Should I start pumping while pregnant?
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Anonymous
| Hell no. |
Anonymous
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Do not pump in the beginning unless there's a reason to, you could give yourself oversupply and trust me, it's bad (I had to triple feed briefly under the guidance of a LC and I still got some oversupply and resulting mastitis).
The Breastfeeding Center downtown has a pumping class and they actually warn against trying to build up big stashes as they say it can cause oversupply or over reliance on them. I actually built up a bit of a stash from the extra I got from pumping at work alone and that was enough to get through a supply dip and I still had to toss out frozen milk in the end (I wasn't able to donate). You really don't need that much (formula is also fine to get through a dip, you really don't want to risk mastitis from oversupply, trust me). Those pictures of giant stashes people share on social media create bad expectations. |
Anonymous
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I forgot to add, oversupply can also be bad for thr baby as they get too much foremilk. My son had some grass green poops until it calmed down.
Just leave that pump in the box until a couple weeks before you go back to work. |
Anonymous
| Hell no, you shouldn’t pump unless medically necessary for the first 3 weeks or you can create oversupply. Talk to a lactation consultant. Oversupply can be bad for the baby and bad for you. |
Anonymous
You should start nursing as soon after birth as possible, like within an hour. When should you start pumping? I dunno, are you going back to work? You don't even know if you're going to have supply problems yet.... Don't ruin breastfeeding by going crazy with pumping from the start when you don't even know what your situation is. Plenty of people have a good milk supply, and you might be one of them. |
Anonymous
| NOOOOO |
Anonymous
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Hi Op - it sounds like you might find a primer on pumping helpful, susan of Arlington lactation offers a great pumping class, there is one coming up this Saturday at 10am:
https://www.arlingtonlactation.com/copy-of-class-offerings Unless your baby goes straight to the NICU you do not need to start pumping right away, at all. Hand expression during the first few days after birth has been shown to be helpful but otherwise absolutely you do not need to be using a pump! And like others hve said it can be harmful as you could create oversupply (this may sound good but let me tell you from experience, it’s not!) Only other reasons you might pump are if you ar having a lot of pain and needs to give your nipples a brief rest for a few sessions while they heal and you see an LC and get figured out what is causing the pain. Or if your baby is have serious trouble latching. Again in those instances you should see an LC immediately to have them give you a plan for when to pump. Barring all these things, which likely won’t happen, focus on building your relationship with baby at the breast. Work on latching at the breast and getting your both comfortable there. If after a few weeks and you are returning to work quickly you can think about pumping some, maybe one morning session but it really isn’t necessary. When you return to work you only need one day of supply and then you will be creating that supply when you pump each day, so don’t let anyone get you super worried about building up a stash. And in addition to the pumping class above I would take a breastfeeding basics class to help you get some of your questions answered. I didn’t see Susan having one coming up but you could email her and she might send the recording of her last one. Or the Washington DC breastfeeding center has good ones |
Anonymous
| Oh and for my mention of hand expression, thebalancedboob on instragram has a highlight on it and helpful info on that. As others said pack that pump away until absolutely necessary!!!! |
Anonymous
On that note, it's never absolutely necessary to get lactation advice on instagram. There are many lactation loonies all over the internets. OP, listen to your medical providers and seek a certified reputable LC if needed. |
Anonymous
| Pumping sucks both literally and figuratively. I mean try it, there is a very small subset of women that are fine with it, but usually, it sucks. If I could do it all over again I would give formula before pumping. Formula is an awesome, non sucky way to feed your baby. |
Anonymous
My baby was terrible at nursing (full term etc)...and nothing I did helped. I tried everything, worked with great LCs. Pumping didn’t help either. I never had enough...so if nursing doesn’t work, formula. Fed is best. |
Anonymous
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When to start pumping after birth- I was told by my Lactation consultant to not pump before 6 weeks because you can induce an oversupply. Answers will be different if you have a preemie, NICU baby or aren't making enough milk. Even if you aren't making enough milk, it's still better to breastfeed than nurse as the baby is more effective.
Pumping is no fun and nursing is awesome, so don't resign yourself to pumping drudgery too soon |
Anonymous
Lol I’m the pp and agree with this. I actually have a connection to that LC and dont think she is a loon but this is very true and probably not necessary as it could bring you down a rabbit hole of people that are in fact lactation loonies which is a term I may hve to start using more often. |
Anonymous
| Don’t pump now, but have a pump jic. Ours had a latch issue on one side and i needed to get temporary relief from pump until we got it sorted. Also if/ when baby has periodic longer sleep stretches you can relief pump. Highly recommend seeing LC in hospital and set up check in for home too. |
Anonymous
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OP be careful what you do.
I started pumping like crazy right after the baby was born because I thought that was something I was supposed to do. I had a friend who was obsessed about building a freezer supply and I thought I needed to do the same thing. I ended up getting crazy oversupply from doing this, and it led to feeding problems because of it. |