Exclusive pumping?

[1sttimemumma]

After not pooping for her first 48 hours we have had to spend a few days in hospital being treated for jaundice, happy to say we are finally home!
Whilst there we though I was constantly pumping and bottle feeding to ensure that she was getting enough to recover and bring my milk supply in. I've actually found this really works for us and for me, is preferable to breastfeeding, where I constantly worry she isn't getting enough. She is also now lazy on the boob and it stresses both of us out which doesn't seem worth it when there is a simple option which still provides breast milk. Does anyone have any stories about doing the same? Or anything they can tell me? I'm nervous as the midwife keeps pushing going back to breastfeeding and I know it's what everyone feels is best.

Thank you everyone this has been such a great response! It's so interesting to hear from everyone.

I have some nipple shields arriving tomorrow and am going to try to get her back to the breast for at least some of her feeds, all of them would be ideal but I think the best thing for both of us is to not stress over it too much. If they don't work out I'll see a specialist but I suppose at the end of the day you can't force them! Her latch is good, she just refuses to suck, perhaps it's because she has been jaundice and is so sleepy so when this goes we'll have more luck.

Have you tried breast compressions?

You’re right that it’s important not to get stressed about it. You could try hand expressing before a feed until the milk lets down too - she might be more inclined to drink if there’s instant gratification!

My nipple shields arrived early this morning and I think they might be a success! She just fed properly with them which is such a relief. Not as much as she needs so I've had to top up with a bottle but it's definitely a good first step because she was latching and sucking properly.
In terms of switching back - how to do I do it? Should I keep pumping in order to keep my supply up? If I feel full should I pump to get it out?

Fantastic.
Apparently when switching back you try feeding without before using them.
Didn't work that way for me though as DS Just decided one day that he didn't want them as he could get the milk faster without.

Do you mean switching back to breast over bottle? Try to feed her as much as you can (which you obviously are doing) and top up with any bottles. I would try and feed first if you feel full, then pump.

Watch for her swallowing (you should see her ears and jaw move in a certain way - google videos so you know what to look for). If she seems to stop, try breast compressions to keep her on longer and switching sides.

Your aim is to gradually reduce the bottles and increase the breast. How quick will depend on how effective she is at feeding and how your supply is but it sounds like she’s a good little feeder and your milk has come really quickly.

Are you doing paced feeding with her bottles?

Just try without first every time and then use if needs be. it took us about a week and I got frustrated and disheartened but it happened. Good luck. We're on week 10 now after 2.5 miserable first weeks and I've forgotten all of the bf woes :-)

I BF for 1st 3months with a bit if pumping, then I exclusively pumped until last few week when DS turned 1. I went onto pumping as I was so worried my DS wasn't getting enough. I never struggled to pump enough, and if i felt my supply was slowing I just added in an additional session.
It is hard work, but for me it was easier than having the constant worry, anxiety and stress of " is he getting enough " all the time, and DH can get in on the action and give some feeds.
I would recommend it for piece of mind if you can pump enough, but doing it up until a year was definitely enough for me. If I would not have pumped I would have gone crazy with worry.

Things seem to be getting a little better - we're feeding properly using the nipple shields and then topping up with bottle feeds to make sure that she is getting enough.

Obviously when I pump I try to empty my breasts by the end of the session - with breastfeeding of course that isn't guaranteed, should I pump afterwards to keep supply up?

Did it for 9 months - pumped enough for DD’s first year. Exhausting but I just took it day by day.

A good pump is key, and I found I needed to pump at least 4 hourly no matter what the circumstances. You need to eat well and I ended up taking fenugreek by the handful and all sorts of teas and flapjacks to maintain supply.

I suffered from blocked ducts reasonably frequently.

If she’s satisfied after a feed there’s no need to top up with a bottle, just pop her onto the other breast if she seems hungry still. Breastmilk digests quickly so she might want to go back on the breast after half an hour - totally normal! They tend to cluster feed a lot when tiny, so to get your supply back up to optimal, I would do tons of skin to skin with baby and keep feeding her as and when she wants. A couple of days/nights like that you will probably find you’ll only need to express when you’re going to be away from baby.

Your breasts don’t actually ‘empty’, it would be like trying to empty a tap, the flow may slow but milk will still be there.

If she’s feeding ok, good latch, swallowing, etc, I wouldn’t top up with a bottle either. If you are worried she is getting enough just keep an eye that she’s having plenty of wet nappies.

This may be a silly question but what is the advantage of taking away the nipple shields once she is breastfeeding?

As baby gets older the nipple shield will hinder the flow leading to a frustrated feed, you’re also more prone to blocked ducts as they’re not able to always fully drain the breast with shields on. They’re fabulous for getting bf going again, but shouldn’t be a long term solution, so it’s always good to get baby used to bf without them.

The KellyMom website has loads and loads of really good info about breastfeeding, it was a life-saver in the early days!

Aaah that makes sense thank you! We're definitely getting the hang of this now - we managed a feed without the shields this morning for about ten minutes then when she was half full she started to get more fussy. It's much better than a few days ago though when we couldn't bf at all!

I'm glad to hear you are making progress

Really glad to hear that you are getting improvements. I ended up using shields long term so it can be done but my supply definitely found it harder to adjust for growth spurts. I would rather have not needed them but I tried to get feeding many times without and she just wouldn't do it, shields was better than stopping in my case. Hope your progress continues you are doing really well.