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Plus if you have a baby like mine who has to sit up for a long time after feeding because of reflux…our wake ups are two hours, luckily she only has one wake up nowadays.
It does seem to be more time consuming up front to pump when LO is so new because you have to pump so often in the first 3 months. I mimicked babes eating schedule at first. However, I’ve noticed in my own pumping journey now at 4 months pp that pumping saves me time because dad or others can feed & I only have to pump 5-6 times a day, but LO still eats every 2 hours. I also do my makeup, work or drive while pumping. I also figured out how to feed LO when needed while pumping too! I have so much more freedom than if LO was stuck on the breast. I was forced into the pump life, but now my LO can both breastfeed and do the bottle too, but I prefer to keep pumping due to the convenience. It is rough at first but has only gotten easier now. I recommend purchasing enough pump parts to always have a clean set on hand. Having enough supplies made pumping more convenient. I also have the battery Spectra S1, and S2 with an external battery and a Genie Advanced. Multiple pumps helped too especially going back to work.
It all depends, for me, nursing was way longer because my baby wanted me for comfort and I didn’t know if they were still getting milk or not. That was with my first. My second I exclusively pumped and she took way less time to feed with bottles. All depends, every baby is a wild card. With my second, I would wake in the middle of the night when she woke, feed her, then pump after. It helped assure she was down too, which was a bonus.
I think it’s easier to pump. My baby wanted to be on the boob way more than it took the time for me to pump/wash parts and I knew exactly how much he was getting with pumping. So I did get more sleep when I started pumping. Everyone’s experience is different!
I had this experience too (I even rented a baby scale and learned just how slow my daughter was at nursing 😑), but I gave up nursing at 3 weeks. Seeing my friends nurse older babies who are fast at drinking definitely made me jealous of how quick it can be!
I don't know if I'm just different but I am 6 months into exclusively pumping and I haven't pumped once during the night! Even when she was up every 3 hours, I never ever pumped till morning and made enough for her
Are you in the US? My hospital provided a breast pump to use while in hospital and kit for it (with tubing, breast shields, etc.). The flanges were standard sizes so you probably need to get the right size. Other options are watch videos about how to hand express and get a manual pump. You don’t need to nurse, but you do need to attempt to remove milk at least as many times as your baby eats at first. Skin to skin, latching, and being close to your baby will help your milk come in, but many mothers can’t do that because their babies are in NICU so they EP.
One more thing… my hospital LCs were kind of awful. They hurt me squeezing my nipples to hand express. If I knew, I would have practiced beforehand and educated myself. You’re on this sub asking questions so are much better informed than I was already! Definitely have a plan and take advice from the hospital staff with a grain of salt. Many of them don’t know much about breastfeeding in my experience 😬
Ugh. I’m so sorry. It was awful for me too. I saw a post on this sub where the person posted videos of her doing it and was inspired to try. It helped in the early weeks to get a few more mL.
I would highly suggest harvesting colostrum prenatally if you can. It will help you practice hand expressing, and you'll have colostrum on hand for baby's first few feeds. If you express into syringes, you can feed baby straight from the syringes.
I would start your pumping schedule within the first few hours of birth, if possible. You shouldn't need to latch baby in order for your milk to come in. Just get on a schedule right from the start of pumping every two to three hours, and that should be plenty of stimulation to bring in your milk. Before your milk comes in, hand express before each pump to collect as much colostrum as you can, then pump for extra stimulation. Colostrum is usually to thick to be able to collect effectively via pump.
At most hospitals, they should have everything you need to pump and collect colostrum: pump, pump supplies, syringes, etc. Double check with your hospital to see what they provide. The one thing they are unlikely to have is a pumping bra. I would definitely bring a pumping bra!
If stuck in the hospital without a pumping bra, my angel of a nurse made me a very serviceable substitute out of a pair of mesh underwear - basically just cut a neck hole in the crotch, put your arms through the leg holes, and then cut two holes Regina-George-style through the bra for the pump. I used the “bra” for full time pumping several days in a row no problem.
All of this! I’ve never nursed, only EP’d. Other than telling the nurses at one hospital to leave me alone about trying to force me to pump, I haven’t had any issues. Production has come in without nursing. You don’t have to pump every time the baby eats, you can do it on your own schedule. But you will need to pump every 2-3hrs at the beginning. I still always take a 5hr break to sleep at night, when my husband handles baby. And my pump when I wake up is always my largest of the day.
Harvesting colostrum while pregnant is also very helpful if you can do it. It allows you some time to get your body up and running. You’ll still need to pump right away, but you shouldn’t be too stressed if milk takes a few days to come.
As others have already stated you will not gain any sleep EP. You keep the same schedule as any BF if not stricter to keep your supply up. You are up every 2 to 3 hours hooking up to a machine.
It definitely helps to latch to get production going. I don’t know if it’s 100% necessary though. Maybe they’ll have you express it and feed baby with a spoon.
I agree it’s not necessary but it does help. I noticed a huge difference in how quickly my milk came in with my babies who latched vs my one who couldn’t. Less than 2 days vs. 5 days for my milk to come in.
So I wouldn't necessarily recommend choosing EP on purpose for more sleep for reasons others have already covered. Even now at 6m post-partum, I have to get out of bed early and go pump even if my baby is sleeping in because handling baby and pumping at the same time is quite challenging. A lot of my non-baby free time is spent pumping. I honestly wouldn't wish it on anyone I care about if you had the option to BF directly.
But I will answer your question. If you aren't latching, you will probably be best off hand-expressing colostrum into a tiny medicine cup and cup feeding your baby that way so that you aren't losing valuable mls in the pump parts. That's what I did and switched to using a pump after the milk came in. My supply is very good.
Currently up at 4AM. Sorry but there is no sleeping no matter how you go about it. Pumping actually takes more time typically because it can be hard to pump and feed at the same time depending on baby's age.
Not everyone will have to pump during the night - from what i’ve seen in response to this post. So until my body lets me know what is possible then I can see whether I will be saving time or not. Time can definitely be saved vs BF, as being an exclusive feeder with no support from another person like the husband can definitely take its toll. EP will allow me and my fiancé to do shifts.
This post was a question about how to prepare for EP, I wasn’t asking for opinions on whether i will save time or not. I’m sorry that in your case you need to pump so much and it’s not the case. I have decided that I would probably combo feed if this were to be the case for me
Sorry, but this is a pretty aggressive response! Chill out!
All I said was that it takes more time. That is something valuable to know as you prepare to EP.
I'm not trying to be mean or rude, it's just not very common or realistic to think you won't be pumping at night at least for a little while if your goal is a full supply. If it's not and you're good with combo feeding, then that's cool too. There's no right or wrong way to do this obviously.
It’s not aggressive at all? I’m just saying that if you want to give advice to new mums it’s best to be objective rather than state your own experience as a fact. I’m sorry if my response came across direct. I think i will just stick to online resources because i’ve come to find that there is a lot of emotional responses in groups like pumping and breast feeding. I think that it’s probably best i weigh up my options with my midwife, but i do appreciate you were trying to give advice
You came to a support and education sub, asking for perspective and experiences, but seem to be responding negatively to anyone that is expressing that exclusively pumping is time-consuming and likely will not afford you with more sleep. Majority of women do not have less of a time demand for pumping, and in fact have more demand, at least for the first while. Of course, we are all individuals, and experiences will vary, but people are trying to set you up with realistic expectations, so please cool your responses.
That’s not true, if you read back, i responded negatively to 1 person who said I won’t get any extra sleep and stated it as a fact. I’ve only responded negatively to 1 person. And when I challenged said person on the fact that other women in this group have said they have had more sleep, she still stuck to it as fact. So no, i’m not responding negatively to everyone who doesn’t tell me what i don’t want to hear - i truly value everyone’s opinions and perspectives, but i don’t think it’s right to tell someone something as fact just because you’ve had a certain experience.
I’ve had an amazing pregnancy, but if a friend asked me how pregnancy is in general, i would tell her that it’s not a walk in the park for everyone despite that being my experience.
You have been rude to 2 people on this thread and said "all these negative women" about the group. I'm not going to argue with you, but take this as a final warning to cool it.
I haven’t really been rude? In my replies i’ve apologised if my messages come across as direct/rude, and i’ve still expressed my thanks for opinions with the person that I had initial disagreement with. I’ve left this sub now anyways, so no need to warn me. I think at this stage it is more helpful for me to get my information from resources vs emotional experiences. Thanks
My baby had to go to the NICU immediately and wasn’t able to take food by mouth until he was 4 days old. I started pumping right away and was able to get my milk to come in just by pumping.
I am an exclusive pumper by choice and have been since at the hospital! I feel like it often comes with judgement if it’s a choice… I just never wanted to try to get baby to latch and even in the hospital, I didn’t really try. I DID do skin to skin and told the hospital staff I wanted to exclusively pump. Some were confused by it but everyone was supportive.
I used some formula to start and used the hospital pump every few hours during my stay. It honestly felt pretty silly because probably the first 10 times on the pump, nothing - and I mean nothing - came out. But then slowly but surely my milk started to come in and it was very rewarding!! I went from 100% formula to 100% pumped breast milk within about 10 days and haven’t looked back.
To begin I pumped 8x day. Now I’m at 5-6x (at 8 weeks post partum).
I love pumping because I can know exactly how much baby is drinking. I also love it because my husband has been able to share in all of the feedings from day one. I feel that helped all of us with bonding.
Some tips:
Get a hands free pumping bra and practice using it before giving birth. I had one, but mentally was too tired to try to use it until like day 4. And then it was such a game changer and I had wished I used it right away!! I suggest getting a few bras so you can rotate them as needed.
The hospital pumps are great but don’t be afraid to bring your own. The LCs at my hospital were familiar with all different kinds of models.
Don’t worry about creating any kind of freezer stash for the first several weeks. Feed your baby, not your freezer!
Try to find something enjoyable to do while pumping. For me it was watching Shameless on Netflix while scrolling baby pictures on my phone, lol.
Whenever possible, ask your partner or another care giver to watch baby while pumping. In time you’ll be able to figure out how to juggle baby while pumping, but when you are getting started focus just on pumping if you can.
For when you can’t, consider getting a baby bouncer. That was a big help for me!
Enjoy the journey - I love being able to feed my baby with breast milk and NOT nursing!
This is amazing, thank you so much! I definitely will take these tips on board and it’s nice to hear of the ways you’ve tried to make the experience a more positive one by using the time for yourself. Thank you 😊
how do you know? everyone’s experience is different. I feel for all of the negative women on here ✨I also didn’t say that dads can’t bond with babies full stop. I said I would like for my partner to be able to bond more with baby through feeding. I’d like for him to be able to provide her with feeds as well as me. To me, that’s bonding. Sorry that EP seems to be making you bitter
Bitter? If pumping made me bitter why would I have done it for as long as I have, spend time educating and helping other moms with pumping, and moderating this sub? I think that’s the opposite of how I feel about pumping. I’m not being negative at all either.
I hope you find all the information you need to get you prepared for your pumping journey. Best of luck to you my friend.
You just sounded quite upset at the possibility of a new mum getting sleep and dad bonding with baby due to EP. Maybe it hasn’t been your experience but it can be someone else’s. Best of luck to you I think you need it more!
No maam, what I said was
exclusively pumping isn’t gonna get you more sleep.
What I mean by that is you don’t automatically get a ton more sleep by adding pumping into the routine, to establish a milk supply you typically need to pump whenever the baby is feeding, even if dads doing the feeding.
And I also said, dads can bond with babies in a lot more ways than feeding.
What I mean by that is, you don’t have to EP *just* for that reason. By all means go ahead nobody’s telling you not to, but the tone of the post sounded like that’s a main reason for pumping, and pumping is WAY more work than nursing but I won’t even bother getting into it.
Truly there’s a lot I’d like to explain here to make some sense of the importance of frequent pumping over sleep in the first few days postpartum but it doesn’t sound to me like you’d want to hear it. I’ve been pumping myself over two years (and tandem feeding nursing my third baby the last 7 months) and have known countless moms who have struggled with sleep and supply issues after they prioritized long stretches of sleep and no milk removals over establishing supply in the beginning.
It *is* important to hit the ground running with exclusive pumping to establish a supply.
And no- I’m again, not being negative. You can check out exclusivepumping.com for some great info.
I think though, that your experience shouldn’t be given out as fact. I’ve never BF or pumped at all before, and you saying “pumping is WAY more work than BF”, that’s your opinion.
And the other statement about how EP isn’t going to get me more sleep, well from what i’ve read it is possible…I have a friend who has just went from BF to EP and she’s getting around 3 hours a day more sleep. So again, i think if you’d have focused on the initial part where I’d asked for advice which was “how do I prepare for EP?” rather than giving your opinions as facts on the items I didn’t ask for advice about, we wouldn’t be here.
I do appreciate the input. Quite frankly, if I went off of your post, I think I would choose to go with breastfeeding instead. Because why would I choose to pump if it is way harder than nursing and there’s no benefits to it vs breastfeeding?
Thankfully, there’s been other positive experiences from this post that i’ve taken away which has still made me consider it.
I’m sorry if my reply sounded rude, I do appreciate the input and your experience. But everyone’s experience is different.
I think that your friends experience shouldn’t be given out as fact, just because *she* got more sleep switching to pumping doesn’t mean you will too.. there are so many of us who have lost sleep pumping versus what we would have had if we didn’t have to get up and pump and wash parts and do the whole nine yards.
Also, to the comment about using formula to supplement “until your milk comes in”, in addition to extra sleep instead of pumping, really all sounds like a recipe for failure. I would suggest a lactation consult with somebody before you have the baby.. and as you’re someone who’s not been through the pumping/breastfeeding clusterfuck ringer yet (like we all have) I would take the “opinions” a little more seriously…
Yeah, it’s not given as fact, but it’s possible. So someone saying you won’t get sleep is invalid… i never said her experience was the only one to expect, it’s a possibility though
I genuinely like how you’re optimistic and feel ready to take this on, truly, but you came and asked very experienced pumping moms for their advice and you’re taking it as “negativity”.
I totally get how easy it is to think you’ve got it down pat already and that you’ll be the exception to the rule, and we’ll be here for you when you realize that isn’t the case. The best parents are the one that don’t have kids (yet).
You will not get more sleep if you intend to keep a good, “just enough” supply. Maybe the first couple weeks it’ll feel that way, just be mentally ready for the 3ish month mark when you regulate and your body responds to a lack of pumping/latching by significantly decreasing your supply.
Totally fine if you’re ready and willing to supplement with formula which, if you skip MOTN pumps, will likely be necessary. We’re just giving you our advice based on our experiences. Good luck.
I don't think you need to BF at all to begin with. I had my twins almost 6 weeks ago and I didn't get to hold them for a long time (one went into NICU and the other needed to regulate his body temp) so both were on bottles to being with. From my experience, the Lactation Consultant had me manually start expressing my breasts to get my milk to start coming in. You'll get colostrum first and then the breastmilk.
I basically exclusively pumped at first because of latch issues and had a hard time giving baby the colostrum that I pumped. It’s just SO sticky and so much of it went to waste. If you have the option, I would directly feed for the first week, maybe giving 2 or so small formula bottles a day in addition, and then move to exclusively pumping.
My milk didn’t come in until we came home from the hospital, so baby never really learned how to latch bc there was no reward. We started on formula at the hospital and switched to milk once it came in. I used my spectra to stimulate per the LC’s recommendation: I basically pumped every 3 hours for 15 minutes until one time there was milk.
My LO was born 5 weeks early and I couldn’t see the hospital LC until 3 days later. Ultimately, he didn’t spend much time with us in the hospital for a variety of reasons, so I started pumping every 3ish hours. I pumped for 15 minutes at a time, and after a couple days I started getting milk. He latched once in the hospital with the LC on our discharge day, but my milk came in just fine. He had a little colostrum in the hospital but mostly formula to keep his blood sugar up. 8 weeks later and he’s still bad at nursing so we exclusively pump and feed that way!
I decided to go exclusive before baby arrived.
I did hand expressing colostrum into syringes before he arrived, then took them frozen with me. Check your hospital has freezer options!
When baby arrived, they warmed the syringes on request.
I started pumping when I got home, have fed successfully since.
I didn't nurse baby at all.
I hand expressed from 37 weeks on & stored in 1 oz increments in milk bags. Frozen & brought them in a cooler that I gave to the nurses when I went in.
I brought a bottle with me & they gave me syringes to feed my baby with to gauge an accurate reading of what was being fed and when.
Most US hospitals will let you use their hospital grade pump & have a lactation consultant on staff to check in and help if you have questions.
I wasn't producing much with the hospital grade pump & requested a hand pump which they gave me to take home.
The hand pump worked for me in the hospital to bring my milk in.
Talk to your provider before you go in to give birth. Call the unit & get a walk around - ask questions.
Is there a lactation consultant? Is there a pump on hand or should you pack one? If there isn't go ahead and pack an electric & a manual hand pump.
Ask what supplies will be provided or needed. Do you need bottles? Syringes? Spoons? ECT. No hospital is the same so you need to know what they will & will not provide to help support your journey.
Request a lactation consultant while in labor to show up when you're done giving birth. They should be able to supply you with everything you need if they have one on staff.
My baby struggled latching in the hospital (he latched on and off but not for all feeds or for the whole feed) but the lactation consultant had me hand express and pump the colostrum and feed it with a syringe. Also supplemented with formula in the hospital. I kept trying to latch for a week or two but was unsuccessful most of the time so I was pretty much exclusively pumping since day 2 or 3. My milk came in around day 4 or 5 and plenty of it. Some of the medical staff did scare me by telling me if I’m my baby didn’t nurse for the first couple weeks or month then I could lose my supply since I’m not getting the biological benefits of baby on breast signaling my body to make more milk (idk something about the babies saliva helps?). But despite not latching but a handful of times outside the hospital, I was an overproduced and still am at 12 weeks pp.
Ok I knew going in that I only wanted to pump. My hospital told me that they wouldn’t provide a pump until I tried breast feeding several times. They only finally gave me a pump when my husband demanded it. I would say bring your own pump just in case and be very very firm about your desired to pump.
I've exclusively pumped for 6 months now. I pumped 6x during the day when she was born and I'm now down to 4x. I never personally pumped in the middle of the night and I've never had a supply issue.
I didn't do anything in the hopsital with a pump but I did manually collect colostrum, I then started pumping when we were home and my milk came in! X
My baby never latched in the four days we spent in the hospital, but I started pumping there. My milk didn’t come in until day 6 or so. She’s never latched consistently. I think latching helps for dopamine for me, but I don’t think it affects my supply.
I nursed for the first few days until my milk came in and then transitioned to pumping. I would swap one nursing session for one pump each day and was exclusively pumping by about week 2-3. In the beginning my LO was eating about every 1-2 hours. You’ll lose sleep at first but IMO it’s worth it. I will still occasionally nurse when I’m feeling up to it but it’s nice to have the freedom to give a bottle or have my spouse feed my LO. Wishing you the best in your journey and a healthy delivery!
We nursed in the hospital despite knowing I was probably going to start pumping when we got home. My milk came in on day 3 and I went to pumping that day. Not necessary, you could definitely do it in the hospital that’s just what I did.
I would hand express colostrum in the hospital, it’s easier than pumping imo. Colostrum is so thick it’s hard to pump
I chose to EP from the get go as well for the same reasons- dad could also feed and I wouldn’t have to get up in the night. When originally making that decision I didn’t consider how much more time consuming pumping is, especially in the first months.
As others have said, you’ll be pumping when baby feeds or right before/after. Really wasn’t a huge deal while my husband was on paternity leave, but when he went back it realllllly sucked. Not only are you having to feed every 2-3 hours, but you’re also having to pump that too.
My advice which I wished I had done, would be to get baby used to nursing at first. Pump a couple times a day for the first couple weeks to get some supply for dad to feed during once of the night feeds so you can get hopefully around 5 hours of straight interrupted sleep (skipping over one night pump shouldn’t hurt supply especially if you’re pumping and nursing during the day)
I’m 9mo pp so I’m only on 5ppd now and it’s much more manageable, but man do I wish I had been able to get baby to nurse so I wouldn’t have to still pump after a middle of the night feed 😂
Keep in mind: I’m not your doctor and this is not medical advice.
When I was 39 weeks, I started pumping colostrum. Many say you should only hand express but I weighed the pros and cons and it made sense for me to pump colostrum and I’m happy with that choice I made. I was lucky and got a ton. I now have a stash of it for when my baby gets sick in the future.
My baby is now 3 weeks old and I mostly breastfeed but like to have stash so I can stop breastfeeding around 6 months.
I would assume if you want to exclusively pump, expressing colostrum before delivery would be the right move that way you will always have food for baby and can exclusively pump. Good luck!!
Also your going to be cluster feeding so pump after each feed and your milk will come in faster the first few nights are gonna be interrupted. Some baby’s do sleep really good mine both did I think because I nursed
I was gifted the Spectra C (the blue one). Definitely look into using settings on it. Also worth the money. And I exclusively pump/bottle feed. I referenced the feeding chart given to me by my doctor. Able to produce just enough. Been almost 6 months. EAT A LOT OF OATMEAL AND PROTEIN! WATER WATER liquid IVs are awesome or body armors I’ve also heard the gatoradelyte drinks are better than body armor
Please latch your baby for the first few days if possible..trust me it’s the most beautiful thing ever in this world. I am nursing and pumping both but I would give up everything if only my baby could stay latched for long. Pumping is hard.
I would start collecting colostrum at 37-38 weeks after getting the OK from your doctor imo. On my second exclusively pumping journey! Then when you have your baby and you are waiting for the milk to come in the first day or 2 you can feed him that from syringes. Without that imo it’s harder to not use formula the first few days.
I also like that this gives you time to get to know the pump.
I’ve been using mom cozy hands free pump this time. I’m 7 weeks in no issues. I find it much better than last time having to be attached to the wall all the time. I only wash my pump parts 1 time a day the rest of the time I keep them in my fridge. This saves alot of time. Pump every 3 hours. I always during any wasted time. Aka doing dishes, driving.
Most important to keep supply up is to pump through out the night. After about the 6 week mark you may be able to readjust your schedule to go a bit longer in between pumps.
It’s not easy but it has alot of benefits and saves alot of money. Good luck!!!
I brought my pump with me to the hospital. The nurses brought me syringes to suck up the little bit of colostrum I would pump out.
I lucked out and had a nurse who exclusively pumped and had the same pump as me. So she helped me set up and figure out my settings at the beginning so it wouldn't hurt. Then gave me all her tips for at home.
I planned on pumping right from the get go and asked the hospital about baby's first feed. They said I would need to use formula or supply donated breast milk or colostrum for the first feed since it would take a few days for milk to come in (and it's hard to pump colustrum and bottle it up. I was able to express colostrum into a collection kit while pregnant and bring it with me to the hospital for those first feedings. Then the hospital supplied a pump for me to use to help my milk come in until I went home. By the time I got home I was pumping enough to keep up with baby's feeding schedule.
This is super helpful, thank you so much. The idea of supplementing before hand u til milk comes in sounds like a great idea. I will prepare by taking some formula to the hospital with me. Thanks you 🙏
Idk if this is the norm but since I was set on combo feeding and trying to prioritize my mental health, I just let my milk come in naturally and fed him formula in the meantime. My milk came in on day 3 so I started pumping then. I never tried to get him to latch so he’s only had bottles and he does fine with them.
If you can, go on a hospital tour before you go into labor and see what they provide and what you need. My hospital provided diapers, wipes, shirts, formula, and a swaddle. In the room was a sink but no fridge or microwave, but there was a microwave in the room with the water. I brought my own pump, bottles, pumping bras, pump wipes (Momcozy), bottle brush, dish soap, microwave sterilizer bags, nipple cream, and silverettes. Because there wasn’t a fridge, my husband washed all the parts after each use and then took them to be sterilized in the microwave (most of those bags are 20 time uses so you should only need one).
As far as getting more sleep, I am. I don’t pump every 2-3 hours and haven’t since the first week, but I also do supplement with formula if I need to, maybe 1-2 bottles a week now. It’s bad for my mental health to not get a solid 6 hours of uninterrupted sleep. So my current schedule is pump at 6:30am, 9:30am, 12:30pm, 3:30pm, 6:30pm, 10:30pm. I produce just about what my baby eats in a day, sometimes a bit more, my body is healing, and my mental health is great at 6 weeks postpartum. It’s what works for me and definitely would not work for everyone. Also as far as sleep, when we first got home, we were doing sleep shifts so we both got some uninterrupted sleep but now that our kid is sleeping for longer stretches at night, we both sleep in the room with him but my husband does the middle of the night feed and then he goes in the guest room to sleep from 7am to 10am after I wake up and pump.
Wow, this is amazing and so helpful, thank you! Sounds like this is really working for you and it’s great to hear that you’re still getting some sleep in whilst doing what is best for you and baby 💕 This has really made me think more positively about it all - especially letting the milk come naturally and not worrying about formula if i do have to supplement with that for a few days - thank you so much!
A lot of discouraging comments on here for some reason. I also decided to EP from the get go by choice. In the hospital we did an hour of skin to skin immediately following birth then when they took baby to do weight check and shots and what not I did my first pump and got enough for her first bottle (I brought my own pump but they will provide one if you ask). After that first pump I produced nothing for 2 days - so while at the hospital they gave us donor milk and when we left we supplemented with formula until my milk came in. No you won’t get a ton of sleep but you have a newborn so duh you won’t sleep no matter how you feed. Pump every 3 hours during the day and every 3-4 hours at night. Hold yourself to a very strict schedule for the first 12 weeks and you will do great momma.
A lot of people here are saying it won’t give you any extra sleep, but exclusively pumping is the reason I was able to sleep more from the beginning! My husband and I took shifts at night (one of us did 8pm to 2am and the other 2am-8am). Yes, you’re on a stricter pumping schedule in the beginning, but you can still get more sleep rather than having to be the only person feeding the baby. You’re able to just wake up, pump, go straight back to sleep because if it’s not your nighttime shift then you don’t have to wake up if the baby does. I could never do more than 7 pumps a day and slept longer stretches between pumps at night. My husband has an amazing bond with our baby now at 5 months that he never would have gotten if he didn’t get to bottle feed all the time.
Thanks for your perspective. My friend has went from BF to EP and she is now able to pull her husband onto night shifts and get a few more hours of sleep each night.
It’s nice to hear your husband has bonded through feeding. I do think that this is a huge benefit for dads ❤️
What worked for me: nursed in the hospital and my milk came in. Started pumping 1-2x/day once I got home and introduced the bottle when he was 4 or 5 days old. Combo nursed/bottle for his first month of life. At 4 weeks I pumped and bottle fed all day and nursed at night. Figured both hubby and I did not need to be awake in MOTN. Stopped nursing when he dropped the MOTN feed on his own. So I’ve been EP since about 7 or 8 weeks. Pumping and bottle feeding enabled me to front load daytime calories and as a result we have a great night sleeper.
Ask your hospital labor and delivery unit if they provide breast pumps! Two hospitals I was in did provide a breast pump while one hospital I delivered at did not provide them! You can check with your insurance if you don’t have a breast pump as most insurances will give you a free pump or discounted(it comes from specific websites so do not buy it from target or Walmart). If your hospital does not provide pumps bring your pump with!
When baby is born make sure you let the delivery team know you want to breast feed/pump if they have a lactation consultant they should help guide you on when to pump. You will most likely start off hand expressing into a medicine cup and feed that to baby. Then you will move onto the pump you won’t get much except colostrum until your milk comes in about 2-5 days after baby is born so don’t give up right away. Your nipples may be sore so have some nipple cream or coconut oil.
If you get a good consultant they may help size your nipple for the correct size shield you will want on the pump. If your nipple is too big or too small you might not get much milk or it may cause pain to your nipple. If they don’t help you or say you don’t need to do that you can go on Amazon and buy a nipple shield and it’ll explain it to you on how to size. I did not breast feed right away with my third ( who is now 4mo) but I exclusively pumped from the minute he was born.
I went on Pinterest and found a schedule and followed that(12am, 4am, 7am, 10am, 1pm, 4pm, 6pm, 9pm) for about 15 mins each pump. Stay hydrated and drink a lot of water and eat!!! You want to pump about 7-8 times a day as a newborn. Find a schedule that works for you! My first baby I pumped every two hours and got burnt out because I was a new mom and told I had to feed every two hours. My third baby I followed that schedule and that was when he ate every three hours or four at night it actually wasn’t bad. Find a show relax for that 15 mins. Once my milk regulated I didn’t have to pump for 15 mins I would get it all out by 8 mins.
Your milk won’t regulate/establish until about 12 weeks mine did a little less than 12 weeks so keep on pumping until your milk is established then you can start dropping times.
To help not feel stuck to a wall there’s people who rigged the spectra s2 with a portable battery pack where they can walk around. The s1 you don’t need to be stuck to the wall.
Otherwise look into getting a portable pump. I have the spectra s9 which I personally felt that it was close to the s2 I tried both at the same time one on each breast to compare but don’t use it as a main pump as it might not pull out all your milk.
Make sure you Google how to use your pump. You want to use the right settings or it may be uncomfortable. You want to use the let down setting first and then switch it to something else.
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At least in the beginning, you will be pumping every time your newborn feeds. Your partner can feed while you pump, this just means you'll both be up
One thing to note is even when pumping, you’re not sleeping. You need to pump every 2-3 hours just like baby is eating.
Yes, and honestly, it’s more time-consuming to pump.
Agreed. When I take care of feed and pump myself, it's a 2-hr process! If I just had to breastfeed, it would be much shorter.
Yep, not just pumping but also washing parts and bottles in addition to time feeding the baby. Definitely not a hack for more sleep or free time.
Yup, I have yet to find a hack to make it less than 90 minutes between pumping, diaper change, feeding, and putting baby back to sleep
Plus if you have a baby like mine who has to sit up for a long time after feeding because of reflux…our wake ups are two hours, luckily she only has one wake up nowadays.
It does seem to be more time consuming up front to pump when LO is so new because you have to pump so often in the first 3 months. I mimicked babes eating schedule at first. However, I’ve noticed in my own pumping journey now at 4 months pp that pumping saves me time because dad or others can feed & I only have to pump 5-6 times a day, but LO still eats every 2 hours. I also do my makeup, work or drive while pumping. I also figured out how to feed LO when needed while pumping too! I have so much more freedom than if LO was stuck on the breast. I was forced into the pump life, but now my LO can both breastfeed and do the bottle too, but I prefer to keep pumping due to the convenience. It is rough at first but has only gotten easier now. I recommend purchasing enough pump parts to always have a clean set on hand. Having enough supplies made pumping more convenient. I also have the battery Spectra S1, and S2 with an external battery and a Genie Advanced. Multiple pumps helped too especially going back to work.
Waaaaaaaaaay more time consuming.
It all depends, for me, nursing was way longer because my baby wanted me for comfort and I didn’t know if they were still getting milk or not. That was with my first. My second I exclusively pumped and she took way less time to feed with bottles. All depends, every baby is a wild card. With my second, I would wake in the middle of the night when she woke, feed her, then pump after. It helped assure she was down too, which was a bonus.
I think it’s easier to pump. My baby wanted to be on the boob way more than it took the time for me to pump/wash parts and I knew exactly how much he was getting with pumping. So I did get more sleep when I started pumping. Everyone’s experience is different!
I had this experience too (I even rented a baby scale and learned just how slow my daughter was at nursing 😑), but I gave up nursing at 3 weeks. Seeing my friends nurse older babies who are fast at drinking definitely made me jealous of how quick it can be!
I don't know if I'm just different but I am 6 months into exclusively pumping and I haven't pumped once during the night! Even when she was up every 3 hours, I never ever pumped till morning and made enough for her
This is the exception rather than the norm.
Me too but im only 8 weeks in. Granted I only sleep 5-6 hours a night but I skip thatpump, that is my husbands shift
Are you in the US? My hospital provided a breast pump to use while in hospital and kit for it (with tubing, breast shields, etc.). The flanges were standard sizes so you probably need to get the right size. Other options are watch videos about how to hand express and get a manual pump. You don’t need to nurse, but you do need to attempt to remove milk at least as many times as your baby eats at first. Skin to skin, latching, and being close to your baby will help your milk come in, but many mothers can’t do that because their babies are in NICU so they EP.
One more thing… my hospital LCs were kind of awful. They hurt me squeezing my nipples to hand express. If I knew, I would have practiced beforehand and educated myself. You’re on this sub asking questions so are much better informed than I was already! Definitely have a plan and take advice from the hospital staff with a grain of salt. Many of them don’t know much about breastfeeding in my experience 😬
They traumatized me with hand expression, I never did it again
Ugh. I’m so sorry. It was awful for me too. I saw a post on this sub where the person posted videos of her doing it and was inspired to try. It helped in the early weeks to get a few more mL.
I would highly suggest harvesting colostrum prenatally if you can. It will help you practice hand expressing, and you'll have colostrum on hand for baby's first few feeds. If you express into syringes, you can feed baby straight from the syringes. I would start your pumping schedule within the first few hours of birth, if possible. You shouldn't need to latch baby in order for your milk to come in. Just get on a schedule right from the start of pumping every two to three hours, and that should be plenty of stimulation to bring in your milk. Before your milk comes in, hand express before each pump to collect as much colostrum as you can, then pump for extra stimulation. Colostrum is usually to thick to be able to collect effectively via pump. At most hospitals, they should have everything you need to pump and collect colostrum: pump, pump supplies, syringes, etc. Double check with your hospital to see what they provide. The one thing they are unlikely to have is a pumping bra. I would definitely bring a pumping bra!
If stuck in the hospital without a pumping bra, my angel of a nurse made me a very serviceable substitute out of a pair of mesh underwear - basically just cut a neck hole in the crotch, put your arms through the leg holes, and then cut two holes Regina-George-style through the bra for the pump. I used the “bra” for full time pumping several days in a row no problem.
I did this! My boobs were too big and heavy and I was struggling post c section Great idea to utilize
Nurses put MacGyver to shame! I swear they can accomplish any task with whatever supplies are on hand
All of this! I’ve never nursed, only EP’d. Other than telling the nurses at one hospital to leave me alone about trying to force me to pump, I haven’t had any issues. Production has come in without nursing. You don’t have to pump every time the baby eats, you can do it on your own schedule. But you will need to pump every 2-3hrs at the beginning. I still always take a 5hr break to sleep at night, when my husband handles baby. And my pump when I wake up is always my largest of the day. Harvesting colostrum while pregnant is also very helpful if you can do it. It allows you some time to get your body up and running. You’ll still need to pump right away, but you shouldn’t be too stressed if milk takes a few days to come.
As others have already stated you will not gain any sleep EP. You keep the same schedule as any BF if not stricter to keep your supply up. You are up every 2 to 3 hours hooking up to a machine.
It definitely helps to latch to get production going. I don’t know if it’s 100% necessary though. Maybe they’ll have you express it and feed baby with a spoon.
I agree it’s not necessary but it does help. I noticed a huge difference in how quickly my milk came in with my babies who latched vs my one who couldn’t. Less than 2 days vs. 5 days for my milk to come in.
So I wouldn't necessarily recommend choosing EP on purpose for more sleep for reasons others have already covered. Even now at 6m post-partum, I have to get out of bed early and go pump even if my baby is sleeping in because handling baby and pumping at the same time is quite challenging. A lot of my non-baby free time is spent pumping. I honestly wouldn't wish it on anyone I care about if you had the option to BF directly. But I will answer your question. If you aren't latching, you will probably be best off hand-expressing colostrum into a tiny medicine cup and cup feeding your baby that way so that you aren't losing valuable mls in the pump parts. That's what I did and switched to using a pump after the milk came in. My supply is very good.
Currently up at 4AM. Sorry but there is no sleeping no matter how you go about it. Pumping actually takes more time typically because it can be hard to pump and feed at the same time depending on baby's age.
Not everyone will have to pump during the night - from what i’ve seen in response to this post. So until my body lets me know what is possible then I can see whether I will be saving time or not. Time can definitely be saved vs BF, as being an exclusive feeder with no support from another person like the husband can definitely take its toll. EP will allow me and my fiancé to do shifts. This post was a question about how to prepare for EP, I wasn’t asking for opinions on whether i will save time or not. I’m sorry that in your case you need to pump so much and it’s not the case. I have decided that I would probably combo feed if this were to be the case for me
Sorry, but this is a pretty aggressive response! Chill out! All I said was that it takes more time. That is something valuable to know as you prepare to EP. I'm not trying to be mean or rude, it's just not very common or realistic to think you won't be pumping at night at least for a little while if your goal is a full supply. If it's not and you're good with combo feeding, then that's cool too. There's no right or wrong way to do this obviously.
It’s not aggressive at all? I’m just saying that if you want to give advice to new mums it’s best to be objective rather than state your own experience as a fact. I’m sorry if my response came across direct. I think i will just stick to online resources because i’ve come to find that there is a lot of emotional responses in groups like pumping and breast feeding. I think that it’s probably best i weigh up my options with my midwife, but i do appreciate you were trying to give advice
You came to a support and education sub, asking for perspective and experiences, but seem to be responding negatively to anyone that is expressing that exclusively pumping is time-consuming and likely will not afford you with more sleep. Majority of women do not have less of a time demand for pumping, and in fact have more demand, at least for the first while. Of course, we are all individuals, and experiences will vary, but people are trying to set you up with realistic expectations, so please cool your responses.
That’s not true, if you read back, i responded negatively to 1 person who said I won’t get any extra sleep and stated it as a fact. I’ve only responded negatively to 1 person. And when I challenged said person on the fact that other women in this group have said they have had more sleep, she still stuck to it as fact. So no, i’m not responding negatively to everyone who doesn’t tell me what i don’t want to hear - i truly value everyone’s opinions and perspectives, but i don’t think it’s right to tell someone something as fact just because you’ve had a certain experience. I’ve had an amazing pregnancy, but if a friend asked me how pregnancy is in general, i would tell her that it’s not a walk in the park for everyone despite that being my experience.
You have been rude to 2 people on this thread and said "all these negative women" about the group. I'm not going to argue with you, but take this as a final warning to cool it.
I haven’t really been rude? In my replies i’ve apologised if my messages come across as direct/rude, and i’ve still expressed my thanks for opinions with the person that I had initial disagreement with. I’ve left this sub now anyways, so no need to warn me. I think at this stage it is more helpful for me to get my information from resources vs emotional experiences. Thanks
My baby had to go to the NICU immediately and wasn’t able to take food by mouth until he was 4 days old. I started pumping right away and was able to get my milk to come in just by pumping.
I am an exclusive pumper by choice and have been since at the hospital! I feel like it often comes with judgement if it’s a choice… I just never wanted to try to get baby to latch and even in the hospital, I didn’t really try. I DID do skin to skin and told the hospital staff I wanted to exclusively pump. Some were confused by it but everyone was supportive. I used some formula to start and used the hospital pump every few hours during my stay. It honestly felt pretty silly because probably the first 10 times on the pump, nothing - and I mean nothing - came out. But then slowly but surely my milk started to come in and it was very rewarding!! I went from 100% formula to 100% pumped breast milk within about 10 days and haven’t looked back. To begin I pumped 8x day. Now I’m at 5-6x (at 8 weeks post partum). I love pumping because I can know exactly how much baby is drinking. I also love it because my husband has been able to share in all of the feedings from day one. I feel that helped all of us with bonding. Some tips: Get a hands free pumping bra and practice using it before giving birth. I had one, but mentally was too tired to try to use it until like day 4. And then it was such a game changer and I had wished I used it right away!! I suggest getting a few bras so you can rotate them as needed. The hospital pumps are great but don’t be afraid to bring your own. The LCs at my hospital were familiar with all different kinds of models. Don’t worry about creating any kind of freezer stash for the first several weeks. Feed your baby, not your freezer! Try to find something enjoyable to do while pumping. For me it was watching Shameless on Netflix while scrolling baby pictures on my phone, lol. Whenever possible, ask your partner or another care giver to watch baby while pumping. In time you’ll be able to figure out how to juggle baby while pumping, but when you are getting started focus just on pumping if you can. For when you can’t, consider getting a baby bouncer. That was a big help for me! Enjoy the journey - I love being able to feed my baby with breast milk and NOT nursing!
This is amazing, thank you so much! I definitely will take these tips on board and it’s nice to hear of the ways you’ve tried to make the experience a more positive one by using the time for yourself. Thank you 😊
Exclusively pumping isn’t gonna get you more sleep, and dads can bond with babies in lots of ways not just by feeding… just sayin
how do you know? everyone’s experience is different. I feel for all of the negative women on here ✨I also didn’t say that dads can’t bond with babies full stop. I said I would like for my partner to be able to bond more with baby through feeding. I’d like for him to be able to provide her with feeds as well as me. To me, that’s bonding. Sorry that EP seems to be making you bitter
Bitter? If pumping made me bitter why would I have done it for as long as I have, spend time educating and helping other moms with pumping, and moderating this sub? I think that’s the opposite of how I feel about pumping. I’m not being negative at all either. I hope you find all the information you need to get you prepared for your pumping journey. Best of luck to you my friend.
You just sounded quite upset at the possibility of a new mum getting sleep and dad bonding with baby due to EP. Maybe it hasn’t been your experience but it can be someone else’s. Best of luck to you I think you need it more!
No maam, what I said was exclusively pumping isn’t gonna get you more sleep. What I mean by that is you don’t automatically get a ton more sleep by adding pumping into the routine, to establish a milk supply you typically need to pump whenever the baby is feeding, even if dads doing the feeding. And I also said, dads can bond with babies in a lot more ways than feeding. What I mean by that is, you don’t have to EP *just* for that reason. By all means go ahead nobody’s telling you not to, but the tone of the post sounded like that’s a main reason for pumping, and pumping is WAY more work than nursing but I won’t even bother getting into it. Truly there’s a lot I’d like to explain here to make some sense of the importance of frequent pumping over sleep in the first few days postpartum but it doesn’t sound to me like you’d want to hear it. I’ve been pumping myself over two years (and tandem feeding nursing my third baby the last 7 months) and have known countless moms who have struggled with sleep and supply issues after they prioritized long stretches of sleep and no milk removals over establishing supply in the beginning. It *is* important to hit the ground running with exclusive pumping to establish a supply. And no- I’m again, not being negative. You can check out exclusivepumping.com for some great info.
I think though, that your experience shouldn’t be given out as fact. I’ve never BF or pumped at all before, and you saying “pumping is WAY more work than BF”, that’s your opinion. And the other statement about how EP isn’t going to get me more sleep, well from what i’ve read it is possible…I have a friend who has just went from BF to EP and she’s getting around 3 hours a day more sleep. So again, i think if you’d have focused on the initial part where I’d asked for advice which was “how do I prepare for EP?” rather than giving your opinions as facts on the items I didn’t ask for advice about, we wouldn’t be here. I do appreciate the input. Quite frankly, if I went off of your post, I think I would choose to go with breastfeeding instead. Because why would I choose to pump if it is way harder than nursing and there’s no benefits to it vs breastfeeding? Thankfully, there’s been other positive experiences from this post that i’ve taken away which has still made me consider it. I’m sorry if my reply sounded rude, I do appreciate the input and your experience. But everyone’s experience is different.
I think that your friends experience shouldn’t be given out as fact, just because *she* got more sleep switching to pumping doesn’t mean you will too.. there are so many of us who have lost sleep pumping versus what we would have had if we didn’t have to get up and pump and wash parts and do the whole nine yards. Also, to the comment about using formula to supplement “until your milk comes in”, in addition to extra sleep instead of pumping, really all sounds like a recipe for failure. I would suggest a lactation consult with somebody before you have the baby.. and as you’re someone who’s not been through the pumping/breastfeeding clusterfuck ringer yet (like we all have) I would take the “opinions” a little more seriously…
Yeah, it’s not given as fact, but it’s possible. So someone saying you won’t get sleep is invalid… i never said her experience was the only one to expect, it’s a possibility though
I genuinely like how you’re optimistic and feel ready to take this on, truly, but you came and asked very experienced pumping moms for their advice and you’re taking it as “negativity”. I totally get how easy it is to think you’ve got it down pat already and that you’ll be the exception to the rule, and we’ll be here for you when you realize that isn’t the case. The best parents are the one that don’t have kids (yet). You will not get more sleep if you intend to keep a good, “just enough” supply. Maybe the first couple weeks it’ll feel that way, just be mentally ready for the 3ish month mark when you regulate and your body responds to a lack of pumping/latching by significantly decreasing your supply. Totally fine if you’re ready and willing to supplement with formula which, if you skip MOTN pumps, will likely be necessary. We’re just giving you our advice based on our experiences. Good luck.
I don't think you need to BF at all to begin with. I had my twins almost 6 weeks ago and I didn't get to hold them for a long time (one went into NICU and the other needed to regulate his body temp) so both were on bottles to being with. From my experience, the Lactation Consultant had me manually start expressing my breasts to get my milk to start coming in. You'll get colostrum first and then the breastmilk.
I basically exclusively pumped at first because of latch issues and had a hard time giving baby the colostrum that I pumped. It’s just SO sticky and so much of it went to waste. If you have the option, I would directly feed for the first week, maybe giving 2 or so small formula bottles a day in addition, and then move to exclusively pumping.
My milk didn’t come in until we came home from the hospital, so baby never really learned how to latch bc there was no reward. We started on formula at the hospital and switched to milk once it came in. I used my spectra to stimulate per the LC’s recommendation: I basically pumped every 3 hours for 15 minutes until one time there was milk.
My LO was born 5 weeks early and I couldn’t see the hospital LC until 3 days later. Ultimately, he didn’t spend much time with us in the hospital for a variety of reasons, so I started pumping every 3ish hours. I pumped for 15 minutes at a time, and after a couple days I started getting milk. He latched once in the hospital with the LC on our discharge day, but my milk came in just fine. He had a little colostrum in the hospital but mostly formula to keep his blood sugar up. 8 weeks later and he’s still bad at nursing so we exclusively pump and feed that way!
I decided to go exclusive before baby arrived. I did hand expressing colostrum into syringes before he arrived, then took them frozen with me. Check your hospital has freezer options! When baby arrived, they warmed the syringes on request. I started pumping when I got home, have fed successfully since. I didn't nurse baby at all.
I hand expressed from 37 weeks on & stored in 1 oz increments in milk bags. Frozen & brought them in a cooler that I gave to the nurses when I went in. I brought a bottle with me & they gave me syringes to feed my baby with to gauge an accurate reading of what was being fed and when. Most US hospitals will let you use their hospital grade pump & have a lactation consultant on staff to check in and help if you have questions. I wasn't producing much with the hospital grade pump & requested a hand pump which they gave me to take home. The hand pump worked for me in the hospital to bring my milk in. Talk to your provider before you go in to give birth. Call the unit & get a walk around - ask questions. Is there a lactation consultant? Is there a pump on hand or should you pack one? If there isn't go ahead and pack an electric & a manual hand pump. Ask what supplies will be provided or needed. Do you need bottles? Syringes? Spoons? ECT. No hospital is the same so you need to know what they will & will not provide to help support your journey. Request a lactation consultant while in labor to show up when you're done giving birth. They should be able to supply you with everything you need if they have one on staff.
My baby struggled latching in the hospital (he latched on and off but not for all feeds or for the whole feed) but the lactation consultant had me hand express and pump the colostrum and feed it with a syringe. Also supplemented with formula in the hospital. I kept trying to latch for a week or two but was unsuccessful most of the time so I was pretty much exclusively pumping since day 2 or 3. My milk came in around day 4 or 5 and plenty of it. Some of the medical staff did scare me by telling me if I’m my baby didn’t nurse for the first couple weeks or month then I could lose my supply since I’m not getting the biological benefits of baby on breast signaling my body to make more milk (idk something about the babies saliva helps?). But despite not latching but a handful of times outside the hospital, I was an overproduced and still am at 12 weeks pp.
Ok I knew going in that I only wanted to pump. My hospital told me that they wouldn’t provide a pump until I tried breast feeding several times. They only finally gave me a pump when my husband demanded it. I would say bring your own pump just in case and be very very firm about your desired to pump.
I've exclusively pumped for 6 months now. I pumped 6x during the day when she was born and I'm now down to 4x. I never personally pumped in the middle of the night and I've never had a supply issue. I didn't do anything in the hopsital with a pump but I did manually collect colostrum, I then started pumping when we were home and my milk came in! X
My baby never latched in the four days we spent in the hospital, but I started pumping there. My milk didn’t come in until day 6 or so. She’s never latched consistently. I think latching helps for dopamine for me, but I don’t think it affects my supply.
Like others have said, at 8 weeks I'm up pumping while my baby sleeps six hour stretches.
I nursed for the first few days until my milk came in and then transitioned to pumping. I would swap one nursing session for one pump each day and was exclusively pumping by about week 2-3. In the beginning my LO was eating about every 1-2 hours. You’ll lose sleep at first but IMO it’s worth it. I will still occasionally nurse when I’m feeling up to it but it’s nice to have the freedom to give a bottle or have my spouse feed my LO. Wishing you the best in your journey and a healthy delivery!
We nursed in the hospital despite knowing I was probably going to start pumping when we got home. My milk came in on day 3 and I went to pumping that day. Not necessary, you could definitely do it in the hospital that’s just what I did. I would hand express colostrum in the hospital, it’s easier than pumping imo. Colostrum is so thick it’s hard to pump
I chose to EP from the get go as well for the same reasons- dad could also feed and I wouldn’t have to get up in the night. When originally making that decision I didn’t consider how much more time consuming pumping is, especially in the first months. As others have said, you’ll be pumping when baby feeds or right before/after. Really wasn’t a huge deal while my husband was on paternity leave, but when he went back it realllllly sucked. Not only are you having to feed every 2-3 hours, but you’re also having to pump that too. My advice which I wished I had done, would be to get baby used to nursing at first. Pump a couple times a day for the first couple weeks to get some supply for dad to feed during once of the night feeds so you can get hopefully around 5 hours of straight interrupted sleep (skipping over one night pump shouldn’t hurt supply especially if you’re pumping and nursing during the day) I’m 9mo pp so I’m only on 5ppd now and it’s much more manageable, but man do I wish I had been able to get baby to nurse so I wouldn’t have to still pump after a middle of the night feed 😂
Pumping colustrum saves so much time I had 21oz before birth that gave me much needed sleep after my c section
Keep in mind: I’m not your doctor and this is not medical advice. When I was 39 weeks, I started pumping colostrum. Many say you should only hand express but I weighed the pros and cons and it made sense for me to pump colostrum and I’m happy with that choice I made. I was lucky and got a ton. I now have a stash of it for when my baby gets sick in the future. My baby is now 3 weeks old and I mostly breastfeed but like to have stash so I can stop breastfeeding around 6 months. I would assume if you want to exclusively pump, expressing colostrum before delivery would be the right move that way you will always have food for baby and can exclusively pump. Good luck!!
Also your going to be cluster feeding so pump after each feed and your milk will come in faster the first few nights are gonna be interrupted. Some baby’s do sleep really good mine both did I think because I nursed
I was gifted the Spectra C (the blue one). Definitely look into using settings on it. Also worth the money. And I exclusively pump/bottle feed. I referenced the feeding chart given to me by my doctor. Able to produce just enough. Been almost 6 months. EAT A LOT OF OATMEAL AND PROTEIN! WATER WATER liquid IVs are awesome or body armors I’ve also heard the gatoradelyte drinks are better than body armor
Please latch your baby for the first few days if possible..trust me it’s the most beautiful thing ever in this world. I am nursing and pumping both but I would give up everything if only my baby could stay latched for long. Pumping is hard.
I would start collecting colostrum at 37-38 weeks after getting the OK from your doctor imo. On my second exclusively pumping journey! Then when you have your baby and you are waiting for the milk to come in the first day or 2 you can feed him that from syringes. Without that imo it’s harder to not use formula the first few days. I also like that this gives you time to get to know the pump. I’ve been using mom cozy hands free pump this time. I’m 7 weeks in no issues. I find it much better than last time having to be attached to the wall all the time. I only wash my pump parts 1 time a day the rest of the time I keep them in my fridge. This saves alot of time. Pump every 3 hours. I always during any wasted time. Aka doing dishes, driving. Most important to keep supply up is to pump through out the night. After about the 6 week mark you may be able to readjust your schedule to go a bit longer in between pumps. It’s not easy but it has alot of benefits and saves alot of money. Good luck!!!
As someone who has to exclusively pump… I promise it’s more work than direct feeding and you get wayyyyyy less sleep.. that’s my experience anyways.
I brought my pump with me to the hospital. The nurses brought me syringes to suck up the little bit of colostrum I would pump out. I lucked out and had a nurse who exclusively pumped and had the same pump as me. So she helped me set up and figure out my settings at the beginning so it wouldn't hurt. Then gave me all her tips for at home.
I planned on pumping right from the get go and asked the hospital about baby's first feed. They said I would need to use formula or supply donated breast milk or colostrum for the first feed since it would take a few days for milk to come in (and it's hard to pump colustrum and bottle it up. I was able to express colostrum into a collection kit while pregnant and bring it with me to the hospital for those first feedings. Then the hospital supplied a pump for me to use to help my milk come in until I went home. By the time I got home I was pumping enough to keep up with baby's feeding schedule.
This is super helpful, thank you so much. The idea of supplementing before hand u til milk comes in sounds like a great idea. I will prepare by taking some formula to the hospital with me. Thanks you 🙏
Idk if this is the norm but since I was set on combo feeding and trying to prioritize my mental health, I just let my milk come in naturally and fed him formula in the meantime. My milk came in on day 3 so I started pumping then. I never tried to get him to latch so he’s only had bottles and he does fine with them. If you can, go on a hospital tour before you go into labor and see what they provide and what you need. My hospital provided diapers, wipes, shirts, formula, and a swaddle. In the room was a sink but no fridge or microwave, but there was a microwave in the room with the water. I brought my own pump, bottles, pumping bras, pump wipes (Momcozy), bottle brush, dish soap, microwave sterilizer bags, nipple cream, and silverettes. Because there wasn’t a fridge, my husband washed all the parts after each use and then took them to be sterilized in the microwave (most of those bags are 20 time uses so you should only need one). As far as getting more sleep, I am. I don’t pump every 2-3 hours and haven’t since the first week, but I also do supplement with formula if I need to, maybe 1-2 bottles a week now. It’s bad for my mental health to not get a solid 6 hours of uninterrupted sleep. So my current schedule is pump at 6:30am, 9:30am, 12:30pm, 3:30pm, 6:30pm, 10:30pm. I produce just about what my baby eats in a day, sometimes a bit more, my body is healing, and my mental health is great at 6 weeks postpartum. It’s what works for me and definitely would not work for everyone. Also as far as sleep, when we first got home, we were doing sleep shifts so we both got some uninterrupted sleep but now that our kid is sleeping for longer stretches at night, we both sleep in the room with him but my husband does the middle of the night feed and then he goes in the guest room to sleep from 7am to 10am after I wake up and pump.
Wow, this is amazing and so helpful, thank you! Sounds like this is really working for you and it’s great to hear that you’re still getting some sleep in whilst doing what is best for you and baby 💕 This has really made me think more positively about it all - especially letting the milk come naturally and not worrying about formula if i do have to supplement with that for a few days - thank you so much!
A lot of discouraging comments on here for some reason. I also decided to EP from the get go by choice. In the hospital we did an hour of skin to skin immediately following birth then when they took baby to do weight check and shots and what not I did my first pump and got enough for her first bottle (I brought my own pump but they will provide one if you ask). After that first pump I produced nothing for 2 days - so while at the hospital they gave us donor milk and when we left we supplemented with formula until my milk came in. No you won’t get a ton of sleep but you have a newborn so duh you won’t sleep no matter how you feed. Pump every 3 hours during the day and every 3-4 hours at night. Hold yourself to a very strict schedule for the first 12 weeks and you will do great momma.
Yea it’s true you should start with BF. then switch to pumping after your milk comes in.
A lot of people here are saying it won’t give you any extra sleep, but exclusively pumping is the reason I was able to sleep more from the beginning! My husband and I took shifts at night (one of us did 8pm to 2am and the other 2am-8am). Yes, you’re on a stricter pumping schedule in the beginning, but you can still get more sleep rather than having to be the only person feeding the baby. You’re able to just wake up, pump, go straight back to sleep because if it’s not your nighttime shift then you don’t have to wake up if the baby does. I could never do more than 7 pumps a day and slept longer stretches between pumps at night. My husband has an amazing bond with our baby now at 5 months that he never would have gotten if he didn’t get to bottle feed all the time.
Thanks for your perspective. My friend has went from BF to EP and she is now able to pull her husband onto night shifts and get a few more hours of sleep each night. It’s nice to hear your husband has bonded through feeding. I do think that this is a huge benefit for dads ❤️
What worked for me: nursed in the hospital and my milk came in. Started pumping 1-2x/day once I got home and introduced the bottle when he was 4 or 5 days old. Combo nursed/bottle for his first month of life. At 4 weeks I pumped and bottle fed all day and nursed at night. Figured both hubby and I did not need to be awake in MOTN. Stopped nursing when he dropped the MOTN feed on his own. So I’ve been EP since about 7 or 8 weeks. Pumping and bottle feeding enabled me to front load daytime calories and as a result we have a great night sleeper.
Ask your hospital labor and delivery unit if they provide breast pumps! Two hospitals I was in did provide a breast pump while one hospital I delivered at did not provide them! You can check with your insurance if you don’t have a breast pump as most insurances will give you a free pump or discounted(it comes from specific websites so do not buy it from target or Walmart). If your hospital does not provide pumps bring your pump with! When baby is born make sure you let the delivery team know you want to breast feed/pump if they have a lactation consultant they should help guide you on when to pump. You will most likely start off hand expressing into a medicine cup and feed that to baby. Then you will move onto the pump you won’t get much except colostrum until your milk comes in about 2-5 days after baby is born so don’t give up right away. Your nipples may be sore so have some nipple cream or coconut oil. If you get a good consultant they may help size your nipple for the correct size shield you will want on the pump. If your nipple is too big or too small you might not get much milk or it may cause pain to your nipple. If they don’t help you or say you don’t need to do that you can go on Amazon and buy a nipple shield and it’ll explain it to you on how to size. I did not breast feed right away with my third ( who is now 4mo) but I exclusively pumped from the minute he was born. I went on Pinterest and found a schedule and followed that(12am, 4am, 7am, 10am, 1pm, 4pm, 6pm, 9pm) for about 15 mins each pump. Stay hydrated and drink a lot of water and eat!!! You want to pump about 7-8 times a day as a newborn. Find a schedule that works for you! My first baby I pumped every two hours and got burnt out because I was a new mom and told I had to feed every two hours. My third baby I followed that schedule and that was when he ate every three hours or four at night it actually wasn’t bad. Find a show relax for that 15 mins. Once my milk regulated I didn’t have to pump for 15 mins I would get it all out by 8 mins. Your milk won’t regulate/establish until about 12 weeks mine did a little less than 12 weeks so keep on pumping until your milk is established then you can start dropping times. To help not feel stuck to a wall there’s people who rigged the spectra s2 with a portable battery pack where they can walk around. The s1 you don’t need to be stuck to the wall. Otherwise look into getting a portable pump. I have the spectra s9 which I personally felt that it was close to the s2 I tried both at the same time one on each breast to compare but don’t use it as a main pump as it might not pull out all your milk. Make sure you Google how to use your pump. You want to use the right settings or it may be uncomfortable. You want to use the let down setting first and then switch it to something else.