Breastfeeding & pumping for an infant...Do you know???

Question

1. When my baby is 12 weeks old, how many ounces of breast milk can I expect her to eat per serving? (In other words, how much do I need to pump?)

2. At how many weeks should I be able to pump that amount in one pumping session?

3. Is it ok to mix batches of previously frozen milk when the batches are from different days provided she eats the entire mixed batch that day?

My daughter is 7 weeks old and she is headeded for daycare in5 weeks when I return to work. I've been using the Medela Pump In Style Advanced pump.

Answer 1

My daughter is preparing to go back to her teaching job and will be pumping breast milk for her son whom I will be taking care of. I have been a child care provider in my home for 20 years and have cared for numerous babies who came with pumped breast milk for use while here. If your daughter nurses on only one side and then falls asleep, try pumping the other breast. No matter how much you get, it is OK. Let the pumped milk cool to room temperature, put it into a glass or heavy plastic storage container and place it in the refrigerator. Fresh pumped breast milk can stay at room temperature for 4 hours. If your daughter sleeps through a feeding, pump some more. You can let that cool to room temperature and add it to the same storage container in the refrigerator. Milk can be stored in the refrigerator for 5-7 days. Pump whenever your daughter eats less than normal, skips a feeding, or eats only on one breast. When you have at least 2 ounces but no more than 4 ounces collected than you get place it in a breast milk storage bag, label it with the date and place it in the freezer for future use. Milk can be safely stored in your refrigerator freezer for 3-4 months and in a deep freeze at 0 degrees for 6-12 months. Pumping is not hard to do. Even if you can only pump at work once or twice it can still work fine and you do not have to use formula if you don't want to. Extra nursing at night and on the weekends will keep your milk supply adequate. Each baby is different, but a 3 month old will typically take 2-4 ounces every 2-3 hours. It is best to store frozen milk in smaller quantities, such as 2-4 ounces, since thawed breast milk can not be re-frozen. Don't worry about pumping all the milk at one time. It is perfectly fine to pump at varying points in the nursing process and mix milk pumped at different times. If you have several bags of 2 ounces of frozen milk you can easily mix them to make a 4 ounce bottle if she consistently drinks that much. Once the milk has been thawed, you can keep it in the frig for up to 24 hours. Just offer it to her small increments, such as 2 ounces at a time so a lot of it isn't wasted is she isn't that hungry. Here is a good website from Medela that should help you: http://www.medela.com/NewFiles/faq/coll_store.htm

Answer 2

I wanted to know the same thing when my twins were born, and *growl* there is no right answer as far as how many ounces (it's just too hard to know, because every woman's milk is different and every baby's consumption varies).

Here's what I would reccommend you do. When you breastfeed on one breast, pump on the other side. If she is usually emptying both breasts at each feeding, you may have to feed more often, but not for long because your milk supply will build up. I would do this at every other feeding at first, and then add in one feeding every few days, so that you eventually are COMPLETELY emptying at every feeding. You can pump some inbetween feedings as well.

The reason you don't want to wait to pump until after she finishes is that the milk changes in consistency and vitamin content from first let-down, and you want to have rich milk pumped, not just the slightly unsatisfying watery stuff at the end :)

Once you do this, you will be producing more and more each day, and will eventually get a couple of days worth stored up. In addition to this, once you go back to work, you will need to pump at lunch and breaks, and fresh breastmilk can keep for up to 10 hours at room temperature (although I wouldn't test that) and a simple insulated bag with an ice pack or two will serve you well. If you freeze the milk it will lose some vitamins, but is still better nutrition than formula, and it will keep for a few months if necessary.

As far as your third question, I am not sure I understand exactly what you are asking, but if you are asking about thawing more than one bag/container of milk and adding them together, you can do that. You don't want to re-use milk that the baby doesn't finish and is left in the bottle, but you can thaw it in the fridge in a seperate container and just fill bottles from that. You have a few days to use it, so you can probably get a 16-20 ounce container.

Also, if you only pump an ounce of breastmilk at first, you can freeze it, then refrigerate the next ounce pumped, and add it to the frozen ounce. basically, as long as you are adding cold milk and it is equal or less than the amount that is already frozen, you can combine batches once. And you can add fresh milk to refrigerated as long as it is an equal or less amount as well. Oh, and you can always take several bottles of pumped refrigerated milk from the same day and add them up to make fuller freezer bags.

*Oh, and kudos on the Medela pump. I had the double and it was wonderful! If you find you are pumping one breast and the other is leaking, I'd just carry around an extra bottle and hold it over the leaky nipple(sometimes it was flowing almost as fast as the side with suction!). Oh, and the cheap Gerber bottles fit my Medela pump and made refrigerating the milk and transferring to freezer bags a lot easier.

Answer 3

All I have to say to that is good luck sister! I breastfed my baby for 1 year, and tried pumping once or twice. It never worked for me. I'm a stay at home mom, and I just fed my baby whenever she cried, and didn't want anything else. Pumping is time consuming, and difficult. Especially since you have to schedule pumping times around actual feeding times. Some mother's are able to go back to work and pump, but I wouldn't bother. If you can't stay at home for your child, sending her to day care at only 12 weeks, than you should just give her formula too.

Answer 4

Prob about 6ounces but trying to feed and pump is difficult as said b4 its time consuming if ur baby is going into daycare formula feed is prob best because u can never have enough food for baby what happens in daycare when u havent pumped enough milk

Answer 5

Your local wic agency or lactation consultant should be able to answer all your questions about breastfeeding and pumping. If you do not have a lactation consultant at you local hospital try www.lalecheleague.org. There are all kinds of resources and you can email your questions to them. Good luck.

Answer 6

Contact laleache league they can answer every question you have with honest accuracy.