Breastfeeding/pumping check in

[Brie]

It's been awhile! And selfishly I wanted to include pumpers too.

How long have you been BF/pumping?

Any struggles or questions? Any exciting milestones?

[Brie]

I BFed P for about 3.5 months but have been EP for the last two weeks or so. Due to his CP and torticollis he cannot latch effectively.

I am still adjusting to pumping full time. It's weird to me to have to pack milk and bottles and a pump wherever I go, and washing bottles blows. But he is much happier and gaining weight well now, so it's worth it.

I am proud that I've stuck it out to 4 months with all the troubles we've had. Hoping to settle into a good routine soon. We are almost there.

[VillainV]

C will be 14 months next week, and we're still BFing at night before bed. I think we're almost done though -- H is taking him to a family reunion that I can't go to in a few weeks, and I have no interest in pumping while they're gone, and I think we're both just about ready to stop.

ETA: my original goal was 6 months, then one year, so I'm really proud that we made it this far.

[jln]

We're on day 5 of breastfeeding. It's going really well so far. He is latching well but still sleepy so I'm having to pump occasionally to drain the breast. My first son never latched and by this time we were supplementing with formula so I'm really happy with how things are going with DS2.

[motzie]

6 months, 2 weeks. Can I be done now? Lol. I shouldn't complain, she's easy, but I hate having to dress for nursing. I want to wear a real bra.

[rugbywife]

BFing, day 5. Milk is in, nipples recovering from his tongue tie, currently dealing with over supply I think.

I also wonder if he has reflux issues...he sounds congested. But feeds well. I can't complain.

[bananapancakes]

I've been BFing for 13.5 months now. I guess a milestone would be that we made it to a year and now beyond. We had a rough start and it looked as though it wouldn't work for us but I'm happy we stuck with it. Oh, another milestone is that we night weaned a month or two ago.

Frustrations right now are related to naps. I still nurse him to sleep for naps (he can fall asleep on his own at the beginning of the night but not for naps). But for the last week, he drifts off while nursing and then promptly opens his eyes and starts crying as soon as I unlatch him. I put my nipple back in his mouth, let him nurse for a few more minutes, unlatch, awake and crying, rinse and repeat. It's so frustrating! I'm ready to wean him during the day and would just like to nurse morning and before bed but I see the napping thing as a huge obstacle.

I'm starting to get that skin crawling "get off me!" feeling when I nurse before naps so I know I want/need to drop those sessions but he is such a crappy sleeper and just freaks the eff out if I put him in his crib while awake at nap time. Weaning is hard!

[spankswife]

DS is 5 weeks and we are hanging in there! He does get 2oz formula 1-3x day when I can't meet his needs (empty! I nurse first, then do formula). I came to the conclusion that if a little formula helps extend our bf then so be it. Better than getting frustrated and bleeding from being so sore and quitting.

I just started fenugreek yesterday, and my ob suggested pumping on 1 side while he nurses on the other, so I started that today. We'll see!

Brie mad props for hanging in there! EPing is no joke!

[Deleted]

The girls are 14mos. We are still nursing at wakeup, usually once mid day, after nap/ work, before bed, and once Overnight. They are teething right now so it's been a lot more frequent.

I'm surprised I've made it this long honestly. It was so hard in the beginning!

[Blue Moon]

I've been Bfing just shy of 9 months. Things were going great, but the last month has been a challenge. First, I struggled to meet her demand for bottles, coming up an ounce or two short every day. I'm now just barely making it most days, but I plan to go back to nursing full time mid June when I'm off for the summer, so I think we'll be okay on that front.

A new challenge is that she has been biting me every nursing session and that shit hurts. I already whined about it in a seperate post. I'd like to make it to a year so I need to figure out how to nip this in the bud ASAP.

However, a good milestone is within the past two weeks I have not fed in the MOTN. DD is still up but she's content to rock or snuggle and has not been trying to nurse so I went with it.

[andthentherewere10]

I'm BFing 13 months now and still pumping at work because I'm sending BM to daycare for DS. I hate when DS tries to stand up while nursing now. I still love BFing. No plans to quit anytime soon. I stop working for a few weeks this summer in late June so I'll stop pumping then.

[greycat]

26 months. DS nurses before bed only. He skipped a night a while back and I thought he might be weaning but he is still into it. I'm trying to decide if I should wait until he weans or not. sometimes I really love nursing and other times I'm totally ok with being done.

[undecidedowl]

I've been breastfeeding DS2 for almost 7 months. Overall, I have been blessed with a great supply and he is growing quickly. The nursing itself is so-so. He has always had a bad latch which can get uncomfortable for me and makes him very bitey. That combined with teething is kind of sucky right now. We have had a rough go of introducing solids with him getting a rash from half of the foods we have introduced so far so I am glad I'm able to provide enough breastmilk to get us through this.

[hetty]

C is almost 15 months and we nurse in the morning, before bed, and before naps on weekends. Everything is great, I'm planning to just keep going until we are both ready to be done. In two weeks I will be away from her overnight for the first time, so I'm nervous about that.

[starburst604]

Going on 3 weeks of BFing now. I used a nipple shield in the hospital because she tore my nipples to shreds while waiting for my milk to come in, and I told the LC I didn't think I could continue. Now I'm trying to wean us off of it and she doesn't seem to be a fan of it without, but sometimes she'll take it. I'm having a bit of oversupply but changing the nursing positions and reclining back is helping with that. Also pumping a lot, so I'm able to be away from her to run errands and leave H with enough milk if she needs it. Overnights are rough with a lot of cluster feeding, it is what it is though. She's gained weight like a champ though.

I am considering supplementing with formula once I go back to work in 5 weeks. I just don't know if I'm cut out for EBF while working FT.

[kate1482]

I've been exclusively pumping for 3 months 2 days. I told myself I would do this until I have to go back to work at 4 months then I would reevaluate. I'm now leaning toward 6 months. I can't figure out where I will end up pumping at work- storage closet? Bathroom? Lol both sound horrendous. I wish my desk wasnt the passage way to get to my bosses office. Work has been very generous with my leave and my shortened hours when I return so I don't want to make a big deal about it. (Small office that doesn't have to have a lactation room). Should be interesting.

[gibbinator]

We're doing well. Ds2, 8months, is at a very irritating stage where the least distraction causes him to pop off and not feed (leading him to become increasingly grouchy as he gets hungrier over the course if the day). At least he eats solids well. I basically have to nurse alone in a quiet, dark room without so much as my phone screen within his peripheral vision.
That's my only complaint. I'm so happy to not be plagued with recurrent thrush this time around.

[robinsbff]

We are on ten months of nursing and pumping. I just want to get him to his first birthday in terms of pumping. After that I will feed him mornings and nights and weekends but I'm ditching the pump at one for sure. As long as he adjusts to cow's milk obviously.

[zarapipe]

starburst604 with dd1 I had to use the shield till she self weaned around 8m. She would not nurse without it. It was such a pita, I hope your lo catches on soon.


Dd2 is almost 8m and we are doing great. She is getting so distracted and I feel like she grazes all day long. Our morning and one motn session are my favorites bc she actually is in to it and eats. I'm dipping into my freezer stash but I think she is likely to drop a bottle soon bc of all of the solids she is getting? We shall see.

[carolinagirl831]

M is 4 weeks today! BF this time has gone so much better than with my first. My first would not latch and had torticollis. I pretty much EP for 14 weeks before stopping due to terrible supply. I drove myself crazy with pumping and promised I wouldn't do that to myself again esp for the little amount of Breast milk I got.
This time has gone so much better. Dd latches great. I do have to use a shield and I've tried with out, but she doesn't stay latched. I still seem to have a lower supply and we are supplementing with forumula but given the road I had the First time it is no big deal. I'm just glad BF has been a pleasant experience this time and M finds it so comforting ( something I never had with DD1.
I've gone to the LC for weighed feelings and am taking herbs, eating lactation cookies like mad. The LC wants me pumping after every freding to continue building up supply's. I'm honestly not doing it, I'm fine with how things are and if we have to give M formula too oh well. It's yo best of both worlds this time and I'm not gonna go crazy over it like I did the first time.

[carolinagirl831]

The one thing I'm struggling with now is Mia is a snacker. She would eat/fall asleep every 10 mins all day/night if I let her. It's getting better though. This week she finally gave me a 4 hour stretch at night. Amazing what 4 hours of continuous sleep can do for you!

[whiskeyandwine]

12 days of nursing! It's gone really well for us, and he is gaining like a champ. He eats every 90 minutes to 3 hours during the day, every 2 hours like clockwork at night. I'd love to get a 3 hour stretch in there at some point!

Our pedi said we can start trying to pump and intro a bottle now, since he is gaining well and seems to have the hang of things, so I'm going to try that on Monday.

I find myself getting resentful of my H and all the sleep he is getting. I'd love to be able to hand him a bottle at 3 am and have him handle a wake up...Not sure if that's how it works?

[Deleted]

EP for 14 weeks. We only had to use formula the first week.

I'm planning to start weaning through the month of August. I will pump to 6 months then use my freezer stashes and formula beyond that.

I'm freezing a lot currently. So that's nice. At least 50oz a week.

[stacyb1983]

BFing for 11.5 months now. I started pumping too right after C was born to boost my supply and build a hefty freezer stash. We just ran out last month. She gets about 4 oz of formula now. On week days, I BF her in the morning and before bed. Every so often I BF her in the middle of the night. I pump x3 a day on week days, once before work and twice at work. I don't pump on weekends. I plan to stop pumping after a year which is only a few weeks away! Can't wait! I hate pumping!

I was planning to wean at 12 months because I wanted to go back on ADs, but C ' s pediatrician gave the ok to start Zoloft whole still BFing. I'm not sure how my supply will hold up once I stop pumping, but I'll keep nursing in the morning and evening as long as she's interested.

[genet313]

4 months and 1 day of breastfeeding!   The first 8 weeks were hell.  I had thrush, she had a terrible time latching, I'm really so pleased I stuck with it though.  Now she nurses like a champ.

Except that now she's refusing to take a bottle and I have to go to work in one week.  I don't know what else to do, we're trying everything and she just refuses.  She took a bottle for DH last week when I was away for a few hours, but she wouldn't take one from my mom earlier in the week and today she refused DH again too.   She went 6+ hours w/o eating, when she normally goes 2-3 max (at least day time).  And she was up every hour last night.  I'm really hoping it's just the 4 month wakefuls and she'll take a bottle soon...

[genet313]

May 23, 2015 19:40:21 GMT -5 kate1482 said:

I've been exclusively pumping for 3 months 2 days. I told myself I would do this until I have to go back to work at 4 months then I would reevaluate. I'm now leaning toward 6 months. I can't figure out where I will end up pumping at work- storage closet? Bathroom? Lol both sound horrendous. I wish my desk wasnt the passage way to get to my bosses office. Work has been very generous with my leave and my shortened hours when I return so I don't want to make a big deal about it. (Small office that doesn't have to have a lactation room). Should be interesting.

Ugh, I'm sort of struggling with the same thing - I have my own office but it's all glass.  I'm seriously considering just locking the door (have to see if I can actually do that) and putting a nursing cover on and just pumping underneath.   My "pumping" work outfits will consist of JCrew pixie pants and button down shirts, so theoretically I could get away with being almost totally covered and making this work.  Is this a horrible plan?  

I don't know.  The thought of pumping in the bathroom sounds awful.  I don't even know if there's an outlet in ours.

[Brie]

@choco P takes about 28-30 ounces a day now. I send 16 oz in 4 oz bottles to daycare.

[stacyb1983]

May 23, 2015 19:38:27 GMT -5 starburst604 said:

Going on 3 weeks of BFing now. I used a nipple shield in the hospital because she tore my nipples to shreds while waiting for my milk to come in, and I told the LC I didn't think I could continue. Now I'm trying to wean us off of it and she doesn't seem to be a fan of it without, but sometimes she'll take it. I'm having a bit of oversupply but changing the nursing positions and reclining back is helping with that. Also pumping a lot, so I'm able to be away from her to run errands and leave H with enough milk if she needs it. Overnights are rough with a lot of cluster feeding, it is what it is though. She's gained weight like a champ though.

I am considering supplementing with formula once I go back to work in 5 weeks. I just don't know if I'm cut out for EBF while working FT.

C loved the nipple shields. I couldn't get her off of them for a long time. I was really anxious about it. Finally my LC said if she's gaining weight and it doesn't bother C then don't worry about it. Around 4 months I started trying to wean her off by starting with it, then taking it off after a minute. Sometimes she would get very mad, sometimes she wouldn't care. I just kept trying. By about 5.5 months we were totally off of the shields.

[ewall]

Almost 21 weeks of BFing. And yes, I'm counting down the weeks until he is 1

It's going well overall. He has always latched well, I respond to the pump well, and he takes bottles just as well as the breast. I had a breakdown last week re: pumping and work travel. The logistics of pumping, storing, and transporting milk while I'm on the road seems so overwhelming some days. So I have made it my goal to get to 6 months (July 4th weekend) and then I will reevaluate then.

A question for moms of older babies: if you had a freezer stash, how large was it and how long did it last you? Did you have a supply drop at some point and start using it up? I'm not dipping into the stash at this point, just rotating the oldest milk and replacing with new. I think I may actually still be adding to the stash, but I gave up tracking how many ounces I have in the freezer.

[linz]

7 1/2 mos EPing my twins. Trying to make it to 11 mos then start weaning. I'm sooo ready to be done. I'm getting better about being flexible with pumping and have even pumped in my car a few times which has helped not go too long. I'm surprised I've made it this long without formula but can't wait to be done.