A Question about the benefits of pumped milk compared to direct feeding?

[PeckaRolloverAgain]

Specifically about breast milk compostion.

I have often read about how the breast milk compostion changes often to suit your babies changing needs - how does this work if your expressing milk with a pump to feed to your baby - how does it know when to change etc etc?

Thanks Easter, Im ok, expressing as I type. Expressing my milk for her gives me something to focus on!

I am almost certain that snogging would also work
it is horrible when they won't feed isn't it? I Know I ended up blaming myself for not being able to do the most basic of things for my child (ie, feed him)
looking back on it now it is still a bit sad, but I know that I did my absolute best for him.
expressing can be jolly satisfying, and you are still giving her the best thing you can which is only to be applauded. many mums would have gone straight to the formula, so just comfort yourself with the fact that you are indeed "supermum"

I have just finished (today) exclusively feeding my baby pumped milk. She was on the breast for 3 weeks then I pumped 5 times a day until she was 3 months old and I always pumped as much as I could get out and froze the excess, that way growth spurts were not a problem. I went down to 4 pumps between 3 and 4 months, and 3 pumps for the fifth month and finally now she is six months old I went down to 2 pumps per day (morning and evening), then 1 (last week in the mornings only) and this morning was the first morning for nigh on 6 months I have not pumped. It worked fabulously for me and I did not have an issue with antibodies and milk maturing becuase I pumped and she would always have that milk within 24 hrs. If I was ill I still pumped but threw it away and she had some frozen breast milk that I had stored. If she was ill I still continued to pump so she would get my antibodies. SHe has an excellent weight gain and I never had an issue with her being hungry because I always pumped as much as I could get out which was far in excess of what she was taking. (e.g. I pumped both breasts first thing in the morning and could get between 12-16oz out) IN the last 2 months she would have a bottle of formula once every 2 days to give me a chance to catch up with her. This was because I introduced a bit of baby rice and needed some extra breast milk to make it up.
I can't tell you how it freed me up to be able to go out when I wanted and to go to bed early if I needed to, to go out in the evenings with my husband etc. It was time consuming but without it, both my children would have gone onto formula and around 1 month old which would have been a shame. I would definitely say, give it a go.

fingerwoman - thanks for the encouragement

scoggins - which pump did you use?

I used the Avent hand held pump - it worked fab for me but I had a very fast let down and masses of milk, I know that for some people they found it didn;t work so well for them.
Good luck

Pecka

If you haven't already found it, check out the expressyourselfmums, by far the best site I found for pumps and related stuff.

My personal experience of pumps was that the Medela hospital grade double pump (looks like a big yellow handbag & can be hired) worked best along with the Avent hand pump. Medela (I think) are the only company that produce funnels in different sizes which seems to make a big difference for some women in how easy they find it to express.

I also used the Ameda lactaline (small double pump) and Ameda Elite (freestanding hospital grade one) as well as a rather old fashioned Ameda one that looked like a sewing machine. All good but imo quite a bit trickier to clean and assemble and with more bits to lose. I also used the Avent electric pump (didn't rate it). Haven't tried the Medela mini but I know that a lot of people have good things to say about it.

BTW, although I had a good supply, i don't have a fast let down or flow and normally pumped 3-4 oz per session during the 8 weeks I was more or less exclusively expressing for dd.

Pecka - I'm currently feeding my 12 week old DS EBM almost exclusively.

Just a couple of tips - I use the Ameda lactaline double electric pump and get a good 50% more than I did with the hand pump I used before. It was tricky to clean until I just decided to stick it in the dishwasher after each express - half load on a quick cycle cleans it and sterilises it, and only uses 4 litres of water ;)

DS is having a bit of a growth spurt at the moment and I'm having to rely on the odd formula top up (by odd I mean twice in the space of a week). I could use some of the frozen ebm I have, but I'm saving that for when I start to wean / rainy day. I could keep up with his feeds if I pumped more often, but it's difficult to motivate yourself to express at 3am when you know you're going to be awake at 5am feeding him again!

The other thing I would recommmend for increasing milk supply is fennel - I found this out by accident when I had a stir fry with chinese 5-spice in it and expressed 12oz as opposed to my usual 6-8oz! I drink homemade fennel tea (add hot water to fresh chopped fennel, add some honey to taste and drink 2-3 hours before expressing) and have started adding 5-spice to lots more foods!

HTH

Thanks for the tips! Very useful

Im taking more milk plus which has fennel in but thats a good idea about adding to foods etc too - Ill start doing that.

I have thrown money at the problem today and have:

Hired a medela symphony hospital grade pump which is arriving tomorrow

Bought breastflow bottles in attempt to make her bottle feeding more breast like to maybe help her to latch on. these were a disaster!

Bought some nipple shields in attempt to make my boobs more bottle like and she latched on to this! Didnt stay on long and probably didnt stay around long enough to feed but hey its progress!!!

Pecka
At the risk of saying something you have already done - have you tried nipple shields to help your lo latch on? They feel more like a bottle for your baby if she is not liking your nipple directly, and once you use them and bf is established again, you can wean her off them...
I used them with my 3 dc for about 4-5 months each - they were the only thing that allowed me to bf...
Good luck with it all though - it sounds like you are dealing with this really well - well done you

Pecka - lol! Crossed posts!
Keep trying with the shields. Mam/Nuk ones are better than Boos/Avent. You can also try taping them on with surgical tape if you need a bit of help . Best of luck!

katepol- lol great minds!

I got the boots ones - as that is all they had. Where could I get nuk/mam ones?

Amazon have Nuk ones - silicon, not latex btw. Def worth a go - more breast-realistic than Boots ones and they stay on better. I am the shield queen - tried them all in 12 months total of feeding with them. BFC don't tend to like them as the old latex ones used to interfere with milk supply (in the same way as only pumping can). Hwr I had loads of milk despite using shields right from the first few days...
Hope things get easier soon

did you try medela ones at all?

Didn't like the shape of the medela ones. The triangular shape of the Nuk ones mean you can be less exact about placing them, which was handy when fiddling around with them and uncooperative babies

I second nipple shields. I pumped exclusively for my ds for four months - he would NOT latch on. Then, with shields, he did. I weaned him off the shields a month later and we never looked back.

So don't give up ... it can still happen.

wow that is so encouraging! which ones did you use?

Babies r us also sell the MAM ones if you can't wait for mail order

oohh briol, will pop there tomorrow

Good luck Pecka - you're doing a great job so hope the nipple shields get a latching result.

Just to say to anyone who is expressing that you don't need to chuck away EBM if you are ill yourself (as a previous poster did). Bfing when you are ill is fine and loads of us do it. Throwing away milk would only be necessary if you were on medication and even then you could check on here to see if this was really necessary.

HTH

Pecka - the Avent ones. Good Luck!!

Im LOVING the medela symphony! Ive been on it 3 times since it came at 3pm and have 12oz!!!

If I dont have enough yet to offer full feeds as breastmilk.

Is it best to put SOME breast milk in EVERY feed and mix with formula or give full formula/full EBM feeds

Also wondering how to conveniently do breastmilk night feeds easily?

?Anyone

pecka, will she take the ebm, at room temp?
because you can leave the bottles out for quite a while. so you could have the bottle ready by your bed, and then after first feed get the next one out of the fridge so it warms to room temp by the time she needs it
there was a study done recently that showed that after several hours of being out at room temp EBM had less bacteria in it than when it started! amazing stuff.

No, she wont drink anything that isnt warm!!

In fact, as her bottle cools down she rejects the last bit!

got a fuss pot on my hands - DS used to drink his milk cold/room temp!

Pecka if you decide to go with NUK bottles, CAT me. I have 2 small ones and 2 bigs ones some never used, going for free to you.