Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Child-safe in minutes.

Meet the Other Phone.
Child-safe in minutes.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Infant feeding

Get advice and support with infant feeding from other users here.

Original poster

The expressing clique

455 replies

popsycal · 11/09/2005 20:22

I'm Popsy and I am a pumper

DS2 is 6 months and i am bac at work 4 days a week mon-thurs. I express and lunchtime and get around 5oz.......
He needs 2 7oz feeds during the day but i am hoping to reduce his lunchtime feeds as his solids increase.
BEen back at work properly only one week but am having to express during every feed and every time on my day off to get enough.
my boobs hurt

Who else is in my gang

OP posts:
popsycalindisguise · 25/03/2006 19:30

I really would like ds2 to have cows' milk...but he is having none of it! He also has eczema so I have to be really careful about introducing it - though he has it in food and on cereal without a problem. He spits it out as a drink though!

Would like the flexibility really. When I am at work, he has a very small feed mid morning then a larger one mid afternoon. he can go without the mid morning one pretty easily - but if i am there he wants it!

Need to get night time feeding down though grrrr

Shivs1974 · 25/03/2006 21:17

The pumping girls are still around!! DD is now 10 months old and I'm doing 4 pumps a day (1 at work). She's teething quite badly at the moment and the only thing she wants is milk - so the milk factory is in top production.
I've just found out I'm pregnant with number 2 - think I'm 8-9 weeks - so am absolutely shattered. Milk production has slowed a bit - hence the 4 pumps. Only another 56 days to go until the pump can go in its box. I'm going to make sure that the second one latches on......don't fancy another year of pumping exclusively!!

chipmonkey · 25/03/2006 21:26

Shivs, congratulations!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!GrinGrinGrinGrinGrinGrinGrinGrinGrinGrinGrinGrinGrinGrinGrinGrinGrinGrinGrinGrinGrinGrinGrinGrin

4blue1pink · 25/03/2006 22:47

Hi Pumpers! Glas to hear other people whose lives dominated by those darn things!

What is fenugreek please?

chipmonkey · 25/03/2006 22:56

Its a herb, or is it a spice? One or the other!

4blue1pink · 25/03/2006 22:56

thanks chip what is it used for?

chipmonkey · 25/03/2006 22:57

To increase supply of breastmilk! That's why it's mentioned a lot on this particular thread!

chipmonkey · 25/03/2006 22:59

quick hijack, 4blue1pink, did you do anything different to get the pink one?Grin (have 3 boys!)

fastasleep · 26/03/2006 08:59

Shives I really really hope your little DD can latch on I wished and prayed my DD would throughout my whole pregnancy but alas she was just like DS Sad... don't pin all your hopes on it like I did because I felt really rotten about it for ages!!!

I bet she will latch though Grin congrats!!

People who are doing 4ish pumps a day (my DD's about 6 months and I am) are you topping up or getting enough? Just curious! I'm getting about enough... although I did start off getting 7 litres a week too much so I was just wondering if you guys where the same!!

fastasleep · 26/03/2006 08:59

SHIVS even!

fastasleep · 26/03/2006 09:01

And hello where di I get that you were having a dd psychic moment I've got a cold, forgive the brain fuzz... you'll have to let me know the flavour when you find out now, see if I was right!!!

Shivs1974 · 26/03/2006 10:34

It would mean that we have everything if the baby is a little girl...Can I let you know in November when I know??? Hope you feel better soon btw

At 6 months, I think I was still doing 5 pumps a day and was managing to freeze some and donate to the milk bank. Now at 4 pumps a day, I'm managing to get enough off so that I always have one day's supply in the fridge - just can't bear the pressure of having to produce enough for the next feed - so that's why I always make sure we've got plenty - does that make sense??

4blue1pink · 26/03/2006 13:43

Chipmonkey....sadly i have this order...

Boy,girl, boy (tried for girl) boy ( tried for girl) Boy ( desperately tried for girl)

Did all text book things for girl last two times but was blessed with willies!

Next time maybe!!!Wink

What do i do with this herb then to get more milk ( preoccupied with too little milk hence constant pumping though sahm !)

kiskidee · 26/03/2006 22:23

\link{http://www.breastfeedingonline.com/fenugreek.shtml\fenugreek}

MizZan · 27/03/2006 00:16

hi ladies, I've been lurking here for a while and would like to join in! I exclusively express (no breastfeeding) for DS2, who will be 6 months old in about a week but was a preemie (8 weeks early) so more like a 4-month-old really. Wasn't intending to go on with it this long but have had no luck getting him on to the boob and he can't seem to tolerate any formula at all (has reflux, and we suspect milk allergy as well), so we are definitely in it for the long haul. it's been great reading through this thread and knowing others are in the same boat.

since it seems like most of you have been doing this for a while, maybe you can offer me a ray of hope here. I am expressing 6 x a day and only just getting enough for DS. I take domperidone to help the supply already so can't do much more on the medical front to help. Given his age, do you think that he will still be upping his milk intake more, before he starts going on to solids? He needs about 900 ml per day at the moment.

Also, once your babies were on solids how long did it take before they cut down the amount of milk they needed, and you could drop a pump (or two, even, she says hopefully)? thanks!

FastasleepQueenLentilWeaver · 27/03/2006 00:35

I found once DS reached the 900/1000 ml mark he never really exceeded it, DD on the other hand is already drinking more at 6 months!!

They often stay at a stable level as it's compensated for by the food :)

you're doing really well - it's awful isn't it Sad... I keep hearing people saying 'breasfeeding should be fun'...

chipmonkey · 27/03/2006 01:50

Hi MizZan, my ds3 was 8 weeks prem as well. However I had no trouble getting him to latch on really, although I'm not sure if this was because I insisted on bf when the hospital staff would have been happy just to keep giving him bottles of EBM (We can't see what he's getting when you bf!) Could be just pure luck though as well, I think some babies take to it a lot more easily than others. I think you are fantastic for exclusively pumping all this time, you are an absolute saint! I think their intake of milk usually levels off at about the 6 month mark when you introduce solids and then decreases bit by bit till they are one year old by which time 600ml a day is sufficient.

kiskidee · 27/03/2006 11:56

MrsZin, have you read below how to increase your supply when pumping? it will be by one of the exclusive pumpers possibly jabberwocky. at work so can't sit and give full details now.

Shivs1974 · 27/03/2006 12:50

Hi - scrool down to 22nd Sept and you'll see my post re cluster & power pumping. I'm an exclusive pumper so know how you feel.....I'm at work (hence why this is so short.) I went to 5 pumps a day after about 3 weeks of starting solids. It's so difficult to know though - but if I've ever started to run short, I've increased the number of pumps and seen an increase in milk produced after a couple of days. I know it's really hard work but you're doing a great job. When will you introduce solids?

chipmonkey · 27/03/2006 13:03

MizZan, the paediatrician at my hospital told me to introduce solids 6 months from his birth date, not from his due date. I queried this because he had said before that development should be assessed based on his due date but he said that was the case for everything except food. And he was very pro-bf! Much more so than the other SCBU staff. Interestingly enough most of them were Irish but he was Asian and the only midwife who encouraged me to bf directly, not feed EBM with a bottle was also Asian. Our bf rates are the lowest in Europe and I really think the attitude of hospital staff must be partly to blame. Even when I was in hospital with ds1 and ds2 they paid it lip-service but didn't give much practical help. On a ward I was on with ds2 there were 5 of us, 4 were trying to bf and 2 days later only 2 of us were left including me and I had bf before. Sorry, didn't mean to rant on so long on this thread!

MizZan · 28/03/2006 16:35

thank you all for lovely words of support!

chipmonkey quite interested to hear you should start solids at 6 actual months for a preemie - that is next week for us. maybe the end is in sight after all. a t the moment am having to do an extra pump a day (up to 7 now) because milk supply was starting to run low. so frustrating.

here are another couple of questions for you expressers:

  • at what point did you stop sterilising breast pump equipment?
  • has anyone had experience renting a "hospital grade" pump and did you find this significantly better than a regular electric double pump (I use Ameda Lactaline, am considering renting Medela Symphony in hopes that it might be quicker/better)???
chipmonkey · 28/03/2006 20:10

ds is 13 months corrected and I still sterilise the equipmentBlushI just feel safer doing it. I don't have a fridge at work so the pump sits in a cooler bag till I need it and I prefer it to be as clean as possible beforehand. Don't trust myself not to lose bits in the dishwasher either and sometimes things come out of my dishwasher a funny colour!
As to renting a pump, the Ameda lactaline has gotten some rave reviews on here! Don't know if the Symphony would be better, it ought to be looking at the price but that doesn't always tell you much. I have the Avent Isis IQ duo and I have found it better that the Symphony I used in hospital. But that's just me, I had used the avent manual pump foy my other boys and maybe was just more familiar and comfortable with avent. Maybe you could rentit justfor one month to sytart off and if it's way better keep it?

chipmonkey · 28/03/2006 20:12

ds3 assisting with typing!

corblimeymadam · 30/03/2006 22:14

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

chipmonkey · 30/03/2006 22:25

belgianbun, I have always kept the pump cold but not sure if you have to. And it would be fine to freeze the milk after work, definitely fine up to 48 hours after it's pumped.