Pumping Again… Oh Joy

I have been thinking a lot about breast feeding as of late. Like I said you may reconsider breast feeding on a Monthly, Weekly, and/or daily basis. I am no different than the rest.

So on to the point of this entry…. Pumping. Pumping is defiantly not one of the joys of breast feeding but rather one of the chores. Just the fact of pumping can make anyone reconsider nursing. You just have to keep reminding yourself of all the pros. One big pro for me, in this economy, is the money that I am saving on formula! I will be honest I am supplementing. I know that is not something you are “suppose to do” when breast feeding. But like I said there is no right way and I am making up my OWN rules. That being said I am finding that I am learning all over again how to pump because I only breast fed my first child for a very short period of time. Because I am bound and determined that I am going to make this work I am trying to find pumping tricks. I can then pass them along to others that may be experiencing the same problems.

Tip 1: It takes time to breast feed as it does to pump. You can’t expect your body to pump out miraculous amounts of milk in a short period of time if it takes your baby more than 10 minutes to eat. Ease into it slowly and start before you go back to work if you can. The first few times you may get only and ounce or less.

Tip 2: If you are having problems letting down before pumping (or nursing) and it is becoming painful and engorged try hot and cold packs. 10 minutes of Cold Packs and then 10 minutes of warm moist heat. After a while you really won’t need this at all your body just needs to get use to letting it out.

Tip 3: Back to Tip 1. It takes time to pump but you also need to learn your pump and how your body handles it. You may need to adjust how you are pumping. Take time to learn how your body handles your pump. If you have a pump that can be adjusted play with the adjustments. You may want to turn up the suction and turn down the speed. Whatever it may be can help the speed at which you let down. Let’s face it the amount that you let down and how quickly can change on the daily basis. You don’t have to pump the same way every time you pump.

Tip 4: Breast Shields: If you are using a Medela pump there are different sized breast shields. I am told that this can make a huge difference in the amount that you are able to pump. We are not one size fits all women! I just ordered my new set today. I will let you know how they work out. J

Tip 5: If you are having problems letting down while pumping you may want to squeeze your breast. I know it sounds odd but it works. It forces your body to let down again. At this point if I were to allow myself to only pump with out squeezing I would only get an ounce out of each breast. When I squeeze I can get another full ounce.