Miscellaneous Mommy Monday: EPing

Today's post is all about EPing, or Exclusively Pumping. I wanted to share a little about my nursing/pumping experience. It has been a long road, but we are at a good place now. It was a very bumpy road to start. I still had part of my placenta, after a horrific post-delivery experience, so I was unable to make milk for awhile. Graysen obviously had to have a bottle and was supplemented with formula for the first week or so until my milk started to come in. I was pumping like crazy with a special hospital-grade pump that had a preemie setting. It hurt and gave me cramps like crazy! At first I would barely get a drop of colostrum on each side, which the nurses were scraping off with a spoon and feeding to Graysen in a little tiny syringe. I was pumping every two hours after attempting to nurse him, trying to make my milk come in, and then giving him a bottle. Needless to say, I was getting NO SLEEP! I probably got about 3-4 hours a day for the first 2 weeks. I tried to sleep while he slept, but that wasn't always feasible. 

After about 10 days of pumping around the clock with the special pump, I was getting about an ounce total! FINALLY...my milk had come in! Graysen DID NOT want to nurse and would just scream when we tried it. He would arch his back, grunt, swing his head from side to side and just downright refuse to nurse! This ended with me frustrated and in tears! He had had a bottle for too long! I tried a nipple shield, which was a lifesaver for awhile and helped get him to latch on better. 

Then I just said, I'm going to strictly nurse and make him have to get his food that way. I did this for a whole weekend and it was tiring. It resulted in cluster feedings about every hour, but it helped and he started to nurse better after a few days. I went back to pumping every couple hours because my supply was starting to diminish. This helped and my supply started rising. 

 I was getting about 4oz total at each pumping now! WOO HOO! I was still pumping every few hours around the clock after trying to nurse and then giving a bottle. The nights were getting long and I was losing lots of sleep. Let me fill you in on what a typical day of nursing, pumping and bottle feeding looks like: 

6:15am - bottle 5oz

7:00am - pump 7oz*

9:30am - BF 20min

10:30am - BF 25min

12:30pm - BF 20min

1:00pm - pump 3.5oz*

1:15pm - bottle 2oz

3:15pm - bottle 4.5oz

4:00pm - pump 5oz*

5:20pm - BF 15min

6:30pm - BF 15min

7:00pm - bottle 4oz

9:00pm - bottle 4oz

9:30pm - pump 6.5oz*

10:30pm - BF 10min

10:40pm - bottle 3oz

1:00am - pump 5.5oz*

4:00am - bottle 4oz

4:15am - pump 4.5oz*

7:30am - bottle 2oz

7:45am - pump 6.5oz*

This is sort of what a typical day looked like a month after birth. This day I only had 7 pumps but usually I had at least 8 or 9. I like to get in at least 8. (as many pumpings as feedings) After awhile I said, "Ok...I'm going to EP and it should save me time and frustration." So...I went to diligently pumping every two hours and strictly bottle feeding. Tim was able to help more with the feedings and my milk production skyrocketed! I was also drinking Mother's Milk Tea and faithfully taking my prenatal vitamins. I was no longer nursing, but only pumping and bottle feeding. This was still 'round-the-clock pumping'. 

 I could pump 2 bottles at each pumping finally! The mid-day pumps usually only resulted in one or a little more than one. He was now eating about 4oz at each feeding and I could pump at least 8oz. 

I thought, "This is great! I can monitor how much he gets, really get ahead on freezing milk and Tim could help!" 

Eventually, I started to resent the pump, especially at night. I was able to cut back to pumping only every 3 hours during the day and then go more like 4 or 4.5 hours at night. I wasn't waking him to eat, but I would still have to get up to pump and then it never failed, I would be back in bed for a half hour or so and then he would wake up hungry! 

Since I was pumping so much at a time, I didn't want to go back to nursing so much that my supply dropped because he wasn't eating as much as I was pumping. Something had to be tweaked and there had to be a happy medium!

SO....

I am now, basically EPing. I pump during the day about every 3 or 4 hours. I could go longer, but I'm really sore if I do. I had a plugged duct once and that was HORRIBLE. I don't want that again. He basically gets a bottle during the day unless I'm somewhere and didn't bring a bottle or if I know I have time to pump after he nurses to keep my supply up. At night, he gets a bottle before he goes to bed, around 8:30pm and it's usually about 5oz. I pump sometime before I go to bed, usually around 10pm or so.  The next time he wakes up, which is around 2am, I will most likely nurse him and then pump, or Tim will get up and feed him so I can pump while he eats. Sometimes, I wake up before he's up and then quick pump before he gets a bottle. He then wakes up normally around 5:30am and that's when I nurse him. I'm not sure what will happen when school starts in a week, but this is what's working for us right now. 

I had once resented my pump, when it was all I was doing and could not be away from it. Now, after seeing how much I've been able to freeze and stock up on (over 300oz in about 3 weeks!! That's like 2 gallons), I enjoy it. I am freezing about 4 or 5 bottles a day. Sometimes even more on a good day. 

I know that if I don't want to bring my pump along, I don't have to because I can nurse him again and he nurses well now! It took a lot of work and time. We went back, gave it another shot and stuck to it. I don't have to nurse, but I don't have to pump and I can do both if I want. I pump approximately 50-60oz a day or more some days and he eats roughly 30oz. I am almost storing a whole day, every day! I like to keep about 3 or 4 bottles in the fridge. If I have 3 bottles and he's just eaten or 4 bottles before he eats in the fridge, I'll freeze all that I pump. Otherwise, I'll bottle one, freeze one.

I also have not had to supplement with formula this way. He only had to have formula for the first 5 days and only at a couple feedings a day. I have found a happy medium for us and it works. What works for us, will not work for everyone. I have a super supportive husband who is great at tag-teaming. I still have to put pumping/feeding before other things and sometimes leave places or be left out for awhile while I pump, but it's worth it right now. I know that my baby is getting 100% breast milk and that's important to us. I know that formula is fine and I'm supportive of my friends who use formula. That works for them and this works for us! I'm fortunate that I can do this right now. We may have to supplement some once school starts again, and that's ok, but for now...I'm happy to know that I'm providing fully for my baby. After all of the trauma that happened, I want to do everything I can try and strictly use breast milk. 

When people ask if I'm breast feeding, I usually just say, "Yes." because it's easier than explaining, but I like to think of it this way...

You can get a beer in a bottle or a beer on tap and it's still a beer. Graysen is just getting his milk in a bottle most of the time and on tap once in awhile. Breast milk in a bottle or breast milk on tap...still breast milk!

Here are some tips that helped me really get my supply up and going. 

TIPS

I have found that if I put the milk in a quart-sized Ziplock freezer bag, I can write the date, amount and time on the front and freeze them flat. This way, I can stack them up in the deep freeze and they take up so much less room! I then can put a few in a big Ziplock bag and write the dates of the small bags on the one big bag. When daycare starts in a few weeks, I can just grab a couple big bags and she has the whole day in one big bag. I have not had to dip into the frozen ones yet. 

Drink LOTS of water. I find that 30 seconds after starting to pump, I am more dehydrated than ever! I drink about 3 liters a day or more. I try to have a big glass at every pumping plus more throughout the day. My bathroom breaks haven't really been anymore frequent either because I pump so much that I think I get rid of excess fluid that way!

Eat! Eat healthy and often! This will help your supply as well. 

I found that nursing him again, even once a day, made my supply go back up too. It dipped down for a short time, but once I started nursing him, even for a short time, triggered my hormones and helped me produce more. 

Here is the tip that has helped the most and really helped me not resent or dread pumping. It's also a HUGE time saver. You don't have to wash your pump parts every time! Rinse them off, put them in a Ziplock bag and stick it in the fridge. Breast milk has wonderful antibiotic properties and by doing this, you only have to wash the parts once a day! 

I also have two sets of pump parts which helps a lot as well. 

I bought the wipes to clean the parts without water for times when I'm in the car or someplace without water or fridge access...or if I'm in a hurry. 

Take and use what you want from my experience. I did a lot of research and reading about upping my supply and exclusively pumping.I took some ideas and figured out somethings on my own that worked. Everyone is different and will have a different experience. I'd love to hear about your nursing/pumping experiences.

MB