Exclusive Expressers #2

[teesmum]

hi lisa! way to go on making the 10 month mark! and having enough freezer stash to get you through another 2 months - that is huge.

it is very quiet in here....

me...... well, T is now 6.5 months old. so i've kinda made it to my first goal, altho her surgery was postponed, it's in another two weeks. But i am still going strong. i've been in a bit more of a routine with it all lately. still on five pumps - once overnight (tends to be closer to five am than the 1 or 2 i am aiming for), around 7am, 11am, 4pm, 10pm. altho some days, like yesterday my supply is lower than normal so i have to add in a couple of extra pumps to keep up with dd. she is drinking over a liter/day still.

i am tired. right this moment, i feel like death lol. she feeds two or three times overnight. and she was awake from 3 to about 6 this morning (happy but not sleepy) and then i pumped. so 6.30 before i got back to sleep. then dh woke my at 8. sigh i wish he'd just let me sleep, T was still sound asleep too. but i am coping ok.

my freezer stash has taken a beating - i donated... well, i can't remember, but over 6 L to a friend whose DD was losing weight and ended up in hospital. so poor friend has now switched to pumping and bottle feeding so they can monitor intake but her supply is so low that she is desperate for donated EBM. so now my milk has helped fatten up two babies mixed emotions giving the milk away.... in reality i was probably never going to use it as t was the older stuff. so happy to give it away to a very very good cause rather than risk throwing it away. but in handing it over i felt like i was handing over hours and hours of my life! 6 L = 12 hours of pumping time!

so my next goal is 12 months. and i hold a tiny glimmer of hope of being able to breastfeed after her 12 month surgery. not a huge hope as i can't risk disapointting myself hugely. but gosh... i would love to. DS was breastfed till nearly 3 and i just don' know if i can or would even want to, pump that long. such a different journey!

how is everyone else going?

[Lisa B]

Hi Teesmum,

Sorry to hear the surgery was postponed. I know how much you want to BF.

You are doing great to only have to do 5 pumps. I think I went to 5 at about 8 months. It didn't really affect my supply too much, although I am on motilium so it is hard to know what affect the medication has. 5am pump isn't too bad either. I do a 6am pump. I cut the o/n one out at 9 months. That was fantastic as I get 7 hours sleep now. I feel like a new woman. Sorry to hear that you still need to feed o/n. I hope one of the feeds coincides with your pump.

Fantastic that you were able to donate some BM. You friend is very lucky. I know what you mean about each bag representing a lot of hard work. I feel the same as well.

12 months is totally achievable. The first 6 months really is the hardest. I found the DS milk intake went down each solid meal I introduced so by 9 months I dropped to 4 pumps. I have about 6 hour gaps through the day which is amazing.

Anyone else still pumping?

[Fleur]

Congrats to you both on getting this far! Tees mum fingers crossed you can drop the overnight pump soon. I really did find things got easier after 6 mths.
How awesome that you were able to donate some to your friend, that's wonderful

okay ladies, a lighter moment of EE...

I had a dream last night that I turned up to a work meeting. I was about to sit down and someone said 'oh my god Lisa, cover up'. I looked down and there I was double pumping with all my flesh exposed. i quickly grabbed at my jacket and pulled it across.

I guess pumping has well and truly become apart of my lifestyle!

Made me

[Lisa B]

I'm beginning the stepping down process from expressing (I'm currently at 10.5 months of expressing). I'm not really sure how you go about stopping particularly when you make way more than your bub drinks. My usual pumps are 20 mins long and I do 4 times a day. I can't really drop the midday one as I'm at work when I do that and I do it at lunch time, so I can't move it to later in the day. I decided that I will cut down on how long I express for so I've shaved off 2 mins as of yesterday so I'm going for 18 minutes now, so far so good. In a day or two I will shave off another 2 mins. I know that I have to go slow because I'm extremely prone to blocked ducts. I"m also on motilium so will stop that at the end of next week. I want to have enough milk to get through next week. I was aiming to have finished by the start of February and just use my freezer supplies but I think I might find I"m still winding back at the beginning of February.

If any past expressers drop into the thread, let me know your experience of stopping and how you went about it.

[teesmum]

hey lisa - how do you feel about finishing up?? such a strange concept for me, being totally in control of the process, as my eldest self-weaned from the breast. from what i remember of the earlier posts in this thread, you are going about it the right way, shortening each session rather than dropping them. i guess you keep doing that for a while and then switch to pumping for comfort..

we are now home after dd's op. such a little trooper. has been drinking well which is fabulous as some bubs take a while (days) to get back to their bottles. anterior palate repaired as well as her lip. so now i'm quietly wondering just how much of the palate is needed to breastfeed... Barb...? not getting hopes up, but am a little bit excited that maybe just maybe it might be possible.

[CeCe]

Hi Lisa, Congratulations on getting to 10.5 months. I guess my weaning is a little different and I had no troubles with blocked ducts so I guess I didn't have to be as careful as it sounds you do. ATM I can't remember how I went from 4 to 3 (I think I just stretched the lunch time one out to mid afternoon) but when I was pumping three times a day (one before work, as soon as I got home, then before bed) I stopped the one when I got home to cut down to 2. That really was the beginning of the end for me as my supply dropped off so much.

Teesmum, Glad to her DD's op went well and she sounds like she's on a quick recovery schedule. Hope Barb can help you and it's good news. .

[Lisa B]

Hey ladies,

Teesmum - great news on the operation. Wow now maybe you can begin the journey of getting onto the breast. Very exciting.

Cece - thanks for sharing your experience. I wish I didn't have the whole duct issue to consider.

Part of me is looking forward to the complete freedom from the pump and I see what I have done as an achievement. I wasn't even intending on BF for 12 months and here I am at the point of EBM feeding for 12 months. It's been a hard journey but I think a worthwhile one and I'm glad I have done it. The last 6 months has been a cinch. It's been an emotional journey from the grief of not being able to BF, there not being a simple answer as to why we couldn't do it, learning how to fit pumping into my life as a mother and hitting my stride in the last 6 months. I guess I do feel emotional about stopping as it is a connection with my bub that is ending and sad as I reflect on what never was for us (a few tears now as I write this statement). I also feel emotional about the concept that EBM feeding is the next best thing to BF. I know why it is so, but I feel like I have worked harder than if I had have BF and no matter how hard I worked it could never replace the real thing. aaahhh...anyway...we all stop at some point BF or expressing and I'm sure it's often with mixed emotions no matter what our experience has been.

I'm down to 16 minutes 4xday. I felt like I was going to burst when I got up for my 6am pump. I thought I was going to be in trouble duct-wise. I think I will stick at the 16 minute mark for a few days before taking the next step. My fridge is still overflowing with milk. My DS is only taking about 300-400mls now and that's with me being assertive in how I offer the bottle.

[teesmum]

hey lisa how are you going? are you at peace with your decision? you must be loving having the freedom of no pumping!

dd is now 3 weeks post op. she is doing brilliantly and i have it in the back of my mind that i want to introduce the boob. no idea how to go about it. almost easier not to try than be disappointed. but if it works, wow, that would be so good! she is nearly 8 months. my supply has dropped from 1200ish to 1000ish lately (probably due to the surgery, the stress and lack of sleep involved). dd is still consuming everything i make each day. she's like a bottomless pit. but she isn't really on solids much, restricted to soft food because of palate repair for a couple more weeks.

hope everyone else is doing well!

[Lisa B]

Hi Teesmum,

Glad to hear that DD is doing really well. Can you see a LC to get help with getting her onto the boob? I know what you mean about being almost easier to not try then be disappointed. After I stopped trying to attach DS I sometimes thought maybe I should give it a go again, but for me the relieving the pain of it not working was too much. Your issues are different though. Your DD is such an amazing drinker!! In my world 1000mls was a good day. It's stressful isn't it when you are just getting enough to get by. It sounds like things will start to settle down with your supply with some of the stress easing up and things will balance out a bit more when she starts on a bit more solids. How many times a day are you pumping now?

I pumped for the last time mid last week. I am at peace with my decision. The winding back was hard emotionally but I decided that it was the right time...well no time really seemed like the right time. We are still working our way through the freezer supply and DS should be at least one when we run out. I had always seen supplying DS with breast milk was a special connection i had with him and I was worried what would happen with that connection once I finished, but it all seems to be fine now I'm on the other side. I still often think about the journey, what was and what wasn't and I'm so glad I did what I did for almost 12 months. Now I've finished I look back and think how quick the time went and what a short time it really was in the scheme of things...hind sight is a great thing!

You're doing really well. 8 months is a huge achievement. The last 6 months flew by for me.

[Lisa B]

I never did do one of these, so I thought I would now that I'm finishing as a way to reflect and put my story together


How long have you been expressing? 11 months and I have a further month of milk in the freezer

How long do you plan to do it for/ or have done it for? Ideally I was hoping to make 6 months, but in the first 3 months it was really a day by day, week by week thing. Then I set my goals to make a month at a time and finally revised my goal to 11 months with a further month supply in the freezer.

How many times a day do you express? For the first 5 months i expressed 8 times a day, my supply took a big dive around 9 weeks and I ended up on motilium. I tried to get my supply up by expressing 10 times a day for a few days but no luck. Motilium really worked for me and my supply was better than ever. I started to cut back the number of times a day from about month 5 and the last few months I was expressing 4 times a day. I always wanted to get rid of the overnight pumps. I was doing 2 overnight pumps for many months. I don't think I dropped off my last overnight pump until about month 8. In hindsight I could have moved to 4 pumps a day much sooner as my supply was great on Motilium.

Do you enjoy it? I can't say I really enjoyed the experience of pumping, but I did enjoy the special connection of feeding my baby and I'm very glad I did it. I had problems with blocked ducts several times a week, had burst veins about 3 times and it was difficult at times to look after my very active bub whilst I was expressing. The positives however did outweigh the negatives and I learned how to manage the negatives.

Do you have other kids? No...not sure I could do it with a second child (ditto everyone else)

If you feel comfortable sharing- Why you are expressing? I don't have a simple explanation. I had vasospasm when DS was born, and thereafter so we used the bottle and I went on the breast pump. I worked with LCs to try and get BF going. I saw LCs for 9 weeks to try and get BF going. I was able to grin and bear the pain but by then DS might have had nipple confusion as he would cry each time I tried to attach him and he never ever finished a feed on the breast. He was also diagnosed with reflux by one paediatrician and was put on medication but by then his volume of milk was a concern as was his weight as he became fussy on the bottle as well. I decided we needed to concentrate on one method of feeding and the bottle was really his preference. I also couldn't bear to see him cry each time we tried to feed DS. 9 weeks was also a long time to go on the cycle of attempting to BF, then pumping and feeding DS a bottle. That cycle took close to 1.5 hours and was done 8 times a day. We saw another paediatrician and it was discovered that he didn't have reflux but rather a milk protein allergy. In summary I think all of these things led to being unsuccessful with breast feeding, but I will never really understand why we couldn't get it to work.

What type of expressing method do you use? I started with a hired symphony medela then bought my own Medela freestyle. The freestyle was fantastic as it was so portable and I could take it with me and work pumping into my lifestyle. The little ice pack was great and the battery life was fantastic. I accidentally forgot to take the electrical cord when i went away one weekend and the battery last all weekend (4 pumps daily of 20 mins each).

How much milk in a day? Prior to Motilium it was 700-800mls and then dropped lower just prior to taking motilium. Once on Motilium I would get 900-1100mls which was more than enough for my DS.

Best expressing tip? Learning to become efficient by double pumping, handsfree, a small pump which can be transported so you can get on with your life, activities to take your mind off the clock like the internet and tv. Having activities set up for your bub to keep them occupied. Being confident to pump in places outside of the home like the car or parents room at a shopping centre - very handy when you are on 8 x day.

Do you think your baby feeds more or less often than a BF baby would? I think my DS might have fed less than a BF baby. I only have the mother's in my mother's group to compare my DS to. Their babies fed more frequently, sometimes fed to sleep in the night. DS didn't feed to sleep and might have snacked less in the day. It's hard to say as I don't have a great comparison point.

[belfie]

Lisa - just came in here to stalk the current EE'ers and CONGRATULATIONS! That is so fabulous that you know you'll make 12 months! I'm just sorry that no-one was here to see it at the time! What an absolutely fantastic effort! I'm guessing you've stopped now, but would love to hear the update. I also had a giggle at your dream - LOL!

teesmum - how are you going?

[Lisa B]

Belfie - yes I've all finished now. Thanks for you support, you were certainly one of the inspirational people I met in here. You will probably never know how much some of the things you said meant to me. xoxox

Teesmum - yes how are things going for you hunnie?

[AlligatorsMum]

Hi - there hasn't been much talk in here lately but I was hoping someone can give me some advice. I am heading back to work in two months and will be feeding my little man from the boob on days off but from the bottle (ebm) on work days. I give him an occasional bottle here and there and so does hubby and we have no issue with that. My question is that I am still using teat 1 on the bottles. Should I go up to the two holes or more? I just don't know whether we need to or not? He doesn't seem frustrated with the speed of the feed from bottles so not sure if it's necessary?

I hope this made sense? I have the avent bottles if that makes a difference?

[Kmn]

stay on either the newborn or 3 month teats for the next year or so! There's much less chance of breast refusal. Don't go up to the 3 month one if he is ok with the newborn one - but at some stage you may need to.

[Lisa B]

Hi Minivini2b - I was always told to stay with the slow flow teat when still attaching to the breast. Good on you for having a go at expressing whilst at work. Give yourself a little bit of time to get comfy with the whole process at work.

[AlligatorsMum]

Thanks Lisa - I am really hoping to stick with it till little mans 1st bday. I am hoping work is supportive as I work for a Paediatrician so they should know how important it is. I'm just wondering how I will know how much to put in the bottles each day for childcare? For a few days before should I def give him a bottle every day and take note on how much he drinks and use that amount? I am going to give the day care some freezer bagged milk as well for hungry times and I guess if they are noticing all the time he is needing more than in the bottle I can increase the amount.

I'm a little worried that pumping three days a week will lead to a decrease in supply as I have read pumping isn't as effective as feeding - is there anyway to prevent this? Or just feed as often as little man needs on the other days during the week?

Any advice would be great!

And thanks for the advice on the teats - I got more bottles the other day and bought newborn teats for them to use till I need to change (if I need to).

I'm sure I'll have lots more questions as the return to work gets closer!

[Kmn]

I would personally pack EBM in small lots (say 50 ml), but give them many of them. If he's hungry after the first then they can go onto the second, but if he's not hungry then less EBM is wasted. Have a look into something like the Avent cups - they very rarely leak, can be frozen if needed, and the teat screws into the cup via an adaptor. I'm sure there are similar setups for other types of bottles too.

One thing you have on your side with pumping is that you will know what you get out - and if it drops seriously then you can take some action. The simplest action is to pump more often or add in an extra suck-feed or two. If more drastic action is needed then motilium is a medicine that increases milk production. And demand feeding on the days when you and bub are together is important.

Be prepared for night feeds to increase when you return to work as well - which if it happens will certainly deal with any supply issues, although it brings a whole new pile of fun!

Do you have a double pump? If you do it can cut the expressing time substantially, and leave you with a bit more time for other things. Also, during the day at work, just put the milky pump bits (and the milk) in the fridge between uses - then give them all a good wash when you get home. If you can collect extra sets of pump attachments (friends, ebay) it makes things a lot easier to manage as well, because then you can have scrubbing session every couple of days.

[AlligatorsMum]

Thanks for the tips - I hope feeding overnight doesn't increase lol! I don't have a double pump but it takes me less than 10mins to get 100mls from one side so I'm hoping it won't take me to long to pump at work but if it does I might invest in a double pump - can u use a double pump as a single if only need to pump one side?

I have the avent bottle cups as well and they are great. I will use them as well as the bottles I have. And I will start freezing my stash in smaller quantities - I agree it is Definatley sad to throw EBM down the sink when he doesn't use it all!