Posted by
mayafox
18 yrs ago
I'm expecting my second child any day (!) and this time, I will be returning to work after the standard maternity leave so am keen to build up my milk supply as soon as possible.
I have a few questions:
1) When is it safe / effective to start pumping with a hospital grade pump?
2) What kind of volume should I expect at the beginning?
At the beginning, I plan to start pumping after baby has fed so I'm not depriving him, but given that at the beginning it's thick colostrum, how much volume should I expect to express?
Thanks!
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ears
18 yrs ago
I pumped for my son just hours after I gave birth, using the Medela hospital grade pump. True, the first day was just colostrum and with it being so thick and sparse, nothing managed to get through the tubes to the bottle for collection. But the pumping action really got my milk going. On the second day, I was able to collect about 5ml of colostrum via a syringe after stimulation using the pump. Then I was onto about 10ml the next day and within a week I could pump 50ml from each breast without any problems.
I continued to rent a Medela pump from Laleche League after leaving hospital and was able to pump around 180ml at the most at one pump. The Medela hospital grade pumps are great. I'm not sure whether it was the pump or whether I just had lots of milk, but I continued to pump till my son turned 9 months.
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Yes, you are right -- at the beginning pumping would just be to get everything up and running. The volume will come as my milk comes in. Thanks.
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"1) When is it safe / effective to start pumping with a hospital grade pump?"
At birth.
"2) What kind of volume should I expect at the beginning?"
Ridiculously small amounts. But even those small amounts of colostrum that you get are really good for baby. Volume increases rapidly if you pump often, so don't give up.
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MayC
17 yrs ago
1) When is it safe / effective to start pumping with a hospital grade pump?
As soon as your milk comes in.
2) What kind of volume should I expect at the beginning?
10ml? Maybe more, maybe less
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Watch that you do not pump more than 7 minutes per side at the beginning--you want to be sure to regulate or you could possibly overstimulate--producing too much milk (can be a good thing, but it's also stressful) that you can't seem to release. This happened to me.
Remember not to introduce a nipple to the baby before about 3 weeks (see books for ideal recommendation) as it causes nipple confusion in case you still want to breastfeed.
Medela pumps are great. I used the pump n style at work.
Best pumping is in the early AM, right after the AM feed. You have more milk at that time, generally speaking. Also remember that you have the foremilk (protein) and the hind milk (fat) and the foremilk is the milk that comes out the first 2 minutes or so--your baby needs both kinds.
I found it sometimes helpful to do a quick pump at the end of different feeds...esp. when you are just trying to build up a supply to freeze.
Good luck!
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1) When is it safe / effective to start pumping with a hospital grade pump?
As soon as your milk comes in- agree
Syringe is the best way to collect the colostrum in the beginning until the milk comes in.
2) What kind of volume should I expect at the beginning?
2ml every 2hrs for the first day, increasing to 5ml the following days. It took me a week to get 10ml but maybe that was bc my baby was premature?
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