[salsero96]

Ok.. Heres the story... Our daughter was born on July 15th, 2006. She is 5 weeks old now. My wife has only one more week before she has to go back to work.

My parents will be taking care of our daughter during the day. We are hoping to leave them enough breastmilk everyday.

Our daughter nurses all day long. If my wife even goes to the bathroom, our daughter starts screeming. In the meantime, we are trying to pump a backup store of breastmilk. My wife has been pumping while breastfeeding, in between breastfeeding, and at night. She is lucky to be anle to get 5 oz in two days.

We don't want to give her formula at all. But it is begining to look like we have to. At least temporarily. We were thinking about giving her formula once durring the day, every day this week, so that my wife can pump more durring that time. (to build up a supply) Then, she would try to pump 2-3 times while at work.

Any suggestions?

 

[DreamsInDigital]

Make sure she's drinking enough water and have her add oatmeal to her diet daily. She could try an herbal galactagogue such as blessed thistle or fenugreek. There's also Mother's Milk tea, though I'm not sure at this point if anything will work fast enough to have a supply built up.

 

[salsero96]

Thank you for your response.

She is already drinking Mothers Milk Tea, she drinks a lot of water, and oatmeal. (I made oatmeal cookies for her today too.)

 

[MOM2ANSLEY]

What kind of pump is dw using???
A hot shower also seems to help me pump more, and dw would probably enjoy it.

 

[salsero96]

She is using a Whittlestone Breast Expresser. Also, she seems to get almost all of the milk out of her left side. Very little from the right.

 

[Ravin]

That's one I haven't heard of. She should be using a hospital-grade pump or a high-quality portable double-breast electric pump such as the Medela Pump-in-Style. Hospital-grade pumps can usually be rented. If you're low-income, she may be able to get a better pump through WIC (depends on the state).

Has she tried pumping and nursing at the same time? Sometimes nursing at one breast will help letdown so you can pump more from the other breast.

She also may get more pumping when she doesn't have the baby there, while she's at work.

I really wouldn't give the baby any formula at all unless and until you absolutely have to (such as, after she goes to work and there's an actual bm shortage).

Another thing, have her try to nurse more at night, if the baby reverse cycles he won't need as much ebm during the day when she's at work.

 

[salsero96]

If she start nursing at night, how should she go about doing it? How often should she wake our daughter to bf?

As far as the Whittleman Breast Expresser is concerned, we did some research beforehand. We know it is not as popular as some of the other pumps. But, all of the reviews that we heard about that pump were all excellent. The pump cost us around $300.

http://www.whittlestone.com/

 

[mamanurse]

I wouldn't wake your daughter to nurse more, but I'm of the school to never wake a sleeping baby. Your daughter might naturally do that once your wife goes back to work. Pumping in the early morning has always given me the highest yield. She could pump during the morning nursing session and then about an hour after or she could get up in the middle of the night and pump.

 

[willow659]

I just wanted to give you both encouragement

You are so wonderful for helping your dw. MDC has some wonderful resources and I'm sure you'll get good advice

 

[salsero96]

Yeah.. I was worried about waking her at night. She is finally starting to sleep good at night. Ill tell her about pumping first thing in the morning. Thanks!..

About how long should each pumping session be? Someone told us that it shouldnt be longer than 20-30 minutes. Is that right?

 

[captain optimism]

I'm surprised that your health insurance didn't cover the cost of the breastpump. Perhaps it does and you can get reimbursement after the fact.

A frequent nurser should mean very well-stimulated breasts with a lot of yield when you pump. Sometimes it's difficult to persuade the breasts to let down for the pump. in the book Nursing Mother, Working Mother they advise moms to bring an article of the baby's clothing to smell to help with letdown. helpful book!

I pumped milk at my full time job during my son's first year and i got a lot of great advice here, and i am going to pass it all along to you:

1. Vitamin B complex supplements with inositol. Someone here let me know about that. Helps with letdown. The vitamins are water-soluble, so you will pee away what you don't need. (and have the great fluorescent urine as a side-effect!) I was already eating a great diet before i took this vitamin, but it still seemed to help my breasts let down for the pump.

2. pump in the early morning. i used to nurse the baby on one breast and then get up around 5:30 or 6 and pump the full one. You get the most yield early in the morning.

3. When you have to pump, drink hot drinks of any kind, but especially Mother's Milk or other lactation teas. (Weleda makes one, too.)

3. Pump even on days off.

4. Foods that help breastmilk supply: oatmeal, beer, and bitter greens, especially dandelion greens. You can buy the dandelion greens at the store. Add them to a salad with sweet dressing or stir fry them with garlic.

5. Freeze-dried nettles in capsules, if you also want to take herbs. Or nettle tea (but it tastes like spinach!)

i used a different pump on the weekend than i used during the week. i'm not sure why, but that seemed to help. my weekend pump was a cheap Aveda handpump. It was slower than the electric one. It might have also been that i was more relaxed on the weekend.

 

[captain optimism]

Quote:

Originally Posted by salsero96 About how long should each pumping session be? Someone told us that it shouldnt be longer than 20-30 minutes. Is that right?

In my experience, shorter sessions, like 15 minutes, done more frequently, worked better. i don't know what others will say.

 

[mama-a-llama]

Quote:

Originally Posted by salsero96 Ill tell her about pumping first thing in the morning. Thanks!.. About how long should each pumping session be? Someone told us that it shouldnt be longer than 20-30 minutes. Is that right?

Yep, I exclusively pump, and my highest yield is from my 8 am session.
I don't imagine that pumping any longer than 20 min would benefit your dw. I pump about 20-30 min, but again, that's every 3 hours and without any nursing directly. Experiment--I find that I tend to get one last letdown right at the 20 min mark, so I pump until that's done. Your dw may have a different pattern.

 

[TurboClaudia]

you have had lots of good recommendations and ideas from people here, but i'd like to suggest your wife and baby also visit a lactation consultant (or have one come visit them at your home) to evaluate the baby's latch and do a before and after nursing weight check to find out just how effectively she is nursing.

you don't mention if your daughter is gaining weight well, having lots of wet and poopy diapers, and having some alert and active periods during the day, and if all of these are true, then a visit with a lactation consultant could only help with fine tuning a pumping routine in preparation for your wife's return to work. if only some of these things are true, there might be a concern, either with how your daughter is nursing or how your wife's supply is responding to her nursing.

there are lots of things your wife can do to improve her supply, and many things to help with your daughter's nursing, and supplementing can certainly be a step you can take much further down the line if things don't change and improve along the way.

i hope you don't take this post in the wrong way, but as a mother of a boy who i thought was nursing well and i thought i had enough milk, the journey we've been on has taught me to look for subtle signs in a breastfeeding relationship and i hope to educate people about them in the most effective and kind way possible.

~claudia

 

[mamanurse]

I agree with what TC said. An LC visit would be a great idea. I ocassionally pump longer than 20 minutes. For me, I try to get two let down reflexes during a pumping session. Most of the time it takes less than 20 minutes, but occassionally it will take a tad bit longer.

Also, is your wife using some sort of lubrication while pumping? I use lanolin, but I've heard you can use olive oil as well.

 

[Anastasiya]

I second the idea of having dw pump one side while baby nurses off the other. At that age is she only taking one side anyway? My kids did till they were around 3 months old, then they began to take both, so I'd nurse on one side and pump the other - the difference in ounces collected is impressive.

 

[CJ 5]

When babies are that little they do nurse all the time. I remember how difficult this was for me. I about had a breakdown returning to school and had no supply built up. If there is anyway that for the first month someone can bring the baby to work for a lunchtime nurse that will REALLY help. My thoughts are with your wife because everyone tried to give my baby formula and didn't want me to pump. My pump didn't have a good bra setup ( it was a pump in style) my husband actually cut holes in one of my bras so that I could pump hands free.
If she does have to supplement a little bit just accept that you guys are doing all you can. Don't get depressed and let her feel like a failure. Also don't let them stuff the baby full of formula. It is clearly shown that you can forcefeed babys far more formula from a bottle than they actually need to eat. We never switched to above the 4oz avent bottles. your wives boobies probably feel like they are falling off as it is. The baby will nurse a lot after work and all night. I hope she can sleep with one latched on I know I did. She will be able to pump at work but the most important thing is low stress and lots of water and sleep.

I hope the very best for you it is clear you are devoted parents. Others have given some excellent pumping advice here. If she can just relax her whole body for a few minutes before starting to pump that can really help.

 

[naturegirl7]

Lots of water, mother milkktea, fengugreek (warnign this taste gross!) all help. Balanced diet, prenatals, and rest also are helpful.

First - get Mom a better pump. I tried some of the easily available for purchase in most store pumps - they suck. They don't get much milk out and they hurt. You can get a Medela or an Ameda. I recommend an AMeda - that is what I have used for the last year while in nursing school. It is tiny, but super efficient, easily portable, and works great. Most hospitals have Amedas.

YOu can rent a hospital grade pump from you local hospitals, but it is usually about $50 a month. The AMeda Purely Yours is just as good, but smaller. Liek the Medela it usually runs around $300 - but you can find it online for much cheaper. I bought mine from a medical supply place in NY for $150 - including shipping and the car adapter. PM me if you would like to to dig up that link. Many insurance companies will reimburse you for purchase of a pump - up to like $50. Also, WIC rents the pumps - actually I think they give them to the moms who want to BF. I can get 4-5 ouncs in under 15 minutes with my Ameda, but with the others it took closer to a half hour to get 2-3 ounces. BIG difference. ANd the Ameda has two types of adjustments to get a setting most like your baby's suck pattern.

Dim lights, quiet room, massaging the breat gently before and during pumping, warm compresses or a warm shower - these all helped me a lot. You can also pump after baby nurses or on the other breast while baby is nursing - this was too distracting for my DS though.

Has your wife been to any LLL meetings or met with a LC?? That might help alot too.