I'm the mom (Ixelle) of an almost 4 month old baby boy (Thumper), and after much pain and tears I made the decision to pump exclusively to supply milk for him. I always expected to breastfeed my baby, especially being a stay at home mom I never intended to have to pump except to relieve engorgement. When my baby was born, he wouldn't latch at all and had no interest in the breast. When we would try to encourage him to latch with the help of nurses and LCs, he hated it and would scream and scream. It was urgent that he be able to eat since he was jaundiced enough to keep him in the hospital a few extra days but not quite enough for them to admit him to the nicu. Since he was not nursing, I started pumping the day after he was born. The LC in postpartum worked with us extensively during our hospital stay and finally got baby to take the nipple shield, which he would do only after at least 20 minutes of hysterical screaming. We also had to set up a Supplemental Nursing System (SNS) and mixed what little I could pump out with formula and he would rarely take more than 2 ml at a feeding. The LC arranged for us to rent a hospital-grade pump after we went home.
After we were finally discharged, we had to bring him back to the hospital the next 3 days for appointments (and blood draws) to check on his bilirubin levels. At the first appointment, we met with another LC who was shocked at how he just would not take the breast, even when she was pouring milk into his mouth next to the nipple shield. She advised us to get rid of the SNS since it was causing us so much stress, and to give baby a bottle as long as we weren't opposed to it. I had no problems, I just wanted to be able to feed my baby. He took the bottle like a champ and was finally getting some milk into his system (at this point my milk had already come in and I was making enough for him). We bottle-fed him while trying to offer the breast whenever we could and doing a ton of skin to skin (kangaroo care).
It was 2 weeks of LC visits before baby would take the nipple shield without screaming, and another week before he would do it consistently at home. It was going well, and baby even nursed without the shield three times! Then we got thrush. Between baby squirming and fighting me at the breast and the shooting pain in my nipple when he nursed, breastfeeding was a miserable experience but I couldn't imagine quitting. On top of that, a tenant and my brother are living with us, so between trying to nurse and pumping I felt like a prisoner in the dungeon of my baby's room. As time passed I was less and less motivated to nurse and eventually stopped offering him the breast altogether and was purely bottle-feeding him breast milk.
Right before he was 3 months old I decided to give nursing another try, I had been getting slightly more sleep and was more accustomed to taking care of a baby daily and thought that I would be in a good state of mind to try again. I decided to try nursing him on the nipple shield at least one feeding per day and see where that led me. I did that for 2 days and was immediately frustrated again with nursing a squirming, kicking baby. I thought about it and realized that I wasn't trying to nurse for the benefit of my baby, it was just for my convenience and appearance. Baby was already getting the best nutrition he could have, he was just getting it from a bottle. After another few days of praying and contemplating I officially made the decision to exclusively pump. It was so heart breaking to 'give up' after all the time, effort, tears I put into trying to get my baby to nurse. Once I made the decision, I was able to move on with my life. I bought a hands-free pumping bra and switched baby back to regular bottles (we had been using Breastflow bottles in an effort to get him to nurse without a nipple shield, and they were hard to wash). At this point pumping became downright enjoyable. I played games on my phone or called up friends while I pumped and it gave me time to sit and relax a few times a day. I was able to prop baby up on my Boppy and feed him or change his diaper while pumping.
I wasn't passionate about EPing until I looked online for resources and realized how slim the pickings are yet how many women actually EP. Let's face it, it takes a real woman to pump exclusively to feed her baby! I'm hoping to continue through one year. If my story can in any way help or encourage someone else who wants the best for their baby and is willing to spend weeks of her life tied to a pump to get it then it all becomes worth it. Currently I am applying to donate milk since I have a nice oversupply and I desperately need to reclaim my freezer space.
I have been pumping for almost 4 months, I use the Medela PISA, Simple Wishes hands-free bra and Playtex VentAire Advanced bottles.
I pump for 20 minutes at a time at 7am, 11am, 3pm, 7pm, 11pm and then around 3am when baby wakes up.
Tips:
Hands-free is the only way to EP
Refrigerate your pump parts instead of washing them every time you pump, and then you can just wash them once a day
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