My pumping story

I'll start out with saying I wanted to breastfeed so bad. I watched lots of videos, took classes, talked with other mommies. I was prepared.

Then she was born and that all went out the window.

We tried and tried and tried. We met with lcs. I talked to the pediatrician. Baby was getting higher levels of jaundice and losing weight. We were at the dr every day for 5 days monitoring her. The dr said 'look, you need to either go with formula or a bottle. She needs more'.

I was already pumping after trying to feed her. We were syringing the pumped milk because I didn't want nipple confusion. She was crying at each feed and I didn't know what to do. I couldn't believe I was sitting there putting milk in a syringe to feed her.

After the crying and hearing what the dr said, I had a complete crying melt down.

Hubby then did what he could to help us.

Hubby went to our kitchen, put my milk in the bottle and gave it to baby. She took it and sucked down every last drop.

Suddenly, without even thinking, I got into this routine of pumping. I wanted to share what I did in hopes of helping others that end up in my situation.

I rented the hospital grade pump for the first month. I still miss that thing. I pumped every 2 hours the first week to bring in my milk. Then I went to every three hours. 12-3-6-9. Yup... I stuck to that until 6 weeks. I would always get 3 ounces per pump. Perfect for her feedings. I had alarms set on my phone to wake me every three hours to pump. It was grueling.

By 6 weeks baby was sleeping 9-3. So I cut out the 12am pump. I figured if she was sleeping I should too! I used my insurance supplied medela pump. I had a pump station set up in her room and another one in ours (my friend gave me her old pump) so I could pump in either place.

Then I was down to 7 pumps a day. Now I was getting 4 ounces a pump.

Slowly as baby started to sleep longer, I stretched out my pumps. I would do 9-3. Then 9-330, then 9-4. I was getting more and more each pump and tracking what I made. It was still around 30 ounces a day!

Baby is almost 3 months now. Here's where I am at.

I pump at 5am then at 9am, 1pm, 5pm And 9pm. I do 15-20 minute pumping sessions with a hands free bra.

At 5 am I make 10-11 ounces. The rest of the pumps I'm at 5-6. She has never drank more than 30 ounces in a day, so every few days I'm able to freeze a bag. I have about a weeks worth of milk in my freezer now.

My goal is to cut down to 4 pumps a day soon. I am thinking of pumping at 6am, 12pm, 5pm and then before bedtime. I really hope my supply will stay at 30 ounces, but I won't know until I try. I will probably make this transition in a few weeks.

My baby has never had formula yet. I really feel like I can stick to the four pumps even when going back to work. I still put baby to breast at night to see what will happen. She latched last night and took about an ounce and then unlatched.

I have never taken supplements or anything like that. I do drink a ton of water. Probably about a gallon a day.

I have four sets of pumping supplies as well. That way I don't have to wash every single session. Please feel free to ask questions!