Our Breastfeeding Journey, Part 2 - Pumping

Man oh man... pumping at work was extremely hard to adjust to!!! It took me a few weeks to really get down a rhythm. Here's what ended up working for me:

Work Days: 

• Nurse baby when he woke up. 
• Early days: Pump before I left home (I had an oversupply and would leak on the way to work). Eventually I would cut out the morning pump, when my supply regulated and my baby started waking up/nursing closer to the time we left home.
• Pump at work 3x's a day, every 3 hours (scheduled on my work calendar). 
• Nurse baby at daycare pickup or right when we get home. 
• Nurse on demand throughout the night. Night feedings stopped when my baby was about 6 months old. When he stopped nursing at night, I would sometimes pump at midnight (or 3 hours after his last nursing session) because I was engorged and leaking. 

Weekends: nurse on demand and pump (1-2x's, if engorged) 

My baby started daycare a little after he turned 3 months old. He started with only 3 oz of breast milk, every 3 hours. This would start increasing to 4 oz. By the time he was 10-12 months, he was drinking 5-6 oz. Never went above 6 oz. 

Anything I pumped would be saved for the next day. If I had excess (in the beginning), I would either freeze or carry over to the next day. Monday's I used what I pumped over the weekend or used frozen milk. 

Kiinde System 

I used the Kiinde system and LOVE It. I was pumping directly into the bags, but then I stopped doing that and would pump into the bottles - then transition to the bags. The reason was, I was trying to get the right ounces in each bag. My baby used the slow nipple that came with the Kiinde and we never changed that. 

Daycare

I will say, I love our daycare. I really do. But they are very uneducated on breast fed babies. I tried to teach them to Pace feed - but I know that they didn't always do it - would depend on who was feeding him. They told me to change to a fast pace nipple, I told them no. The told me to up his ounces, I told them no. I tried to educate, but didn't force anything. Just told them why we weren't going to change anything. 

Low Supply Issues 

Eventually, my supply started to go down. It started when we started introducing solid foods at 6 months and he stopped nursing throughout the night. I went from an oversupply to barely being able to pump enough for the next day. By 6-7 months, I had almost used ALL of my frozen supply - which freaked me out. 

However, even with low supply issues - I managed to make it to one year without having to supplement. I did add extra pump sessions in, when I could, to make up for the gap. 

Nursing Attire 

The one big challenge I had with nursing and pumping is that I had to wear nursing clothes all the time. Since I was pumping at work, I needed "access" - so always wore a nursing bra and clothes everywhere. I stopped using a nursing cover for various reasons: 1) it was too hot, 2) my baby hated it and would push it away, and 3) I became more comfortable using the double shirt method. I always wore a tank top under my shirt. I nursed in a lot of public places and never had anyone comment on it. It wasn't always comfortable for me... but really, you couldn't see anything. I never thought I would be comfortable nursing without a cover... so was very surprised that I managed to do it for so long. I think we ditched the nursing cover at about 2-3 months old.

Pumping Supplies

• 3 sets of flanges (I left one at home and brought two to work) 
• Extra duckbill valves (replaced every 3 months)
• Dry/Wet bag to put my pumping items into and place in the refrigerator 
• Pumping bag 
• Milk bag
• Bottles 
• Kiinde bags 
• Labels (I would label the Kiinde bags at work) 
• Blue ice packs 
• Pumping bra 
• Manual pump 
• Medela sanitizing bags 
• Extra nursing pads (disposable and reusable) 
• A burp rag to protect my clothes (had instances where breast milk spilled on my work clothes) 

Next Breastfeeding entry: Nursing an older infant