Preemie Baby and Pumping

Hello

My baby boy was born at 28 weeks - I pumped & served in a bottle for 10 months- they said as long as they are getting the breast milk it is great! It is more work but mine never latched on being in the hospital so long. It is the best for preemies if you can. If you give up sooner the preemie symilac formula works well:)

Congratulations A.,

I am a mom to a 36.6 week, 8 lb, preemie. The nurses laughed when they called him a preemie, but because he wasn't 37 weeks he was considered a preemie. He spent 13 days in the NICU due to underdeveloped longs, respiratory distress syndrome, and in turn collapesed his healthy lung. It was a long haul, but he is a healthy... happy... full of life 13 month old now. You would never guess he was so sick at birth.

I was in the same position and had to pump since he was only on IV fluids for the first 8 days. My doctor suggested pumping every three hours for 20 minutes. I had a double breast pump (pump in style advanced) and it was wonderful. It actually built my milk supply up so much that when he came home I had way too much milk for him along with the huge supply in my freezer. You are doing the best thing you can for him. Being a preemie he needs the antibodies your breastmilk is providing. If your son is in the NICU, try to be there to feed him if the nurses will let you. I got a wonderful night nurse who actually let me start letting him try to latch on before we would give him the bottle. It seemed the night nurses were a little more layed back and allowed a lot more than the day nurses. The 5 or so days he spent bottle feeding did not bother him at all. He came home ready to nurse and was an incredible eater. Once he started nursing it actually got really difficult to get him to take a bottle. Very rarely would he take one without putting up a fight. I hope you have the same situation when it comes to nursing. Either way, keep up pumping. Your son will thank you for it in the future. Wishing you the very best. Keep us posted on his development.

You just have to make sure that you are using a high powered pump, but even then it does not replace baby in keeping your milk supply up. Medela is good, but what is even better is if you rent a commercial strength pump from the hospital.

Here are a few breastfeeding sites, should you have any further questions:

www.breastfeeding.com
www.kellymom.com
www.llli.org

Good luck A.!

T.
Founder
www.theparentpack.org

There is alot of great advice here. I am a mom of 32 week preemie twin boys. I was scared that they would never learn to Breast feed since they were so tiny and in the NICU taking bottles of breast milk for so long. I was fortunate enough to be given a hospital grade pump by a nieghbor, and able to produce enough milk. At about 3 weeks old in the NICU I began to try to breast feed them, tried about twice a day after about a week they started to get the hang of it. When they finally came home from the hospital at 6 weeks and 8 weeks, it took about 3 weeks after they were both home that they realized that bottles took time and mom was "right now". From that time on about a day apart from each other they both refused to take a bottle till about 10 months old. So in the end take your time and always do what you feel is right. Most of the time Mom does always know best and what is right for their child.

Hi A.

I also had to do this with my preemie babies. From what I know pumping isn't as effective as breastfeeding when it comes to producing milk. Having said that, it still can work. I would try to always have your baby laying next to you, etc. when you are pumping. And once your baby is able to latch you may want to try breastfeeding.

Good Luck!

Keep up the good work! I pumped for a year because my son never would latch on, despite working with lactation consultants and trying everything under the sun. I was able to keep a milk supply of 40 oz. a day with pumping 6X/day for 12-15 minutes. I would recommend investing in a good quality double electric pump (I used a Pump In Style) and a good insulated bag to keep the milk in when you have to pump away from home. It will become very easy to pump anytime/anywhere once you get used to it (well, maybe not ANYWHERE, but you know what I mean)! Also, if you can, feed him fresh rather that frozen when you can, because freezing can destroy some of the antibodies. Whenever possible, I'd pump just a half hour or so before I expected my son to be hungry, that way it was still warm...of course it doesn't always work out, sometimes (most of the time!) babies are unpredictable. Good luck and congrats on your new baby :-)

Just pump as often as he would eat.
That is what I have always done to keep my supply.
I am a mom to a 34-weeker

have you looked into nipple shields? They are great to help preemies latch.

Yeah Mama! You are doing the best for lil one...while breastfeeding is great for bonding and better for oral development..this is not a choice at the this time...pumping and bottal feeding is the next best thing. Your breast milk is just what he needs to thrive and as long as you are holding him and making eye contact you can still bond.
Keep up the good work!
BReast milk is a supply and demand process.....meaning if you pump on a regular schedule you will have an estabilished supply..one thing to remember is that it may not look like a whole lot to you...we are so used to seeing big bottles full of formula that breast milk can look lacking at times....just keep in mind that your babies tummy is about the size of a lima bean.

Congrtulations on your baby. There are ways to help increase your milk supply if you're pumping. There is an herb called Fenugreek, it'll make you smell like maple syrup but it does help. Oatmeal, and lots of water will help. Also there is an organic tea called Mothers Milk. If you want to try nursing you can always get nipple shields. Breastmilk, whether from the breast or the bottle is the best nutrition. Keep up the good work. =)

sounds all too familiar :) my son was born at 34 weeks and was not strong enough to latch. i pumped every 3-4 hours while he was in the NICU. then when he came home i used a nipple shield...thank god for nipple shields. although i did not breastfeed exclusivly for a good month or two. he still took a bottle for most feedings and then one day decided he could get all he needed at each feeding on the boob. i would usually top him off with a bottle after a bottle to be sure he was getting enough. my milk supply was way more than enough for the first few months. we had a freezer full of milk we thought we would never go through. oh how i was wrong :) he used the nipple shield for a few months and then was done with it. i was so thankful for that day. i was so over the nipple shield by then! your milk supply will become supply and demand and once he is more on the boob you will see. sounds like you are doing it all right! good luck and congrats!

Hi A.,
I'm the mother of two children who were preemies (28 weeker, and a 34 weeker) and I've so been there with the pump/breastfeeding issue. Right now, while he's so little, I'd pump all you could to build up a supply in the freezer and help keep your supply up, too. With preemies and pumping you are facing an uphill battle but it can be done! When he is big enough to latch on and not waste too much energy trying to breastfeed, I would be there for every feeding (I assume he is still in PICU/NICU? or is he home now?) and have the nurses let him try breastfeeding for a few minutes first.
With both my boys, we did have trouble nursing in the long term because they were so used to bottle feeds.
In the end, I had to continue to pump for a year at home with each boy, and while they would nurse some, they had continued confusion and I ended up feeding them both fresh and frozen breast milk. All in all, I decided that the things I wanted most were to get the breast milk into the baby, and to bond with nursing as much as possible, and even though it wasn't perfect, I felt pretty good about managing those two things. :) It can be a hard thing to teach preemies to nurse properly, but with the right support (and continue to pump after they nurse to keep that supply up... get a medela pump in style or a hospital grade pump for rent to take home with you, those are the best choices in my opinion!) you can have a very successful outcome!
Sending blessings and hugs to your sweet little one!
L.

Its ok to pump and feed you baby your milk because the more you pump from your breast the more milk you will make.

Congratulations on the birth of your son! And great job on pumping and feeding him breast milk! My daughter had challenges latching on at first for several weeks, until she was bigger. I used the San Ramon Valley Lactation nurses. They came to my home and assisted me in proper nursing technique and helping the baby latch on. It was trial and error until she finally got the hang of it! I was aware that there is "nipple confusion" with bottle and breast feedings. The important thing is the breast milk. He is benefiting everyday form your efforts. I wish him health and happiness to you and your family. Best of luck and I hope this helps you!

A.,
It is truly great that you are still pumping and giving it to him thru the bottle. When you pump, it will produce as much as you leave it on there for. It is considered the supply and demand. Just like if the baby were latched on,
it will produce more for him. SO, as he gets a little bigger, you can leave it on longer, or if you want to increase and freeze your extra supply, you can leave it on longer then too. Just don't forget to release the nipple every now and then, if you do the constant suction, it makes the motor burn out. I burned out two breast pumps that way. Good luck, and happy mommying:)
W.