Sqeeze Em Good! Week 4/5 Summary

The Importance of Emptying the Jugs!

Unfortunately, you can't just sit back and let the pump do all the work, you have got to massage those breasts until you know you got every drop out. See, emptying the milk ducts are super important, not just because every drop of Breast Milk is like liquid gold (and trust me it is) but also because emptying your breasts stimulates your body to make more milk. Prolactin (the hormone in charge of your milk supply) is stimulated by breast feeding, and the more you empty your breasts the more your body thinks "Oh my breasts are empty, time to produce more milk."


How do I ensure my breasts are empty?

Okay its pretty simple, especially if you have milked a cow, but for those of you not in 4H here is the skinny: squeeze those suckers from top to bottom continuously. Obviously you only have two hands so its not imperative to squeeze both at the same time. Massage each part of your breasts, when you see milk come out stay in that area until it stops, this ensures that you emptied that duct for the moment. It helps also to massage the breasts when you have a let down. It is important to massage areas that feel like hard, painful lumps as these can be blocked milk ducts. Warm compresses help open up your mild ducts. If you have a "lump" that doesn't seem to go away with massage or compress, see your care provider for further investigation.

Don't forget those hard to reach places?

The area around the nipple and aureole have milk ducts, so do not forget to massage them to collect as much milk as possible. Often times its hard to do so with the breast shields and the pump, I find I lose suction when I do this, therefore, I often hand express that area after I am done pumping. The downside? It is difficult to collect the milk that you hand express, often I do this into a towel and kiss that liquid gold goodbye.

How do I know I am empty?

They say that 5-10 minutes after your final let down you are finished pumping. For me, I have three let downs per pump, and I often consider myself done when I squeeze and squeeze and no milk comes out. That is when I detach from the pump and hand express those hard to reach places.

Week 4 and 5 Summary:

Due to the move, I decided to combine the last two weeks together as they have passed by in a blur. Ethan is now 9 weeks old, he weighs 12 lbs 3 oz and has grown 2 inches. All in all, my baby boy is doing great! He is getting proper nutrition and we seemed to have settled into a routine. I still cannot find time to increase to 6 pumps a day, so I have decided to accept the amount of milk I am making a day (20=23 oz) and enjoy this stage of Ethan's life as is (we still supplement with formula).

Moving was definitely a challenge, we flew and I have to pump at the airport. Our flight was at 6:30 am, so I pumped at 3 am before we left for the airport (we had to get there early to get through security with all our liquids) and then at 6 am before we boarded. I found an empty gate, faced the window and put on my hooter hider and pumped. It was uncomfortable but necessary. I wanted to pump during our layover but the airport was full of NCAA baseball teams and there was not private spot to pump. I considered pumping in the airplane but I couldn't do it. Therefore, I waited 15 hours between pumps, this is not recommended, but I had to do it. I leaked through tow breast pads and had to pump for 1 hour. But I still managed to pump 4 times that day.

For those who are planning on traveling, a longer layover might be helpful to ensure pumping time. Pumping on the plane could be tough especially if there is turbulence. Also, if you plan on traveling when your child eats often and you need to tote along breast milk, plan on a longer stop at security. FAA regulations state that formula or breast milk are not considered a liquid, therefore you can bring along as much as you like, but they are subject for search. Also, you can bring an ice pack to use as a cooling device.

We finally have Ethan sleeping better during the day. I found that in order to sleep train the kid, I had to let him CIO (Cry it out). It was so tough those first days but now I put him down in his crib and he falls asleep without too much fuss. Initially, we had to rock him for an hour and even then he only stayed asleep for 30 minutes. Now I put in the crib and he lays there, coos to his stuffed animal and falls asleep. At times he cries out and I have to fight every instinct to comfort him, but he usually settles down and falls asleep. Now he sleeps for an hour or even more. I don't ever let him get frantic, if it gets to that point I comfort him. Now that he has a better schedule I am able to relax and pump. I find that its a great time to journal, catch up on paperwork, or even rest. I have friends though who have the MEdela Free style pump that clips to their belt, that paired with a hands free bra and they do the laundry and get things done around the house. But don't forget to empty those breasts!

I feel like the pumping has gotten less burdensome, my friend even came over the other day and she too had to pump, so we had a pumping party! Remember though, you have to find what fits for you. Don't kill yourself because in the end a happy mom is a happy baby (I know I have said that but its important to remember.)

Next Post: Mastitis and Week 6 Summary

Pump-A-Thon and Week 3 summary

Sorry this took so long, in the throws of moving I neglected the blog, its pretty tough to pack up in order to move cross country with a newborn in the house!

PUMP A THON!

So in order to increase my supply I had read that a Pump-a-Thon could help. A Pump-A-Thon (or what I will refer to as a POT) entails pumping every 2 hours until empty for 24 hours. Sounds time consuming and crazy right? It is.

Luckily I had my mother staying with me becuase my POT happen to coincide with another of Ethan's growth spurts. So essentially I never to got be with him that day, I was tied to the pump for most of the time and he was eating or sleeping, no time for play.

My supply had seemed to diminish which is why I chose to POT. Here are my results:

0800 pumped 4 oz in 30 minutes
1000 pumped 2.5 oz in 30 minutes
1200 pumped 2.5 oz in 35 minutes
1400 pumped 2 oz in 30 minutes
1600 pumped 1.5 oz in 30 minutes
1800 pumped 2 oz in 30 minutes
2000 pumped 1.5 oz in 25 minutes
2200 pumped 1.5 oz in 35 minutes
2400 pumped 1 oz in 30 minutes
0200 pumped 1 oz in 35 minutes
0400 pumped 4 oz in 30 minutes
0800 pumped 5 oz in 30 minutes

A total of 28.5 oz in 24 hours. Which had been just around what I was pumping, the point was to see reults in the next 24-48 hours.

Are you waiting for the come to Jesus moment, where it all turns around?

Well...thats not going to happen. My supply maybe increased to 3 more oz a day, and I was still pumping every 3 hours. I was miserable, I never got to be with Ethan becasue I was always pumping. Why not pump when he naps you ask? He never seemed to nap for me! He was so used to me trying to wake him up from when he was nursing that he was super alert and fought going to sleep. I thought newborns were supposed to be sleepy!
On top of it, I was in sooo much pain because I had the wrong size nipple sheilds.That was quickly corrrected with a trip to Babies R Us to purchase a bigger size, plus some motrin and lanolin cream.

I was in a pickle, I mean I wanted to get him off formula, but we were both miserable from not being together and him not napping well. I made an ED, an Executive Decision. I decided to pump 5 x a day. I decided my supply was what I had, he was doing fine with the little formula he had to get and when he gets on a schedule and we are done moving I will try to increase my pump times.

Oh the guilt! I felt it like a ton of bricks. I was a failure. I promised you guys I would be an EP ing all-star, and I was a failure. Well get over it Denise! I have a beautiful son, who I love to snuggle. Guess what? He's oing well health wise, he's gaining weight adn hitting his milestones. He gets 5 feeds a day of breast milk and two feeds formula, not too shabby considering.

What about my supply you ask? It dropped to 20 oz a day, but has leveled off. I try and pump extra if there is time to spare. But with trying to pack my house and sleep train this kid, there are few moments where I can get on a pump for 30 uniterrupted minutes.

Hopefully, things will improve once he sleeps and we move?


What does this mean for EPing and for you?

Absolutely nothing! All women are completely different, I think that my anxiety with him not sleeping EVER and moving didn't help my supply. Also I struggled with my supply from the get go. On the blogs and research a POT has been shown to be effective. It makes sense that pupming more often, aka stimulating your breasts, increases supply.

Things to remember:

1. Relax! the fact that you are even attempting to EP for your baby is admirable, whatever Breast Milk you can give him is great, even if its 10 oz a day, he still gets those great antibodies and nutrients.

2. Make sure you have correct nipple shileds! Trust me. If you are going to pump until empty, that can take 30 to 40 minmnutes which means you have plastic rubbing your nipples 12 x a day for almost an hour, you need to protect the nips!

3. Keep track! The best thing to do is keep track of what you are pumping to monitor your supply. Also keep track of how much your child is taking in, this gives you better control of the situation, which will in turn give you peace of mind.

4. BOND! Make sure you spend good quality bonding time with your baby, its all great if he only gets breast milk but he really needs to be with his Mommy too. Dont let pumping interfere with raising your child because that will decrease your milk supply too. Skin to skin is a great way to increase milk supply.

5. Empty those breasts! My next blog post will cover the importance of emptying your breast. This will stimulate your breast to produce milk for the next feeding!

Week 3 Summary:

We are preparing to move from San Diego, CA to Cincinnati, OH to be near family. I am excited but so overwhelmed with the move. Ethan is not sleeping well, he fights taking naps during the day, at night he does well but during the day he is over tired and fussy, so wake time is not enjoyable for me or baby. I know every one says 7 weeks is too young for a schedule, but I don'tthink its too young for a routine. I am not quite sure what to do about it.
HOpefully next week, he will improve now that I am pumping less and able to invest more time in helping him get to sleep and stay asleep!

Next Post: The importance of emptying your breasts and Week 4 summary!