Breastfeeding VS Pumping

Josslyn - posted on 09/18/2010

pumping is easier for me as i have a lazy let down reflex, my advice is try both, start with breastfeeding for the first week or so and then try pumping the week after.

Mary Renee - posted on 09/18/2010

I only get 1 oz every time I pump. Which means I have to pump 5 times to get my daughter one feeding. Otherwise I just put her on my boob every 2.5 to 3 hours and she eats with no bottle to clean or milk to store and freeze. But pumping actually for me is less painful for my nipples. I don't think they meant "harder" like pain on your nipples... it's just a lot more work involved and for me it's hard to find a way to pump when the baby wants to be held all the time.

Jennifer - posted on 09/17/2010

i nursed my son for about a month but with my work schedule ( i work 2 overnights and pretty close to all day for 2 days) i knew that he would have to get used to the bottle. i started introducing a bottle for 1-2 feeds a day to get him used to it and eventually he started to not want to nurse but preferred the bottle. now i exclusively pump. it is a little more time consuming with having to clean all the parts and bottles and such, but if you want to be able to share the bonding of feeding with your husband/boyfriend this definately helps. my boyfriend has loved being able to feed our little one since he wasnt able to for the first month-month and a half of our sons life. now i can shower, eat or do something else and let daddy and son bond and my son is still getting my breastmilk so in my mind its worth it! it can be frustrating when you have to heat up a bottle, but for me i pump and give him the freshly expressed milk when i'm home instead of heating up bottles. the only time we heat up bottles is when we're out somewhere i can't pump like a restaurant or something. hope this helps!

Brandy - posted on 09/13/2010

I'm with Alex in that I used the Tommee Tippee (closer to nature) bottles with my little girl when I went back to work. It was the only nipple that was slow enough for her to not get confused. The other brands we tried had a different latch style and the flow was so fast she would get choked from too much milk. They are only available at Babies R Us. I pump while at work and at night while my baby sleeps. I nurse her all the other times. She does great this way. It is work to do both. But if you were formula feeding you would have to wash and sanitize bottles so it is no more work than formula babies. I think BF is amazing and so thankful for all the great features that have come out to help moms.

Christina - posted on 09/01/2010

My son wouldnt latch at all so i pumped it could be a pain because it was time consuming at first, pumping took twenty minutes, then cleaning the pump and getting bottles ready, storing extra... then feeding the baby washing bottles... i knew it was what was best and once he wasnt eating every 2 hours an i could also go a little longer in between pumping it got better... just get a system and keep positive...
iether way good luck

Kailoni - posted on 09/01/2010

Depending upon your preferances pumping or BF might be harder. For me BF was pretty hard, my nipples were always sore and my baby was a sleepy nurser. I would get her latched on she would eat for a minute or so, then fall asleep. No amount of trying could get her to wake up and finish eating. I decided that the benefits of breast milk was very important to me so I gave EP(exclusively pumping) a go, that too can be pretty tiresome and time consuming at times,but it was well worth it for me. I EP'd for my little girl for 9.5 months until I was no longer able to produce enough milk to meet her hunger needs. Either way, whether you decide to BF or EP or do a combination of both just know you're doing an AMAZING thing for your baby. Good luck!

Tina - posted on 08/31/2010

I nursed my daughter the first three months and went back to work. I pumped for 10 months every 2-3 hours. I would sanitize everything at night, lay it out on a dish towel and cover it so it dried. (was like a factory station!) In the morning or at night when it dried I would set up the pump pieces for the next day (usually four horns and two extra bottles) I had the Medela pump in Style. Excellent pump. In the morning I would put the horns on top of my cooler (with the bottles inside; caps on) They would be cold when I would pump before class, and at lunch. During lunch, I would switch out my ice pack for the one I kept at my work freezer or I would switch it out at the 5 hour mark. This way my milk was always cold...they were not very supportive at work and I didn't think they liked keeping my milk in their fridge...although I would keep it in the nurse's freezer if I knew I had to stay at school late.) I also kept sanitizing bags (medela) so that I could sanitize the horns and bottles in a pinch if I needed to. Having a microwave, sink, and fridge at work makes things SO much easier. If you don't you can just keep sanitized pieces in ziplock bags in your desk. I always had a few extra sets in case I dropped something while setting up or was tired the night before and something didn't get clean enough...which happened frequently!) Let me know if you need additional help. I had no problem with let down and never felt that there was more milk left over after pumping. When I got home, usually a few hours after my last pumping, I would either nurse the kids or pump (if they had a bottle and couldn't wait...but calling to let someone know you're on your way home helps when planning. :) Enjoy and don't let anyone stress you out. Anything you do, is the right thing to do. Drink tons of water and try to really stick to a schedule at work. Depending on your job, it might be hard but if you have everything set and say you need twenty minutes it should help.

Alex - posted on 08/31/2010

I had to pump with my first son because I had to go back to work after 6 weeks and was bound and determinded to have him only have BM. The only problem i had was that he did not wnat to bf and had nipple confusion. now with my 2nd son i am a stay at home mom and I pump during the day and bf at night. I started this because he does not lilke eating off my left breast and should i have to return back to work there is already a back up supply in our freezer. Also this allowed my 2.5yr old to be more involved w/ the baby so helps feedhim during the day and reminds him when quiet time is because brother is sleeping. Try to find a bottle that is shaped more like a breast if you can. I also use the Avent isis IQ duo and can pump 6-10 oz every 4-5 hrs. total time 20min w/ set up,pump, and clean up. I bought it at amazon.com for 182.00 w/ free shipping, or toys r us carries it for 280.00. I also use tommee tippee bottle this time around and have no nipple confusion. good luck and congrats

*Fluffy Bunnies - posted on 08/31/2010

Info on pumping for when you go back to work :)

http://www.kellymom.com/bf/pumping/

Kristen - posted on 08/31/2010

Thank you so much everyone! You have really helped me to relax :)

Bobbie - posted on 08/31/2010

I was reading the posts and think that it is important to remember that whatever way you go it is great that you are going to give your baby breast milk!!

On that note don't let anyone tell you that pumping isn't just as good. As with a lady above I had a huge amount of pain with breastfeeding my first child so I would pump while my husband bottlefed our son. This lasted for a few months (and I do agree that washing bottles is a pain!) but when I was ready to face the pain we switched back to nursing full time. It took about 2 months before my pain from latching on went away but I am thankful that I had that pump for the first 3 months!!

You will be fine whatever you choose as long as you are determined to stick with it and a good support system doesn't hurt either!! My son ended up nursing for 30 months and 3 weeks at which point I was 5 months pregnant with our daughter and I don't regret a minute (or month) of it!!

Congratulations and good luck!!

Janie - posted on 08/31/2010

I pump 100% for my twins. It is time consuming but it's worth it. They never really latched on and now that they are older they don't want to latch on. I think it works for me because having two I'd always be feeding. Now I sit down for 30minutes every 3-4 hours and get milk for the both of them at the same time. Do what works for you.

Agnieszka - posted on 08/31/2010

for me it is very difficult to pump some satisfactory amount of milk, i need to have a quiet moment, my son around me or his photos, and even with all the helpful props, after 15 min I succeed 50ml, which my son swallows in one second. But because of our travelling life, I don't do it regularly, maybe this is the reason. I will have to start it though from October.
Anyway, it is really wonderful to be able to nurse your child, if inly this is possible, and as much as possible. I just read recently that it also develops the child's independence (not the opposite) and give him lots of self confidence.
All the best!

Marie - posted on 08/31/2010

Kristen, I think it changes depending on how old the baby is, how well he/she eats, and how you are doing. Yes, pumping takes longer, but in some cases it may be better. I needed to get a pump. I had an abundance of milk (pumping it off and donating it to a friend.) However some people have a lower supply so it is not needed as much for that reason for them. In the beginning of breast feeding (I dont care how often you hear from Lactation Consultants that its not suppose to .... but It DOES hurt. - I believe simply because your nipples are not use to being massaged every 1-2 hours!) ...with my second child I hurt so bad that I pumped for his first week of life (while my husband fed him a bottle.) -That worked well - and I healed well. You may also want a pump if you were to get any infections, to help drain your breasts. (I didn't with my 1st child, but did with 2nd.) It is also really nice to use while traveling. .....in short. You may find a use for it from time to time. I don't think it is harder, but takes a bit more time.

Kyra - posted on 08/30/2010

in addition I pump 3 times a day at work. I wash out the unit after pumping it is a work of passion 4 my lil one

Kyra - posted on 08/30/2010

the reason bf is easier is bc you just latch baby on and you are feeding. Pumping should only be done if you have to work or have problems latching or other reasons.

Jennifer - posted on 08/30/2010

i exclusively pump and it is waaay harder.

i chose to make sure i am the one feeding my son bottles of expressed 99% of the time to try and mimick the bonding that comes with actual nursing. for the first few months, you need to pump every single time the eat...even at night. so i'd feed him the bottle, then sit him in his swing at my feet while i pump for 20 minutes. as they get older, it gets harder and harder to get them to sit well while you pump. its not a big deal when my husband is home because he can keep my son occupied, but my husband sometimes has to work 10 or 12 hour shifts. i don't even know what i would do if i had other children i needed to be caring for as well.

in the beginning i was pumping every 2 hours in order to keep up with how much my son was eating so i could barely even leave the house to take my son for a walk without massive amounts of planning naps and pumping.

leaving the house to run errands was, and still is terrible. if we had a couple things we needed to do, most of the time i would have to run home in between to pump. i've got a battery operated pump to take a long when i go places now but you still have to plan out it out...where am i going to pump? am i going to have access to running water so i can wash the pump parts? how much milk should i bring with me? how many ice packs am i going to need? extra bottles? am i going to be able to warm the bottles? is someone going to be able to look after little one while i pump?

we had tons of latching issues in the beginning but my greatest wish is that i had worked harder to get my son to take the boob. pumping is EXHAUSTING. it really is a full time job all in itself. i do it because i refuse to use formula, and because i see my son grow and thrive on the milk my body made for him but i the only way i will ever exclusively pump ever again is if we had a child that was physically unable to latch (due to a cleft or whatever else). my husband an i have a joke that our next child (whenever that may be) will either take the boob, or will not eat at all.

i'm sorry, i know this is all over the place. whenever i see moms even consider exclusive pumping, i go into a bit of a frenzy because i wish someone had told me how much it would suck ahead of time. if i had known, i would have done everything humanly possible to get my son to latch. my advice is to plan on nursing straight from the tap...first, establish a good latch, then start pumping and introduce a bottle if you want. if you do it this way, you will at least have the option of both so dad can help with feedings or whatever.

Kristen - posted on 08/30/2010

Thanks everyone. I was just curious because I will have to return to work 6 weeks after the baby is born and I will have to pump as well as BF. I saw that some moms were saying it was harder and I wasn't sure if they ment pain wise or something else. Im very new to this!

Cinda - posted on 08/30/2010

Are you talking about pumping & feeding with a bottle INSTEAD of directly nursing? Pumping doesn't empty your breasts as completely as baby can. Feeding baby takes twice as long b/c you have to sit & pump for 15-20 minutes THEN sit & feed baby for 15-20 minutes. But if you're nursing directly, you just sit & nurse baby for 15-20 minutes & move on.
Nursing takes a bit of getting used to. It's a bit uncomfortable for the first 2-6 weeks (depending on the woman).
I have to pump daily b/c I work outside the home & send my son to day care. Pumping is very cold & impersonal. I've sometimes have a hard time getting my milk to let down to the pump. My milk NEVER has a hard time letting down for my son.
Let's not forget the intimacy & bonding created through the direct nursing that you miss out on if you strictly pump & feed from a bottle.
Congrats on the new little one.
I hope you have a great BFing experience no matter which direction you go.

Amy - posted on 08/30/2010

I also only pump while I'm at work. The drawbacks of pumping is you need to have pumped beforehand, then you have to heat it up and then give it to the baby. Not to mention you have to wash the pump parts everytime you pump, plus the bottles that you'll be washing afterwards! Now that I'm back to work that's 30 minutes at night I lose washing bottles from the day, and another 20 in the mornig making up bottles for my hubby to give my daughter plus rewashing the pump parts I can't imagine doing it multiple times a day.

Kyra - posted on 08/30/2010

I bf unless I'm at work then I pump. I recommend the electric double breast pump. You can be done in 15 minutes. But always bf is preferred. Only if you can't bf should you pump. The closeness can't be compared to anything else, and that's not considering the other benefits.

*Fluffy Bunnies - posted on 08/30/2010

Pumping is definitely harder. In the first several months baby needs to eat all day and night. So if you're pumping you have to get up before baby to pump and then make a bottle for baby. Then you have to clean/sterilize your bottles and pumps. If you're breastfeeding from the breast you just get baby, put him/her on, feed and put baby back down (if you don't co-sleep) then everyone goes back to sleep. Also, some women don't respond well to pumps so it's very difficult to keep your supply up. I had oversupply (too much milk) so I pumped the extra and donated it.