Power Pumping. Or 'How I Lost My Sanity in 48 Hours'.

[TheDuchessOfNorksBride]

It is increasing my supply.

Though I may be hallucinating.

Has anyone else done this and did you go mad?

[TheProvincialLady]

Another thing you can do is cut the top off a pair of tights, put it over your chest and cut two relevant holes. Ta da! Or you can spend £30 on one of these, which is what I did expensive but worth it if you express a lot The company also sells spare parts for machines and a variety of pots that fit most machines.

[RegenerAitch]

no, duch, you are wrong. listen to your friend Aitch... take an old and jiggered and stretchy bra, cut a slit along the seam (length or widthways, who cares) and then get some of that stick-on velcro and put two blobs of the jaggy stuff on the bra and then a line of the soft side will close it over. it's only until you get going anyway, then suction does the rest, so it doesn't ahve to be a great job. (in fact i didn't use the velcro for aaaages).
it gives you two properly free hands, one for the remote control, one for the cake.

[Amphibimum]

duchess, i have never seen the nct or any groups or anything. i got the number for a woman in nearest town who acts as an agent renting these things out from one of the breastfeeding helplines, prob the nct one. was v sceptical about whole thing, esp when i saw the SIZE of thebloody thing, but honestly, it was an absolute marvel to use.
by the time i was on third baby in 2.5 yrs, i was happily (and loudly) buzzing away with the little electric thing, but before that absolutely nothing worked, except this.

[TheDuchessOfNorksBride]

Thank you to everyone who has suggested things. I will/have looked at the websites. The fridge/zip bag thing is fantastic to know.

However, all this bra-butchery sounds like more trouble than it's worth. And I don't want pinging elastic bands anywhere near my poor sore norks thankee v. much.

Double pumping sounds most hideous, like something you'd do in a milking parlour.

amphibi - I hate the nct and will never go near them again!

Oh look! Time to get the pump out again...

[RegenerAitch]

i didn't sew, just some sticky velco did the trick.

[AlexanderPandasmum]

I tried that a couple of times. Am no seamstress. Result: 2 ruined bras and me online buying special expensive one!

I have seen something you can do by attaching elastic bands (or hairbands) to the buckle on the straps of your nursing bra and hanging the pump from that!

[RegenerAitch]

i cut a hole in an old bra. well, two holes.

[AlexanderPandasmum]

Hi,

I expressed exclusively for nearly 7 months. I wish I'd managed it for longer with hindsight but at the time I was being driven slowly mad!

Have you heard about the fridge trick where you keep your pump parts (rinsed) in a ziploc bag in the fridge between feeds and only sterilise once a day? I didn't know till the end. Also when ds was 4 months I finally relented and bought the Easy Expressions Halterneck Expressing Bra thingy. I wish I'd done it sooner because it was a godsend and although I managed (e.g. by balancing the 'horns' in the slits in a nursing top etc) the pump definitely worked better with the bra on and I could move around better.

In case you haven't seen it, ivillage.com (US version) has an 'Exclusively Pumping" forum which was very supportive, and Kellymom have a lot of links on one page labelled "Exclusively Pumping Links".

I admire you for pumping 12x a day EVER. I never managed it once! The most I did was 8 and that was in the early days when DS was still in neonatal!

[Amphibimum]

i rented a ginormous scary looking thing from a local nct lady. was amazing; quiet, smooth as hell and really effective. it came with a leaflet about accessories, inc a special bra that allowed you to double pump, hands free, perfect for mning

(understands why duchess hasnt been on chicken topic much lately)

[RegenerAitch]

lol

[HollyGoHeavily]

and the salute definitely had no Nazi overtones

[HollyGoHeavily]

I just snorted really loudly (and very attractively, i'm sure) when reading the comment

I hated expressing with a passion - i salute your determination and springy nipples...

[TheProvincialLady]

I have seen my nipples extended to their greatest extent so many times (quick calculation: approx 2670 times) that the sight just bores me these days.

I answered the door once when I had only just finished expressing and I only had time to quickly pull my thin cardigan over my otherwise bare chest . I nearly took the postman's eye out

[TheDuchessOfNorksBride]

I put the Medela electric away, it's too fierce. And ones nipples shouldn't be stretched out that far.

[TheProvincialLady]

I think I got tinnitus from my medela mini electric.

[RegenerAitch]

i spent £80 on a pump in the end, just to get a quiet one...

[tillystar]

Its not that its boring its that e - e- e- e squeaking noise that you begin to even hear in your sleep!

[TheProvincialLady]

How can anything that allows you to sit and MN with your norks out be boring?

[RegenerAitch]

only 8 times...

lord almighty, you are doing a good thing but fuck me, expressing is boring isn't it? do your best, duch, it's all you can do.

[llareggub]

Just wanted to doff my cap in admiration.

[TheDuchessOfNorksBride]

Loving 'RegenerAitch'

I'm tired but less mad I think. I'll only be expressing 8 times today because I've had the pre-school end of term party (I'm the Chair and made my speech whilst feeding the baby) followed by a primary school assembly this afternoon. Bloody hectic time all round. Roll on the holidays.

And my tits still hurt so I don't think the thrush is clearing up. Back to GPs Monday I think and I'll try one of the suggestions over the weekend.

[RegenerAitch]

how are you feeling, duch?

[RegenerAitch]

i did it for 72 hours, and it did help. but i lost my mind in the process. you have my sympathy and my support, duch.

[tillystar]

Wow, I exclusively expressed for 3.5 months and was going slowly crazy... I wished I had known other people were doing it and it wasn't just me being mental and obsessive might have managed longer! I am amazed that people did it for 9 and 18 months .

No advice but wanted to wish you all the best with it.

[Turniphead1]

Duchess - oh I feel for you. Sorry if you know this, but have you tried taking acidophilus capsules from the health food shop and rubbing some acidophilus powder in DS's mouth before each feed/intermittantly.

My Lact. consultant suggested that for me when I got into the thrush cycle with DS. Helped massively get rid. Also homeopathic remedies for the shooting pain, if you are interested. You may not be. You may be too bloody busy!