I'm inspired to keep going with it as long as I can by these lovely ladies.
Sirenz-I think I maybe could have perservered and worked it out too but at the time I was stressed, tired ,anxious and experiencing signs of PND so it was the right thing for us to do. By expressing my nipples have changed anyway so I might be able to BF off the bat with the next bub...we'll see.
Wow, glad to see there are more ladies out there like me!!
I had issues with attachment and amounts of milk with DD (suffered a PPH after her birth and was hooked up to IVs etc which made it hard for me to hold her for the first few days), she's always had a huge appetite and for the first week or so, until my milk came in, I literally had nothing to feed her so I was giving her formula and expressing like mad to get the milk supply in, then feeding her half-and-half formula/breast milk.
I picked up a manual pump by Avent from Priceline the day I brought her home from hospital, and then I was using it for fifteen minutes each breast every three hours. It was reassuring to me to see exactly how much milk DD was getting, with Bfing you can't be sure and I never seemed to satisfy her, so feeding her from a bottle I could say with absolute confidence that yes, she was getting plenty. (right from birth she was drinking up to 90ml a feed, every two hours, which is a LOT more than other babies, so I knew I was right to worry about her getting enough, everyone was like, 'No, no, half an hour on each boob she'll be right' but she would just cry and cry and cry for more.)
I didn't take any supplements apart from the Elevit vitamins I'd taken during pregnancy, for me expressing frequently was more than enough to keep the supply up - my diet wasn't real flash but I tried to eat lots of healthy, home-cooked food to help keep the supply going.
I ended up slowing down and stopped altogether at 6 weeks, I was just so exhausted from getting maybe two or three hours' sleep in any 24 hours period, as DD was waking every three hours for feeds and I had to feed her, put her to sleep then express for over half an hour... I couldn't keep up and I knew it would be better for all concerned if I just weaned her and fed her formula so I could get some extra sleep. I wish now that I had persevered just another week or so because DD started sleeping right through the night at exactly 6 weeks old so if I had kept going we would have been right - my sleeping problems would have been solved.
I'm due to have another baby in late May and I'm seriously thinking about expressing again rather than BFing - it involved a little bit more work than BFing, but I've always had problems with very sensitive nipples (I can't wear a seatbelt without wearing a heavily-padded bra because if the seatbelt rubs it drives me to tears) and attempting to BF DD while in hospital was the most horrific experience ever - I was bleeding and swollen and my boobs hurt more than my poor down-below, if you can believe that after squeezing out an 8+lb baby!
I do want to do the 'right thing' by giving DD2 the nourishment of breast milk (and mum checked out the bottles I had expressed and declared it to be 'amazing' quality), but I just can't grasp the logistics of proper attachment and BFing in public, things like that. There is very little support for new mums in my area, the Community Health nurses are extremely rough and very critical, which doesn't help a fragile, hormonal and bewildered mum, and there is no support for women who don't 'try hard enough' and decide to express or formula-feed from birth, so I'm pretty much going it alone. Somehow I'm made to feel that I'm not a 'proper' mother because I don't latch bub on to the boob, but I figure as long as she's getting breastmilk, it's the same thing whether it's direct from my breast, or from a bottle, right? It didn't impact on my bonding with DD at all, and it helped her to bond with other family members (DH especially, and my parents) because they could nurse and feed her any time they wanted to (or any time I needed ten minutes' sleep!!) without depriving her of BM.
I'm actually thinking very seriously of splurging and buying one of those electric or whatever pumps that basically do all the work for you? If anybody has any advice on those over manual pumps, I'd be very grateful as the manual pump obviously was a lot of work and I'd like to do anything that will help make the job just that little bit easier. For instance, with the manual pump I had to wait until DD had gone back to sleep because I couldn't hold her and pump at the same time, but hopefully the electric pumps will free up an arm for me so I can do things?
Last edited by Glamourcide; January 19th, 2009 at 04:04 PM.
GothMum...
I agree with you and think that would express again even if I didn't have too because it was great knowing that your bub had enough to drink! I always thought it would be hard to BF cos our boobs really need guages on them to tell us if bubs has had enough!!! It was hard due to lack of sleep(I think I only had 2 hrs per night for the first month or so) but it then became part of my daily routine and I didn't think twice about it!!! However having another little one around may make it a lot more challenging!!
I used a brand called GROW because I was lucky enough to be given the electric double pump brand new. But you are looking at around $200+. Medela have a few good electric pumps single or double that you can buy! The medela Swing was another good one I was looking into! I know you can get those thru most baby supply stores!!
If you aren't sure you can ring Fisher and Paykel(sorry bout the spelling) and get onto suppliers for Medela!! I may still have the number floating around if you would like it!!
OOps forgot to mention my important point.... Using the double pump was great because it only took up to half an hour to do both boobs but you don't have any free hands to do anything else!!!!!
However only having the one baby it was ok....you will have to make sure your first child is occupied while you pump!!!!
Gothmum- Wow to express for 6 weeks with a manual pump. It would have been hard work. If you do decide to pump full time get an electic pump for sure! I recommend a double pump. I personally have the medela pump in style advance. I saw it on sale at toys r us the other day. Its cheaper now because Medela have a new one out called the freestyle that is hospital grade but the motor fits in your hand and you can walk around! Its $700 tho! I'd love one. I nearly got one from the US before i got my PIA but it wouldn't work over here.
You can pump hands free with the help of a special bra that has holes in it that you can sit the flanges in. Mine is a brand called easy expressions, I have the hands free bustier, FABULOUS INVESTMENT! Google nursing angel that's where I got mine from.
Last edited by ezymay; January 19th, 2009 at 08:19 PM.
Hi Gothmum, I actually used the medela electric, double pump for a few moths and then switched to the Avent Isis for the rest of the time - a total of 12 months exclusive expressing. I found the Avent Isis a better motion, more controllable than the electric pump - I got a better volume too. I also hired my electric pump from our hospital for around $15 a month. Look into that as an option - should be available from your maternity hospitals "Equiptment" or "Appliance" centre. All big hospitals have them. That way you can try it out without buying it!
Good luck and well done expressing for your little one.
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