Starting my exclusive pumping journey — how do I manage schedule?
Show your support
I would recommend getting a handsfree, wearable pump, that is the only way you are going to be able to get more sleep. I'm able to pump while feeding her a bottle of pumped milk. Her dad will wake to change her diaper while I get her bottle warmed and put on my pumps. I've been lucky that she only takes 10-15 minutes to finish her bottle and is back asleep by the time I've pumped for 20-25 minutes so I can lay her down and quickly wash my pump. It allowed me to get an additional 30-60 minutes of sleep when she was waking every 3 hours to feed. You'll want to pump every time she eats at this age so your body will produce when she eats. My girl is 11 weeks old and has pretty much been on expressed milk since birth due to a NICU pediatric ER stay. I wish I had a wearable pump from the beginning.
You can store your pumps in the fridge so you don’t need to wash them between uses, that saves a lot of time (I washed and sterilised once per day). Is there a reason why you’re pumping for an hour? I exclusively pumped for 15 months, I was advised to pump for 20 min tops. Sometimes my first pump in the morning took a few min longer but not much When increasing my supply, I would do one power pump once per day which took an hour. But you don’t need to do it more than once a day and only do it for 7-10 days in a row, otherwise your body can expect that always. Exclusive pumping is really hard so you are doing amazing ♥️♥️
I didn't even catch that you're pumping for an hour. You should pump for 15-20 minutes at a time, no more than 30 minutes at most. You're going to damage your nipples pumping for an hour several times a day.
@Kelli Oh wow, I had no idea. Definitely going to cut it down to 30 min now. Maybe it’s bc I’ve been using flanges that are too big (got sized recently and will be switching) but it hasn’t been uncomfortable
@Rhiannon i didn’t know about the fridge trick! Can I do that multiple times in a row?? Will definitely be reducing my pumping time as well.
LO is 4 weeks btw, she started exclusively breastfed but I had vasospasm and it was too painful. Then I combo BF and formula fed, then bought a pump and combo expressed milk + formula Now it’s mostly formula and I’m trying to up the amount of expressed breast milk we’re giving her.