NetNews Usenet Archive 1993 #3/NN_1993_3.iso/spool/misc/kids/33529

Internet Message Format | 1993-01-28 | 3.4 KB

Path: sparky!uunet!enterpoop.mit.edu!spool.mu.edu!agate!darkstar.UCSC.EDU!larrabee
From: [e-mail] (Tracy Larrabee)
Newsgroups: misc.kids
Subject: Re: Breast Pumping Question
Date: 27 Jan 1993 00:53:33 GMT
Organization: University of California, Santa Cruz (CE/CIS Boards)
Lines: 53
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
References: <[e-mail]> <[e-mail]>
NNTP-Posting-Host: arapaho.ucsc.edu

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Kate Gregory) writes:
>In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Amy Moseley Rupp) writes:
>>
>>My question is:  what stimulates milk production the most, frequency,
>>total number of minutes a day, continuous stimulation, etc?  Is there
>>a difference between pumping, say, 4x/day every 6 hours, 6x/day every
>>4 hours, or 4x/day every 4 hours, with a break at night, assuming
>>the total number of minutes stays the same?
>
>Also, take your cues from the child you are planning to eventually
>feed directly: pump as many times a day as your child feeds. If your
>child wakes in the night, you should pump in the night. I know how
>horrible that is. I know all about a teary middle of the night feed,
>alone in the dark and the baby isn't just peacefully nursing like
>things are supposed to be, instead there's all this paraphenalia or
>fuss with positions or whatnot, and the baby cries and you do too and
>then when you finally get finished with that and the baby is asleep
>again the last thing you want to do is go and pump but you have to.
>I did that for months. It is horrible.

I agree with Kate--strongly agree.

For a month I pumped after every time Alec fed.  If I slacked off and
didn't pump in the middle of the night, I could notice the difference
in the quantity I pumped in the two days following the slack-off (it
seems to me that the demand/supply cycle is about 2 days for my
breasts).  I had many people (nurses and doctors) tell me that unless
I was willing to pump in the middle of the night whenever Alec needed
to eat (during the time he couldn't eat from me), I would be unlikely
to be able to establish the production necessary to make sure his
meals were breastmilk.  As it is, I pumped all the time (and it was
dreadful sometimes), and my little guy has had very few meals that did
not come from my breasts (whatever their manner of presentation).

Now I only pump if Alec takes a bottle (of breast milk) for that
feeding.  I always make sure I pump out at least as many ounces as he
drinks.  My husband now have set things up so I feed Alec around 3 to
4 am, and then he feeds Alec around 6 to 7 am, and then I sleep until
around 8 or 9 (if I am lucky) and get up and feed Alec followed by
pumping to replace the 6 o'clock bottle.  This gives me a nicer
sleeping block than a breastfeeding mom with a child who eats every 3
hours usually gets.  It must be working because at 7 weeks Alec weighs
about 9.5 pounds, when he went home from the hospital at about 5
pounds.

Having been through this pumping thing, I know I can increase my production
any time I need it by just pumping more after feedings.  I can increase
my production to absurd levels inside a week--not that I want to.  I don't
know that I could do this if I didn't have a Medela Classic pump.  Those
pumps aren't cheap to rent, but they sure work well.

--
Tracy Larrabee        [e-mail]