Exclusively pumping life- help!

[JuneySunshine]

Hello wise mumsnetters,

My daughter is one month old and for reasons I won't drone on about I've found myself needing to bottle feed her and have been doing so exclusively with expressed breastmilk.

I was hoping to breast feed so didn't see this coming but I got myself set up with a hired Ardo Carum hospital grade pump, home-made puming bra and I've been expressing every 2/3 hours to feed LO and freezing some of the excess. As we think about future trips and travel and my partner goes back to work I'm increasingly feeling pumping in the way I'm doing it is restrictive (the pump is huge and I'm going to start feeling restricted if I need to be home every 2/3 hours to pump) it can also be tricky to manage pumping while also caring for LO on my own.

I was just wondering if anyone is ahead of me with this and what your top tips would be in terms of

• choosing a pump which is more portable- potentially double electric and can be used with batteries or USB charged
• pumping in public, think weddings or days out
• your experience generally- how long did you continue pumping and how did you juggle it all

Any words of advice or encouragement welcome x

My friend raves about the Elvie. She has a single and had got something wild like 6L over a few weeks just by pumping the other boob as she fed DC on the other one.

Some places have ‘family rooms’ which aren’t like toilets but have changing facilities and a sofa/place to feed, they’d be good but most changing facilities are rank toilets so that’s a no go. If you get one that’s neat you could probably get away with just throwing a scarf over the top and nobody would know.

Elvie Elvie Elvie. I was in the same position with my first and utterly miserable stuck to a pump all the time. It completely changed my parenting experience. I can't rate them enough, inc customer service and they had a 2y guarantee when I got mine. They're expensive, but consider how much cots/parks etc are, and how much it will give you

Hi OP

I pumped exclusively for a month using a Spectra which is hospital grade and double, and USB chargeable. It’s very good and light but it is still big - could not be hidden in your handbag!

Pumping exclusively is seriously intense and I don’t think I could have maintained it much longer than I did. My baby was premature and couldn’t latch at all but I kept randomly putting him on my breast and one day he literally just started feeding - unlikely to apply to you I know but worth knowing just in case. If he hadn’t picked it up though I think I would have at least started using formula some of the time. Exclusive pumping is so time
Consuming and I suspect that when your baby gets bigger and more active you will find it hard to fit in. Don’t feel guilty if you need to use formula!

Managed eleven weeks of exclusively pumping and it nearly killed me.

As previous posters have said - it's crazy intense. Keep an eye on yourself

I’m 5 and a half months in “exclusively” pumping (I’m an under supplier so she has formula top ups) I use a rented medela symphony and have 2 fraupows for portable pumping my tips are:

• Measure your nipple and have the right flange size
• use nipple cream every time
• replace your silicone parts every 4-6 weeks to keep your pump functioning fully
• pump at least 8 times a day to 12 weeks if you can, around then your supply should regulate. At 12 weeks I dropped to 7 pumps and then every couple of weeks I dropped a pump until I was at 4 a day which I’ve stuck to as it’s manageable, my supply actually went up when I dropped pumps then stayed the same
• Elvies are very expensive, if you can’t afford them have a look at pipetta or fraupow which are also well reviewed portable pumps
• I’ve had clogged ducts and mastitis twice, I’ve found the way to avoid it is to fully empty by hand expressing after pumping at least once a day. Lecithin is also meant to help
• look into power pumping if you want to up your supply
• drink loads of water and eat plenty
• join the Exclusively Pumping UK mums Facebook group
• don’t quit on a bad day, if it gets too much drop a pump
• keep a middle of the night pump (between 12am and 4am) for at least 12 weeks if you can, your prolactin levels are highest then
• be gradual when you decide to stop, drop 1 pump a week to hopefully avoid mastitis
• either pump when baby is asleep or find something that will distract them without needing your input- I’ve used bouncer and jungle gym and now will probably use jumperoo (I do sing/ talk to her)

Good luck, it’s really really hard and you’re at the toughest stage, just do what you can.

Thank you so much for all the advice.

I've been given a single Elvie pump and having used it the past couple of days I can say it is good and if I can fork out for another one it will definitely add flexibility to the pumping experience.

Just wanted to show solidarity as someone who also didn't realise they'd be exclusively pumping but here I am at 10 weeks. I'm pumping right now 🙈

@sociallydistained And me! Well done you for making 10 weeks.

Hi @Crossornot, thanks for sharing. How old was your LO when they took to feeding? Not long after posting this my girl latched! Now faced with improving her technique a little then hopefully transitioning to feeding from me fully. Did you do this? And balance it with still pumping during the transition? She's having a growth spurt so a bit daunting! Tips appreciated!

Hi OP - yay! That’s so exciting. He started latching basically exactly on his due date, so he was four weeks old but had been growth restricted so was still incredibly tiny. Once he was able to do it it was pretty seamless really. At first I would pump at the same time as he was feeding on the other side, so I could top up with that milk afterwards, but I stopped pumping entirely pretty quickly. My main concern was no longer knowing how much he was getting because I had been slightly obsessive about that and keeping his weight up, but I didn’t need to worry. They really are amazingly effective at getting milk from the breast (once they can do it), much better than any pump! It did hurt a LOT for him to feed from me for a while - I don’t know if that was a latch issue or just my nipples needing to toughen up, but I remember I was surprised by how long it lasted (literally weeks), but then one day it just stopped. Breastfeeding now is completely pain free and the easiest and most convenient thing in the world, though I will say that my baby is now a total bottle refuser, so maybe stay in the habit of still giving yours one bottle a day if you want to retain that possibility!!