd loves to chew on it. I am terrible about putting it away. Now that she has a tooth I will have to be more careful.

[melbb]

Originally Posted by Darcy37

If Iam pumping 5 times a day and getting 20 ounces total for the day and my baby is 2 months old is that enough milk for her?

She will likely increase what she eats as she gets older. I don't remember what my DD ate at that time, I think she ate 25-30 oz. She went as high as 40 oz and now that she is on solids is at 35 oz. I can only pump 26 oz and cannot increase my supply any further.

[Darcy37]

Iam getting only 21 ounces a day and she is 2 months old

[orangecanoe]

Darcy-- the rule of thumb that I've read is that a babe will need approx. 2.5oz per pound of body weight. My 5 month old is about 16 or so pounds and just now started eating around 30-32oz consistently and I've been getting 35-40 ounces and just recently cut back to 5 pumps, but it took about 7-8 pumps/day and 1 to 2 pumps at night to get up to that amount from when I started pumping in April. She will eventually need more than 20 oz/day to grow at some point so I would add some pumps in and look into other ways to increase your supply to get ahead of her needs.

[mamanurse]

I took my first capsule of fenugreek today: I was "supposed" to get AF sometime around the first of the month and haven't gotten it yet. It would have been my 3rd cycle postpartum. I just hope I'm not pg yet:

Do any of you know how long it takes to work? I'm almost to the point of having to supplement with formula. My babe won't take my freezer stash

[GooeyRN]

You should notice a difference with in 3 days, maximum benefit within 2 weeks.
About your freezer stash..... I was devastated when dd would not take it! I have 3 deep freezers full! I started mixing it with fresh ebm. 3 oz of fresh, 1 oz of frozen. Then 2oz of each, then 3 oz frozen and 1 oz fresh. It took her a week to get used to the different flavor. It does smell and taste much different, IMHO. (yuck!) But if it has truely gone bad, it wont just smell yucky, it will smell like sour milk. But now she takes it with no problem at all not mixed. I am trying to rotate the stock some. Tomorrow she will be getting milk from November!

[pemja]

Ouch!!!

OK, so pumping has never been totally comfortable for me, but for the last few days I've been trying to ignore some discomfort when pumping my left breast. Well, last night in the shower, I looked under my nipple (my very large nipple) and found a 1/4 inch cut! OUCH! Looks kind of like a tooth mark (which we know can't be, since I'm EPing and my daughter doesn't even have a tooth!). Any ideas on quick healing? Unfortunately, my left breast is my high output breast -- about 5-6 oz per pump, where I only get one or two ounces from the other side.

Luckily, I have this site to search and read while pumping -- keeps my mind off the pain.

[bri276]

Originally Posted by Darcy37

Here is pic's of my 2 month old Athena Marie
http://i58.photobucket.com/albums/g2...eepthought.jpg
http://i58.photobucket.com/albums/g2.../Iamsocute.jpg

so cute!!!


pemja- ouch!!! I've had trouble with one side bleeding from nipple trauma in the past and you just kind of have to breathe through it. I think Lanisoh makes some cream for healing but I don't know where to get it. hopefully it will go away soon!

[Kaitnbugsmom]

subbing as I am now ep'ing again, manual just isn't working anymore

[kathteach]

Hi mamas,

I am wondering about donating since my freezer stash is getting somewhat out of control and the stuff is only good for 3 to 4 mos. I don't think we can use it all up in time.

Any ideas on how/where to donate? I would like to donate to an adoptive mom but not sure about the legality or how to find one.

[mamanurse]

I would rotate out your freezer stash rather than donating it. You can just use the frozen milk 1-2 times per day and freeze new milk in its place. This way you may be able to stop pumping well in advance of your dc's need.

[GooeyRN]

Originally Posted by mamanurse

I would rotate out your freezer stash rather than donating it. You can just use the frozen milk 1-2 times per day and freeze new milk in its place. This way you may be able to stop pumping well in advance of your dc's need.

I rotate my milk. I have 2.75 deep freezers worth, and give dd 8 oz a day of frozen, so that I am continually rotating it. Milk is good up to a year in a deep freeze. If I keep rotating, I can probably quit pumping about 5 months sooner than planned.

[Swirly]

Originally Posted by pemja

OK, so pumping has never been totally comfortable for me, but for the last few days I've been trying to ignore some discomfort when pumping my left breast. Well, last night in the shower, I looked under my nipple (my very large nipple) and found a 1/4 inch cut! OUCH! Looks kind of like a tooth mark (which we know can't be, since I'm EPing and my daughter doesn't even have a tooth!). Any ideas on quick healing? Unfortunately, my left breast is my high output breast -- about 5-6 oz per pump, where I only get one or two ounces from the other side.

Luckily, I have this site to search and read while pumping -- keeps my mind off the pain.

I had this happen in the beginning, also to my high producing breast, and it was because the cups/funnels were too small. If you are suing a Medela pump, you can buy larger size funnel thingies, which helped tremendously. If you use ones that are too small for too long, your supply can suffer. My right boob never caught up with the left again after that happened (the cuts got infected).

[SuperMarcy]

Wow am I glad to find this thread! My ds is almost 8 weeks old and I've been eping for 6 weeks. He started out latching on mostly fine-- some difficulties, but since he's my first I just figured it was a learning curve-- that we'd both get the hang of it. But nursing kept getting worse and worse. He went from mostly latching on to crying whenever I offered him my breast. He was losing weight and we were threatened by the pediatrician that we'd have to supplement. Well after consulting with both of my midwives, two LC's and la leche league it started making sense. I knew that I had PCOS but I didn't know that could affect milk supply. I started pumping to see how much milk I had, horrified to discover that with each pumping session I'd get 1/2 to 3/4 of an ounce on one side, and just drops on the other. So I started taking fenugreek and inositol, which haven't made much of a difference, and started feeding ds an organic formula. I am able to give him about 3 oz of bm a day and a wonderful friend gives us about the same amount. My dream had always been to be an exclusively breastfeeding mom-- I wasn't even going to buy a pump! So this whole thing came as a huge shock and disappointment. I still melt down every so often about the lack of breastfeeding relationship with ds. I've offered him the breast for comfort, but he just gets to frustrated, that it isn't comforting. I just keep telling myself that I'm giving him all I can. Thanks for starting this thread... it is so great to know that there are others going through similar things!

[mamanurse]

to you SuperMarcy! I'm glad you found us too. Bf can be very difficult.

We tried everything as well to get dd on my breast. Have you tried an SNS or LactAid? It might be too late for that now since your ds has a negative association with the breast, but you might be able to try it in a little bit. Then he is at least getting nourishment from your breast while providing more stimulation to increase milk production.

I hope you find some support and helpful hints from us.

[kathteach]

Just bumping up the thread and wondering how everyone is doing.
I also have a question: what are all of you doing at night? My DS has started to sleep longer but I am still waking up every 3 to 4 hours to pump. It's starting to really affect me emotionally but I"m nervous about losing my supply. The couple of times I slept in I woke up with hard boobs and blocked ducts.

Any advice would be welcome because honestly I want to throw the pump out the window and buy some formula. I do, but I don't.