exclusively pumping

like many mothers, i was bound and determined to give my baby the best- which was breast feeding. i'm sure anyone who's had any kind of parenting classes or doctor's visits have heard the mantra "breast is best". as a nurse, i knew the benefits of breast feeding for both me and my baby---the passive immunities passed from mother to baby, the fact that it is the perfect food for him, the weight loss benefits for me, and the pros to balancing the post-pregnancy hormones. believe me i knew my stuff.

in fact the first 3 days of his life were great in the breast feeding realm---he latched well and was nursing like a champ with wonderful output(plenty of wet and poopy diapers). however, his bilirubin  levels were climbing-the poor boy had jaundice and the pediatrician insisted that i supplement with formula on top of breast feeding. and that, my friends, ruined everything. his latch was awful, my nipples were cracked and so sore from it, he was beyond frustrated and i was exhausted. after battling for a couple weeks i knew that we had to find another solution.

i had already gotten a great breastpump for work, so i began to search the internet on anything and everything i could find on pumping. SO frustrating! most everything i found was about pumping in addition to breast feeding, or it said that exclusively pumping(or epping) was not possible, that your milk would dry up and you would have to switch to formula. the overall lack of encouragement from the healthcare world is ridiculous really- they make it sound as though you either breast feed or formula feed, and if you formula feed you are a bad mother. believe me, neither is the case.

i finally found this wonderful site---it lays out everything so well. I highly encourage anyone who wants to give their baby breastmilk, but is unable to breast feed-for whatever reason- to check it out!

so far i am 4 months into my epping experience and it is going really well. i am going to be honest, it was very hard at the beginning- and if it wouldn't have been so important to me, i wouldn't have been able to do it. i have a wonderful stockpile of milk(my freezer is literally full of it, in addition to my fresh stock in the fridge) and the little guy is growing sooo well- with the rolls to prove it!

to start with i had a good quality double pump- trust me it's a necessity to get a good one(you can often rent them if you want to try it out before investing).

another wonderful thing is a hands free bustier- so you can multitask with your little one.

then you'll want to have a sort of pumping station set up- with whatever you think you'll need- water, food, laptop, book, baby things, etc.: in a comfortable spot- you'll be spending a lot of time there. i usually sit on my love seat with my baby in my lap, with a bottle and laptop(actually where i am right now).

the schedule you need to keep is rather brutal in the beginning. they recommend pumping every 2-3 hours- which is about 7-8 times a day for the first 12 weeks. i pumped usually 7 times a day, sometimes 8. i only pumped at night if he woke up- then i would pump and feed him at the same time.

they say you need to pump for at least 15 minutes at a time--or at least 5 minutes after the milk stops dripping to encourage production. they also say not to watch your milk drip(there is such a psychological factor to it). so i wouldn't watch the production, i pumped for 30 minutes at a time---or a little longer if the milk was still dripping. this is where the laptop or book comes in handy- the time passes much faster!

i was only able to keep that up for the first 10 weeks, since i had to go back to work. once i returned to work, i dropped to 5 pumping sessions a day on days that i work(i work three 12 hour days a week) and 6 sessions on my off days. i hope to get down to 4 pumps a day!

in the beginning,  i did supplement with formula(i believe it was just the first few weeks) just to take the pressure off me. i was only getting maybe an ounce from each breast- which looks so discouraging. and i cannot emphasize enough how psychological it is--stress really does effect your supply- i just had to remind myself it was early- and some breast milk was better than none. it wasn't long before my supply picked up though- now i pump around 40 ounces a day and he only consumes 30 oz of that which allows me to have a great stockpile.

as far as storage goes, i bought a bunch of the 3 oz medella storage bottles and concentrated on building a fresh milk supply, before worrying about a frozen supply. i keep my fresh supply at the top of my fridge(in the coldest part). i keep about a 3-4 days worth of milk. for freezing i bought 2 new ice trays with covers and i freeze my milk into cubes- once frozen i put the cubes into ziploc freezer bags and mark the date- it has worked really well for me, and it is a lot cheaper.

ultimately, a happy mommy is the best thing for a baby, so if you are not able to breast feed or pump- don't worry about it! i just wanted to share my own success story as an encouragement!

feel free to ask questions!

*a little update! i am currently 9 months into it and still going strong. i continue to pump 5 times a day, simply because i do not want to loose my supply as the winter is quickly approaching and i really want to give jude a good immune boost. i will say as time has worn on my production has dropped about 4 oz a day to around 36 oz a day. seeing as jude is now eating a lot more solids it's no big deal! so i reiterate- exclusively pumping is possible! you just really have to dedicate yourself to it. 

happy pumping!