So I've already shared Kate & my breastfeeding story (here) & given you my top 10 suggested "tips" for breastfeeding (here) but I've also been asked by a few people for more insight into my feeding/pumping schedule & what I've done to keep my supply up... ESPECIALLY after returning to work. It has been a lot of work & I'll preface this post by telling you honestly, that I don't always do a very good job at sticking to my schedule. But, I try the best I can & so far, so good for us! One other thing I should point out; the schedule is totally an evolving thing. Based on Kate's milk needs, my body's milk producing regulation, & any life events - scheduling changes. Keeping a scheduling is important, but realizing that some flexibility in order to make it work for you is more important. We're on our 4th "schedule" already!
So here we go...
Birth - 3 Weeks
On demand eating, nursing only. Some days it felt like she was eating nonstop. Some days she cluster fed. Some days she would go up to 2 hours (during the day) between feeding. At night she would go 4-7 hours between feeds. I was tired & my nipples were sore. This almost the most difficult schedule to keep up; second only to...
3 weeks - 12 Weeks
We were still on demand eating, & aside from some growth spurt times when she cluster fed (I vividly recall week 7 as being rough) Kate was eating about every hour and a half. For about 15-20 minutes at a time. AND I was now pumping to try to increase my supply so that Dan could give her a bottle (3-4 ounces) before bed every night & so that I could start my freezer stash before I went back to work. Here's what a day often looked like:
7am - wake up, feed Kate, pump whatever was left (even if it was just a half ounce) for 20 minutes.
9:30 - feed Kate
11:00 - feed Kate
12:30 - feed Kate, pump whatever was left for 20 minutes.
2:00 - feed Kate
3:30 - feed Kate
5:00 - feed Kate, pump whatever was left for 20 minutes.
6:30 - feed Kate
8:00 - Dan gives Kate 3-4 ounce bottle. I pump for 20 minutes while he feeds her.
10-11pm - Wake Kate for a "dream feed"
3-4am - Feed Kate, then pump what's left for 20 minutes. Or on the nights she didn't wake up, get up & pump for 20 minutes.
Repeat.
Can you see why/how this was the toughest stage? 100% worth it though, because as I mentioned before by week 8/9 things did get easier. My nipples weren't as sore (they felt better around 3 weeks, then got sore again as I started pumping, but finally stopped being sore for good around 8/9 weeks) AND my supply was up! When I started this schedule, I was able to pump about 3-4 extra ounces of milk a day, which I started saving & freezing. (I still remember, 8/27/12 was the first pouch of milk I stored... see - I told you this gets emotional) By the time I returned to work at the start of 13 weeks, I was up to pumping on average 10 extra ounces of milk a day.
13weeks - 20 weeks
I went back to work. (With such an extreme mix of emotion it probably warrants its own series of posts, to come someday) Kate started going to my mom's 3 days a week (I eased back in to work) & home with me the other days. She was also eating about every 2.5 -3 hours apart now. I'll share my workday pumping schedule... (note my mom fed Kate bottles about every 2-3 hours a day while I was at work)
6am - Kate eats
7am - pump for 20 minutes
10:30/11am - pump for 20 -25 minutes at work
2/2:30pm - pump for 20-25 minutes at work
6/6:30pm - nurse Kate at home OR if she had leftover bottle to be used up, pump 20 minutes
8:30/9:30pm - nurse Kate to sleep (yes, we moved into a later to bed schedule - but she's a good napper so it works for us)
1am - wake up & pump for 20 minutes
3-4am - Kate wakes up & nurses (5-10 minutes)
repeat!
20 weeks - now
Pretty much the same as the above but I have definitely slipped up as far as pumping 2x a day at work. It is not easy to schedule your pumping time when you're bouncing from meetings to conference calls to trying to just get things done! I do NOT suggest that you follow this schedule. & I am going to try to move back to the above schedule - it is one of my 2013 goals to get back to pumping 2x a day. But, since I'm baring my lactation soul here...
6am - Kate eats
7am - pump for 20 minutes
2/2:30pm - pump for 20-25 minutes at work
6/6:30pm - pump 1 side in the car on the drive home (20-25 minutes) then nurse Kate at home on the other side OR if she had leftover bottle to be used up, pump 20-25 minutes.
8:30/9:30pm - nurse Kate to sleep then pump 20 minutes
repeat!
A few other things I feel the need to mention...
- Kate never suffered from any "nipple confusion" going back & forth between boob to bottle (or pacifier, which I was dead set against giving her before she was born, but gave in to our pedi's recommendation that she should have one to soothe when she was a baby & it has turned out fine).
- We did wait until 3 weeks to introduce a bottle - not sure if that played any part in the non-nipple confusion or my milk development, but just thought I should share that.
- While my plan originally was to wait until 6 months to introduce any solids, I'll admit that we did start at 5 months. Kate was soooo ready for it - grabbing at our food & fascinated at watching us eat. We skipped the rice cereal & started her with sweet potato (which I made myself). Dan & I LOVE sweet potato. Kate does not. But anyway, I digress. I just wanted to point that out that we did introduce food, not even every day, around 5 months. At 6 months we moved to a 1x a day (dinner). I still haven't noticed much of a change in her milk consumption though.
- She definitely has preferences depending on her mood though. Even now, during the day, she is much more of the mode of taking a bottle. This is easier for us as she's easily distracted & often wants to eat & then get right back to playing. Or grab a few ounces here & there over the course of 30 minutes or so rather than settling down & nursing for a while. But if she's tired, or just looking to be snuggled (like when I get home from work) then she wants the milk straight from mama. It's a comfort thing, & I kind of like it. :)
So that's our routine! From birth to now. If/when it changes again (which I'm sure it will) I will update. Again, I reiterate for the millionth time, I'm not a professional by any means. I'm just agirl new mama who's had some success with breastfeeding so far & wanted to share my experience in hopes to support you! As always, feel free to comment or email me for any more clarifications! :)
xo
p.s. you'll notice that I jumped ahead & wrote about this before my childbirth related posts. Why? Because I feel like there is SO much hype around child birth prep (which lasts 24 hours) & not enough around breastfeeding prep (which lasts 6 months +!) so I chose to post this first. But don't worry, childbirth "things nobody tells you" & my Whole30 finale recap are also on the docket for this week.
So here we go...
(My trusty Medela Freestyle Pump, pictured above)
Birth - 3 Weeks
On demand eating, nursing only. Some days it felt like she was eating nonstop. Some days she cluster fed. Some days she would go up to 2 hours (during the day) between feeding. At night she would go 4-7 hours between feeds. I was tired & my nipples were sore. This almost the most difficult schedule to keep up; second only to...
3 weeks - 12 Weeks
We were still on demand eating, & aside from some growth spurt times when she cluster fed (I vividly recall week 7 as being rough) Kate was eating about every hour and a half. For about 15-20 minutes at a time. AND I was now pumping to try to increase my supply so that Dan could give her a bottle (3-4 ounces) before bed every night & so that I could start my freezer stash before I went back to work. Here's what a day often looked like:
7am - wake up, feed Kate, pump whatever was left (even if it was just a half ounce) for 20 minutes.
9:30 - feed Kate
11:00 - feed Kate
12:30 - feed Kate, pump whatever was left for 20 minutes.
2:00 - feed Kate
3:30 - feed Kate
5:00 - feed Kate, pump whatever was left for 20 minutes.
6:30 - feed Kate
8:00 - Dan gives Kate 3-4 ounce bottle. I pump for 20 minutes while he feeds her.
10-11pm - Wake Kate for a "dream feed"
3-4am - Feed Kate, then pump what's left for 20 minutes. Or on the nights she didn't wake up, get up & pump for 20 minutes.
Repeat.
Can you see why/how this was the toughest stage? 100% worth it though, because as I mentioned before by week 8/9 things did get easier. My nipples weren't as sore (they felt better around 3 weeks, then got sore again as I started pumping, but finally stopped being sore for good around 8/9 weeks) AND my supply was up! When I started this schedule, I was able to pump about 3-4 extra ounces of milk a day, which I started saving & freezing. (I still remember, 8/27/12 was the first pouch of milk I stored... see - I told you this gets emotional) By the time I returned to work at the start of 13 weeks, I was up to pumping on average 10 extra ounces of milk a day.
13weeks - 20 weeks
I went back to work. (With such an extreme mix of emotion it probably warrants its own series of posts, to come someday) Kate started going to my mom's 3 days a week (I eased back in to work) & home with me the other days. She was also eating about every 2.5 -3 hours apart now. I'll share my workday pumping schedule... (note my mom fed Kate bottles about every 2-3 hours a day while I was at work)
6am - Kate eats
7am - pump for 20 minutes
10:30/11am - pump for 20 -25 minutes at work
2/2:30pm - pump for 20-25 minutes at work
6/6:30pm - nurse Kate at home OR if she had leftover bottle to be used up, pump 20 minutes
8:30/9:30pm - nurse Kate to sleep (yes, we moved into a later to bed schedule - but she's a good napper so it works for us)
1am - wake up & pump for 20 minutes
3-4am - Kate wakes up & nurses (5-10 minutes)
repeat!
20 weeks - now
Pretty much the same as the above but I have definitely slipped up as far as pumping 2x a day at work. It is not easy to schedule your pumping time when you're bouncing from meetings to conference calls to trying to just get things done! I do NOT suggest that you follow this schedule. & I am going to try to move back to the above schedule - it is one of my 2013 goals to get back to pumping 2x a day. But, since I'm baring my lactation soul here...
6am - Kate eats
7am - pump for 20 minutes
2/2:30pm - pump for 20-25 minutes at work
6/6:30pm - pump 1 side in the car on the drive home (20-25 minutes) then nurse Kate at home on the other side OR if she had leftover bottle to be used up, pump 20-25 minutes.
8:30/9:30pm - nurse Kate to sleep then pump 20 minutes
repeat!
A few other things I feel the need to mention...
- Kate never suffered from any "nipple confusion" going back & forth between boob to bottle (or pacifier, which I was dead set against giving her before she was born, but gave in to our pedi's recommendation that she should have one to soothe when she was a baby & it has turned out fine).
- We did wait until 3 weeks to introduce a bottle - not sure if that played any part in the non-nipple confusion or my milk development, but just thought I should share that.
- While my plan originally was to wait until 6 months to introduce any solids, I'll admit that we did start at 5 months. Kate was soooo ready for it - grabbing at our food & fascinated at watching us eat. We skipped the rice cereal & started her with sweet potato (which I made myself). Dan & I LOVE sweet potato. Kate does not. But anyway, I digress. I just wanted to point that out that we did introduce food, not even every day, around 5 months. At 6 months we moved to a 1x a day (dinner). I still haven't noticed much of a change in her milk consumption though.
- She definitely has preferences depending on her mood though. Even now, during the day, she is much more of the mode of taking a bottle. This is easier for us as she's easily distracted & often wants to eat & then get right back to playing. Or grab a few ounces here & there over the course of 30 minutes or so rather than settling down & nursing for a while. But if she's tired, or just looking to be snuggled (like when I get home from work) then she wants the milk straight from mama. It's a comfort thing, & I kind of like it. :)
So that's our routine! From birth to now. If/when it changes again (which I'm sure it will) I will update. Again, I reiterate for the millionth time, I'm not a professional by any means. I'm just a
xo
p.s. you'll notice that I jumped ahead & wrote about this before my childbirth related posts. Why? Because I feel like there is SO much hype around child birth prep (which lasts 24 hours) & not enough around breastfeeding prep (which lasts 6 months +!) so I chose to post this first. But don't worry, childbirth "things nobody tells you" & my Whole30 finale recap are also on the docket for this week.
Thank you so much for this post! I am having a difficult time with breast pumping. I just had my baby girl about 2 weeks ago at 31 weeks, so she is in the NICU, and will be for several weeks. Keeping up a breast pumping schedule is so hard, and I get so sore each time, but it's the only "motherly" thing I can really do for my baby while she is in the NICU. Anyways, I don't mean to complain, I just wanted to let you know that your post helped encourage me, and I sincerely appreciated it. Thank you!
ReplyDeleteTessa - Congratulations!!!! What a lucky little girl to have such a dedicated mama! You are doing a great job (& it is a tough job, which I can only imagine is even more difficult with her being in the NICU) but your pumping for her is only going to be beneficial for your both in the long run. :) It does hurt, but I promise it will get easier!!! xoxo
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