Do i need to pump if i exclusively breastfeeding reddit

Posted by10 months ago

Archived

FTM here of barely a week here. Breastfeeding was a big struggle for me and LO, to the point where he wasn’t pooping because he was not getting enough. We had to supplement with formula to get him regular. My nurse said I have shorter nipples so it would be a struggle. My milk came in and I’ve been pumping and giving him bottles of my breast milk. My lactation consult said that it perfectly fine, that breastmilk is preferred over formula. But y’all should have seen the look on my mom and sisters faces when I told them I was pumping, it was like I told them I punched my baby in the face. I felt mostly comfortable with mine and my husbands decision to pump because it has been working for us the past few days. Happier baby and happier me but now my mom is texting me that I’m giving up too soon so now I am second guessing myself. I’m assuming there have been other women who have pumped and I’m just curious if y’all think I’m giving up too soon or if pumping is an acceptable thing. I (obviously) want what’s best for my baby

I exclusively pump and my LO is 5.5wks old. At the start I pumped every 3 hours, but had help because my husband would do half of the feedings so it made it a lot easier/less time consuming. So, for the first few weeks I pumped 7-8x/day. I use the Huckleberry app which really helps me keep track of feedings, pumps etc and stay on a good schedule.

I started to get a good supply and also got tired of spending 1.5hrs of every 3hrs feeding LO and pumping (especially overnight) so I started skipping one overnight but trying to never go longer than 5hrs. Now at 5.5 wks I average about 5 pumps/day, sometimes squeezing 6 in. I avg 31.5oz/day and my son eats between 22-28oz/day but soon will be eating more. I accidentally only pumped 4x yesterday so only got 27oz.

I’ve found it helpful to kind of map out on a notes app expected feedings and pumps for the evening through overnight. For example tonight is:

Feed-7 (husband) Pump-7

Feed-10 Pump-10:30

Feed-1

Pump- 3:30 Feed-4

Feed-7 (husband, this is when I get my chunk of sleep) Pump- 9am

Also, I started getting SO MUCH more milk when using a heating pad and massaging my breasts while pumping. Towards the end of the pump I will squeeze as well to get the most out of the pump. It makes such an insane difference with the heat and hand expression.

I have a 3w old and have been breastfeeding, usually with a shield (depending on how full my boobs are) and pumping from the beginning. I was just pumping a bottle for his dad to give him in the evening when I went to bed early or for grandparents when they babysit, but have found myself pumping more and more.

I find that by pumping and feeding via bottle is far less messy (unfortunately the shield often gets knocked off and spills milk everywhere when breastfeeding) and giving a bottle is much faster, my baby takes ages to nurse and often falls asleep. I usually take less than 15mins to pump and get up to 200mls so don’t spend a huge amount of time pumping. I can also of course leave my baby with the very eager to babysit grandparents and get time to run errands in town or do whatever I want if I pump. I also haven’t had any issues cleaning the pump and bottles.

I’m really tempted to go almost exclusively pumping. But I feel like I’m missing something? I’ve heard people say those who exclusively pump are hero’s because of how difficult it is and my midwife seemed hesitant when I was considering it a few days after labour. Is it a bad idea when I’m able to breast feed? Will my baby stop taking the boob if change my mind later? (I somewhat doubt this, he’s a gluttonous child and would probably take milk out of a shoe if offered)

Hey everyone! My daughter can easily switch from bottle to boob! Yay! This is important as I need to go back to work in a few months and she will need to be fed from the bottle quite often. The problem is, she is still quite young (3 1/2 weeks) and I'm having trouble finding the right time to pump.

I tried feeding her from one boob only and then pumping the other and got about 2 oz. I tried feeding her from both boobs and pumping after and only got about 1 oz. Ive only done this in the morning so far.

I have no idea when to fit in these pumpings! Im worried about not having milk for her if i pump at the wrong time, but i also HATE pumping and dont want to get my nipples tortured for 20 minutes just to get 1 oz! Please, any suggestions would be welcome - i feel very out of my element on this one!

I'm pumping this time around. My baby had a very tight latch which was awful to suffer through and has always required the upper limit on ounces per day. I've always had supply issues and as he can chug down a six ounce bottle of fridge temp milk in less than ten minutes and be happy with no spit up, we are bottle feeding this one.

It's a very unconventional method but here is what I'm doing. I don't have the time to breastfeed which takes about 8 hours a day (for me personally. I'm really bad at it). So what I do is pump 3 times a day: around 6am, 3pm, and 8-9pm. I pump for about 30 minutes and whatever I get is what I get. We supplement the rest with formula.

This gives my baby a bit of breast milk every day, about ten ounces. It allows my husband to help out if he needs to. And it takes way less time for us than exclusively breastfeeding. Three pumping sessions a day is much more manageable than eight sessions a day. We did that before and it was so exhausting and awful for me.

Pros of my method: less time consuming, still get to bond with baby while bottle feeding and after-bottle snuggles, pumping time is Reddit time lol, pumping is done during the quiet times in the house

Cons: we use mostly formula because I have a chunky monkey baby that drinks 30 ounces a day at three months and a sucky supply, being hooked up to the pump limits my mobility (can't really make dinner or do chores with it on) and ability to relax

Do I need to pump if exclusively breastfeeding?

How often should I pump if im exclusively breast feeding?

Does exclusively breastfeeding decrease milk supply?

Does exclusively pumping burn as many calories as breastfeeding?