Exclusively pumping? Tips?

[TTC94]

Hello,

Is anyone else exclusively pumping for their newborn? My little one is just over two weeks old and I’m exclusively pumping.

I currently only have one breast pump (medela swing) and it’s not hands free. I can use batteries but they run out quickly so I often have it plugged in at the walk and I’m sat down.

My husband goes back to work soon and I have no idea how I’ll have time to pump, sort out bottles, sterilise, nappy change, interact with my baby and look after the dog, house and myself.

I’m not getting much sleep at all either.

Does anyone else exclusively pump? Do you have any tips or product recommendations to make my life a little easier and to make pumping less of a drain on my time.

TIA xx

I pumped for ds2 - he was premature and fed by ng tube. I had a proper, double breast pump that I got on loan from the NICU. It is massively time consuming - I couldn't keep it up exclusively for more than a few weeks and he was mix fed after that.

I used to pump every 4 hours and get as much as I could, freeze the excess to use at a later date. I had a microwave steriliser and a plug in steam steriliser, breast milk storage bags, loads of bottles - you really want to have enough milk to be a couple of feeds ahead, if that makes sense.

I had an Elvie pump - found it great. Pumped at work etc with no issues. Very expensive but worth it for me - used it for a year and will be using it with the next little one when they arrive.

One did become faulty after 6 months but they just sent me a replacement part - no issues and it arrived quickly. So that was fairly decent.

Good luck - pumping is a pain, especially when you have to wake up in the night to pump! Xx

I’ll be honest, I did for a month with Ds1. I found it time consuming, miserable and exhausting. The day I made the switch to formula it was like a weight off my shoulders.

Sorry, that’s probably not helpful to hear but I can’t imagine being able to keep that up. Hopefully others who have will come along with some tips.

If you do want to switch to formula it will be ok though. Obviously it’s a very personal decision but I have two very happy and healthy boys who were raised on formula. Breast milk while nutritionally better isn’t the be all and end all. Looking after a newborn is hard work enough so if you need to combi feed to give yourself a break don’t feel bad about it.

You need a double pump. I had a spectra s1 and it did both of my kids, a couple of friends kids and now belongs to a breast feeding support group.

Use cold water sterilising. You change the water every 24 hours and put either a tablet or Milton fluid in it. Chuck everything in once it’s washed and after 15 minutes it’s sterilised.

I couldn’t breastfeed so I tried this- I managed exclusively for about a fortnight, I felt like a milking cow, it was awful. I was driving myself into the ground doing it. It was exhausting, time consuming and inconvenient but I kept at it.

I then got ill and it whacked out my supply so I was then only able to produce enough for a bottle a night in the end, it just wasn’t worth it, so that stopped at 12 weeks.

But as per a PP I think I took temporary leave of my senses. I did a year with DC1 and was overjoyed when DC2 latched.

I had to pump for her when she was in Neonatal and HDU and she was tube fed. The little sod wouldn’t take a bottle!

I had a Tommy tippee but it was only one side and it wasn’t hands free.

I exclusively pumped for my son for 8 months, 12 years ago now.
I couldn’t get on with an electric pump, so used a manual throughout (electric pumps are bound to be better now though).
Sterilising- I used a cold-water steriliser, so bottles etc stayed in the water and sterile until I took them out. I saved the bottles through the day and washed them all together in an evening, then into the steriliser.
I used to pump after every time DS had fed, so every 3-4 hours, including through the night. He used to fall asleep after feeding so I could put him down once winded and pump. Overnight I had a mini-fridge upstairs to put the fresh milk in.
DS was quite happy taking the milk cold, so we were lucky in that respect and didn’t have to worry about warming it, so it might be worth giving it a try, saves a step in prep time.
Good luck! It is time-consuming, and faffy, but I was so determined he would have my milk, we made it work. Having said that, obviously the sky didn’t fall in when I switched to formula once weaning, and my life would have been easier if I’d been more flexible about it.

Kellymom website has some great information. I did it for 9 months. Every 2 hours for the first 12 weeks.

I pumped for my premmie who wouldn't latch. I did it exclusively for five months and then mix fed for another four. It was pretty brutal tbh. She's now seven and my back has never recovered - I'm fairly small boobed and had to sort of hunch over to get the milk to flow into the pump. Doing that for hours a day did my body no good at all. I don't regret doing it but if I had struggled it wouldn't have been a disaster to mix feed earlier. I put myself under quite a bit of pressure to do it having "failed" to grow my baby in the womb.

It would have helped me massively if someone had told me that pump parts and bottles didn't need sterilising, just a good wash in hot soapy water, and could be kept in a zip lock bag in the fridge between uses and washed every 24 hrs. Breastmilk doesn't have the same risk of contamination as formula.
Having the right size of flange for my nipples made production much more efficient and comfortable.

I exclusively pumped for 13 months and would have gone longer if my supply had not dried up due to falling pregnant again!

If your on facebook id reccomend to join the exclusively pumping mums uk group. The ladies on there are so lovely and helpful!

Id reccomend to 'size' your nipple to get the correct flange size.

The swing is a good pump and i started out with the swing but unfortunatley its not built for exclusively pumping, i burned the motor out after 3 months! Amazon replaced it for me no problem but then i had the same issue 3 months later.

If you can afford it id reccomend the medela pump they use at the hospitals (i cant remember the name of it now) you can rent it from medela or ring your local birth centre, my local birth centre rented them out ALOT cheaper than the medela website.

Alternatevely the bella baby on amazon is a cheaper double pump that works well and the pump parts are cheap to get too!

The medela hand pump is also good!

Buy the pump direct from the brand or on amazon for ease if replacement if anything goes wrong!

The medela milk bags are expensive but worth it, not one leaked where as other brands often leaked.

Invest in spare sets so your not having to wash and sterilise constantly throughout the day. Be aware of signs that pump parts are wearing out and when to replace them, this can affect your supply! Have a handful of duckbills in the cubord, they wear out the most and you will have 0 suction if it rips. Sterifeed bottles are a cheaper alternative to the medela bottles and fit the medela pump perfectly, just make sure to get the white top bottles as the purple top bottles are single use and you cant sterilise them!

I found microwave sterilising bags the easiest, qwick to sterilise and perfect on the go!

Invest in a handsfree pumping bra, even if your plugged to the wall atleast you can sit and play with baby!

Use the purple tube nipple cream when pumping, prevents from pain and blisters!

Any questions fire at me!xo

I used a double electric pump (could use batteries but wasn't powerful enough). I bought a pump bra which helped a little as I could at least fall asleep a bit while pumping. I'd have 2 hour breaks where I didn't pump and I'd wake up during the night to pump even if dc didn't wake (to increase my supply so I could stock up). I had to top up feeds with formula too though.
After 3 months I found it too much as there just wasn't enough hours in the day and I couldn't hold my dc while I was pumping so I gave it up. The guilt was overwhelming at first but it was worth it.
I will say that if I'd had more support for the other things - pets, bottles washed, meals made, housework done - I'd have managed it but I had to do it all and it just wasn't sustainable over a longer period of time unfortunately.

If baby was full term and healthy you don't need to sterilise for breastmilk, just wash in warm soapy water.

I bf and tried to pump afew weeks in as I was anxious of not having a back up supply in an emergency.

It took so long I gave up after I'd got a couple of days of feeds.

Would you consider bf?
If not no one would blame you for using formula.

Sounds like you have a busy life and it's important to take a little time for yourself too (not attached to a pump!)

Pumped exclusively for 12 months, then supply started decreasing as we had started to wean DC so ended up stopping.

I started off with the Elvie but I had issues with it leaking and having to stop midway to recharge the battery, and I felt that it wasn’t helping establish my supply. So after about 3 weeks of (literally) crying over spilled milk, I rented the medela harmony double pump.

Pros

• it allowed me to have quicker pumping sessions (approx 20 mins)
• helped me increase my supply to about 1.2L a day at my peak (when DC was about 3-4 months)
• it was mains powered so no worries about running out of battery
• great customer service when needed replacement parts

Cons
-being mains powered meant I was unable to move about during my pumping session much, but it was nice to be able to hand baby over to DH and get half an hour to just decompress

• The pump itself is really large and cumbersome and not ideal if you need to travel (I remember lugging it to MILs last Xmas and her looking shocked that this was a pump)
• can be more expensive to rent, depending on how long you aim to pump for

Personally, whilst exclusive pumping was a labor of love, I would do it again in a heart beat. The challenging time was when I was establishing my supply in the early months and I was pumping every 3 hours religiously, which meant a pump at 12am, 3am and 6am. But it was, I was able to stretch out the time between pumps and got to pumping at 11pm and then not having to pump until 6am once DC was about 5-6 months without affecting supply or waking up engorged and leaking milk everywhere!

I’m expecting DC2 in summer and I’m planning to pump again.

Congratulations on the little one & good luck!

Just realised I word vomited but didn’t actually give you any tips!
-double pump is a time saver
-pumping every 3 hours in the beginning and then gradually space them out

• focus on pumping during the night to help increase supply as the hormone for milk production peaks around the early hours of the morning

-I stored my milk in the lasinoh bags, then popped them in some warm water to warm them up before giving DC milk

• yes to keeping extra duck bills
• invest in a hakka pump or small hand pump (less than £10) for the one time your pump won’t work
• i switched to using a tomee tippee micro wave steriliser as my DC hated the taste/smell of his bottles when we used a cold water one

-I tried to time my pumping sessions around DCs naps so I had one less thing to worry about

• i also purchased about 5-6 bottles (dr brown) and that helped me get through a whole day with DC without having to worry about having to sterilise bottles. Then DH would wash them on a night and they’d be ready to go again in the morning

-yes to the washing bottle parts with hot soapy water, especially the duck bills and milk can collect in the little ridges

Im due to have my first baby in April 23 and I plan to express feed, some of the advice here has been really helpful, thankyou! I was wondering what the best way to store breastmilk is and the best way to warm it up for newborn? x

the kellymom website has loads of info on how long milk can be kept in the fridge. My eldest is 7 now and I can’t remember it all!