Pumping times for Exclusively Pumping mothers

Yes. That was my answer to this question. After all, my friends who had babies were able to breastfeed without any major issues. It’s a natural act, I thought. I might not know exactly what to do, but the baby will, right?

Wrong! Breastfeeding is not something that comes naturally. It’s a skill that has to be learnt. Don’t get me wrong, I’d done my share of research and all my pregnancy books confirmed this point. I’d studied the pictures, the different positions and tried to imagine how to hold my baby. It was difficult to imagine though. I was uncomfortable with the thought of milk coming out of my nipples. It was just weird.

How to build up your breastfeeding confidence?

Was I confident about my ability to breastfeed? At first yes. I thought that if my friends had done it, I could do it too. My confidence dropped when I encountered the first problems at breastfeeding. I just couldn’t get my baby to latch on properly and as I watched the other women in the hospital lying down with their baby suckling on their breast I quickly became nervous. Why couldn’t I get it right? With nervousness came my lack of confidence. I felt ashamed every time I called in for the nurse to come to aide me and my baby at breastfeeding. I was upset at myself for not getting it right. At that stage I’d already lost all my confidence.

With my confidence gone, a chance to breastfeed also vanished.

“A woman’s confidence in her ability to breastfeed is crucial to her success”, claim Tine Vinther and Elisabet Helsing from the World Health Organization. They are right. This lack of confidence triggers a process chain:

How to prevent this from happening?

• Recognize your struggle. Ok, so it’s just not working. No matter what you do, breastfeeding is just a nightmare. It’s painful and your baby keeps coming off your nipple and screaming. Don’t get mad at yourself or your baby. Give your little one a bottle of pre-pumped milk or formula to satisfy her hunger. Pump your milk in the meanwhile and try again at the next feed. Try to pinpoint the cause or possible reasons for this. Does it seem to be your nipple shape? Are your existing bruises making it difficult for you to relax? Once you pinpoint the cause, it becomes easier to find a solution.

Continue reading ‘Preparation for birth: Will I be able to breastfeed?’

Are you wondering if your pumps’ performance has deteriorated? Has your pump lost its original suction or you just don’t feel as empty as before?

Caring for your pump is essential especially for exclusive pumping mothers. Just as the suckling of a baby determines a mother’s milk supply, the suction and the performance of your pump is crucial in determining and maintaining your supply.

Here’s how you can preserve your Medela PISA for best performance:

Check the membranes on your PISA

The membranes wear out depending on extent of usage. For some they need to be changed more regularly than others.

For exclusive pumping mothers I would recommend to change them every two to three months. With usage they also become thinner which negatively impacts your pumps performance.

To determine if it’s time for your membranes to be changed check them first for any wears and tears. If they seem fine, compare their thickness to your extra set or back up membranes. If they have thinned use your extra membrane set to pump next time round and see if you feel a difference. If yes, then it’s time to throw out the old set.

Inspect your PISA tubing for condensation

After each pumping session, quickly inspect the tubing. If you do see any condensation you can do any of the following:

• Continue to run the pump with the tubing attached but unplugged from your breastshield connectors for an additional minute or so until the condensation disappears. (You can run the pump while you go to store away your milk)
• Pour a small amount of Rubbing Alcohol in the tubing to dry
• Use a can of compressed air (the ones typically used to clean keyboards) to blow out any moisture

Remove mold/milk from your PISA tubing

If milk gets into tubing, best is to insert it in hot soapy water and then rinse with cold water. If mold has formed in the tubes and doesn’t seem to get out with hot water, boil some water in a pot and throw the tubing in the pot. This should rinse out the mold.

Make sure the tubes are dry before pumping again. Either hang them to air-dry or if you are compressed for time attach the tubes to your pump and run it for two minutes or so until they have dried off. Rubbing alcohol gives you even a faster result. Just pour a small amount through the tubing to dry.

To avoid mold from forming in the first place it’s best to rinse the tubing in hot or boiling water once every week.

Continue reading ‘How to care for your Medela Pump In Style Advanced (PISA) for best performance’

Every baby is different. The general advice is that there is no need to avoid any food and that gas in babies are more likely not to be related to your food. In my case and in the cases of other mothers I have talked with, there seemed to be a high correlation between food consumed and gas in baby.

At the beginning, I just ate everything without thinking and as my son seemed to be a gassy baby anyhow, I didn’t think that avoiding any food could actually make it better. It was also difficult to track what I had eaten two or three days ago as I was making more milk than my little one needed so I had the fridge stacked up. I’d noticed that there were good days when he didn’t have as much gas and then really gassy days, as well as some days where he had a red rash and even some bleeding in his stool.

Continue reading ‘Should you avoid certain foods while expressing breast milk?’

How do you know if pumping is for you. Here are a list of reasons why you would want to look into pumping:

1. You have problems breastfeeding. Baby has latch on issues that don’t seem to be resolved. Baby not extracting enough milk

2. You can breastfeed, but you want to increase your milk supply or have additional milk in the freezer for when you like to go out, or you’d like to express so your husband can give the bottle

Continue reading ‘To pump or Not to pump’

Best would be to stick to schedule and space your pumps evenly. However with a tiny demanding baby this is easier said than done. If you see yourself struggling and stressing to stick to schedule then make your pumps flexible. Remember being stressed out about your pumping will probably have a negative impact on your milk supply so if you find yourself stressed out just create for yourself a flexible pumping schedule.

Try to get at least 8 pumps in 24 hours. If you for example start the day pumping every three hours, then try to do every two hours as it gets later in the day. Just track the time you pump and then add two to three hours to that for your next pump. If it helps you, write a reminder and post it up somewhere within sight.

If you are alone with your little one and want to make sure that you can have an undisturbed pumping session you can try some of the following:

1. Invest in a baby swing.
This really seems to help distract your little one while you pump

Continue reading ‘How to get your pumps in and have an uninterrupted pumping session’

Provide breastmilk to your little one. After all this one point by itself outweighs all the things we hate about pumping. So actually this doesn’t count. Here is a list of 10 highlights of our pumping sessions.

1. Getting out a clog after two days of massaging, hot water and all the treatments you can think of for getting the damned clog out

2. Looking in admiration at your slight increase in milk supply again after the clog is out

3. How the sound of the pump can magically put your baby into sleep

Continue reading ’10 things I love about pumping breastmilk’

Pumping breastmilk for your little one is easier said than done. There is lots of hard work and dedication that goes with that. I thought it would be good to provide a list of the top 10 things I hated about pumping.  It ended up to be 14 and I am sure I could easily extend that further. It would be great if you share your hates as well. Send me your top 10 and I will put together and publish our most common hates.

1. Looking at the clock and knowing that the pumping session is about to start

2. Looking at the clock and knowing that the pumping session is about to start and the little one is in the middle of a crying tantrum.

3. The LO is feeding sooooo slowly from the bottle and you want the clock to stop as it ticks past your pumping schedule. You know that you still have to burp and clam the baby Continue reading ’14 things I hate about pumping breastmilk’