I've been pumping by orders of my L.C.. Its works out okay when I can limit the time on the breast, hand baby over to be supplemented and then pump. However, I'm on my own starting tomorrow with two kids. If I pump, it will be after I've dealt with baby, and this can sometimes happen a good hour and a half to two hours after the start of the feeding. Then and hour or so latter I'm due to feed again. It just seems pumping is going to interfere with my milk supply for the next feeding. Any thoughts? (in cas it matters, my baby is 5 weeks old. She is ineffective at getting the milk out of my breast which is why I've been pumping. I get the milk out for her and give it to her by bottle after I have given her 30-60 min at the breast. The hope is that as she ages she will wake up more and become a more vigorous eater) Truly, I feel I may not make it BF this baby. As it is, between feeding her and trying to soother her after a feeding, she takes more time than is available for just one person who also has to take care of a two year old. I'm really afraid I won't make it. I think I may need to stop pumping which leaves me to supplement with formula.
I pump for the supply - daycare and sometimes end up with the same thing, pumping only an hour before the next feeding. It hasn't interfered yet, and you may get some extra milk with it while you are supplementing. If it works better in your schedule, you can also try pumping before. Just keep at it, and keep your 2 year old engaged. Your little one will figure it out soon, and you will be so happy that you kept with it.
You could looking onto a Supplemental Nursing System. It is a system you can use to supplement at the breast instead of with a bottle. That way you would only need to feed her from the breast and not have to take the time for the supplemented bottle. Keep at it mama! You are doing great!!
Have you tried the breastfeeding shield for BF? I never used it but I heard from a lot of people that it does wonders in helping with all kinds of BF problems. I never liked to pump or supplement because it interfered too much with breastfeeding. I just made it work. I had to pump once when I had surgery when my baby was 5 months old. Pumping that one time didn't seem to affect my milk or anything. I hope this helps.
I had similar situation with my daughter. Because she wasn't nursing properly, my milk supply started to wane. So, the lactation specialist at my Dr's office had me nurse her (supplement with bottle) and then immediately pump both sides for an additional 10ish minutes after I was dry. That faked my body into thinking it needed to produce more milk. It was a complete drag, but it worked and I was able to nurse for 10 mnths. I know it's really hard and btw your baby will be FINE (and you are still a great mom) if you give her formula!!
Another strategy we used when my supply was low was to give her a bottle of formula for one feeding per day and I would still pump and then we would start stock piling my milk so we could use my milk as a supplement. Good luck! P.S. my daughter never had nipple confusion - she'd take me, or the bottle happily and it was bottle feeding tha finally helped her figure out how to draw from my breast! (all this was recommended by my dr's office)
No keep going the way you are. I had this same issue with my third who is now 4 months old. She just was a lazy sucker at first. by 7 weeks she was getting back onto boobie and now she does amazing. Over time she became a better eater, Pumping wont interfeer you just might have to give her the milk in a bottle if she is still hungry. Pumping was the only thing that kept nursing going for me, (especially after having two unsucessful attempts at nursing). The time is there to take care of her, you just have to juggle a little better for w a few weeks. It goes by quick. Now I love that I don't have to make any bottles or clean hardly any pump stuff. I do have an issue with over supply now but it's not that bad. The extra time you put in now save a lot of time later.
I managed a very similar situation with a 5 yr old and a 3 yr old to take care of. Admittingly my kids got a little extra t.v. time while we dealth with the origional issues but we are back to a normal routine now and have been for a good 2 months now.
Keep up the great work. Your almost there. seriously give it till 8 weeks it will get easier.
My baby is 2 months now, and I started pumping around 4 weeks so that relatives could babysit occasionally, or I could bottle feed him when out. My LC said to pump right after a feeding, but usually my timing is off and I've been known to pump, put the milk in the fridge, then immediately breastfeed. It doesn't seem to cause a problem at all. I'm sure it varies from person to person though.
Since you have access to an LC, I'd suggest making an appointment. LCs are the best! They can also weigh the baby before and after eating, maybe with pumping and without, to gauge whether it's impacting your supply. They can also advise you on the best course of action; there may be another solution if you want to keep her completely on breastmilk.
