Pumping Challenges - Entertaining the Baby - Heather

While EPing has has a lot of benefits, the main drawback for many pumping moms is trying to juggle pumping time with caring for your infant. For me, this was clearly the biggest pumping frustration. If you are struggling with the question "How on earth do I pump while my baby is awake?!?!" take heart...it does get better!

When The Cupcake was new, she would only sleep in our arms. She definitely wouldn't tolerate the bassinet or the crib, and it never worked to get her to sleep and then try and move her, she always woke up (still does!). This made even going to the bathroom or getting a snack a huge challenge, let alone trying to pump every 3 hours.

Tip #1: GET A HANDS FREE BRA.
I didn't know these existed until a month after TC was born and I had been stressing myself to the hilt trying to pump, keep her occupied, and deal with everything else that came my way, all without the use of my hands. The traditional method of pumping with a PISA is to hold the breastshields to your skin using both of your hands. If you are coordinated you can use one arm - wrapping your forearm around one and your hand on the other, leaving one hand free. I'm not exceptionally coordinated, and after a few spills (spilling breast milk is TOTALLY worth crying over), I was desperate. The day that the phone was ringing, TC was crying, the dog was barking, and I got a bloody nose all at the same time I was trying to pump - that was the end of the line. When I finished crying, and dripping, and trying not to spill the milk I was pumping, I finally did some googling and ordered the Simple Wishes bustier off of amazon. Best $30 I spent on TC so far.

You can't really pump holding a baby to your chest. If you have great arm muscles and a hands free bra you can hold your baby out over the flanges, and I was occasionally able to prop her way up on my shoulder for an emergency burp or to move her somewhere, but in general, holding is out. So my #2 tip is to have a good place to put your little one down that is within arms reach. This could be next to you on a bed or couch if it is secure enough, or in an infant chair, lounger, or Boppy-type pillow.

The latter was my choice. Even though I never breastfed, I used the heck out of my Boppy pillow for the first 3 months. We'd wrap TC up like a little burrito and prop her in the donut-shaped pillow, it was one of the few places outside of our arms she would sleep in the beginning. It was also a good place for feeding - and here we take a little side trip - while some people are strictly against bottle propping, it was a way of life for our family, and I don't regret it. I was in NO WAY worried that she would be isolated or fail to bond, since as I mentioned she spent most of her time in our arms being held and loved around the clock. I was close enough to listen for choking, and to keep an eye out for any smothering/suffication dangers, so I felt confident that safety wouldn't be a problem. The final concern about bottle propping deals with drainage and ear infections. I'll be honest, I don't completely understand this one or why it would be more likely with a propped bottle than a held one (maybe we can get a medical professional to weigh in?), and though I worried about it some, ultimately the convenience of bottle propping won out. And she never did have an ear infection, so all was well there.

This is all a long way of saying "feeding the baby is a good way to entertain him/her while you pump". i.e., tip #3.

My #4 tip for keeping baby happy while pumping is to have everything else you might need at your fingertips as well. I had a couple of pumping "stations" in my house that I rotated between. Before I hooked up, I made sure that in addition to my pumping supplies I had my cell phone, home phone, kleenex, a full bottle in case TC woke up or got crabby, and ideally a snack and beverage for myself. She has reflux so I always kept a lot of burp cloths around too. Taking a few extra moments to get set up really paid off in the long run as I wasn't stressing about or trying to reach a ringing telephone across the room, or interrupting a session to go get a bottle or toy (or sitting in puke till I finished). Anything you can do to lower stress will help with your letdown and production.

#5 is one I STILL am not good at - realizing that sometimes babies cry, and there will be nothing you can do to stop it. It's not your fault, and as long as your baby is safe, clean, fed, burped - there might not be a thing you can do to comfort them. If I keep saying it enough, maybe it'll get easier? My husband and I tried the "Cry it out" method ONCE and made it 3 minutes before we both gave in. But in the long run, if you can keep your sanity and finish a pumping session, you may be saving more tears in the long run by keeping on schedule and keeping up production.

#6 accept help. Another area I started off pretty sucky in, but I'm learning fast! I was neurotic about people being in my house when it wasn't clean...well, it's pretty clear that my house will never be clean again, so I wish I had just come to terms with it earlier and accepted all the early offers of help. Especially from other moms. And when I did have guests over, I felt compelled to sit and chat with them, when really guests who want to hold and love your baby are a GREAT way to entertain little ones while you pump! Whether you pump in front of everyone or excuse yourself to enjoy a quiet moment, take advantage of those helpers.

#7 dance like no one is watching. Figuratively, of course, as the tubing doesn't give you much room to twirl. But don't be afraid to just get silly to entertain your kiddo. You might not be able to hold them, but you can definitely put on a show. Sing loud nonsensical songs. Make fart noises and siren wails and mash together Lady GaGa and Dolly Parton if you only know a few words of each. Find a go-to song that you DO know the words to and sing it over and over - for us it is "Tomorrow" from Annie, and my little one STILL smiles whenever I start in, despite my being completely tone deaf. TC loves it when I drape a blanket over her face and slowly pull it off and when I blow lightly on her lips - babies are new to the sensation of touch, just tracing lines on their arms can sometimes be soothing. Try it. Try everything. You will eventually find a few "go to" tricks that work, and they will carry you through - but you never know until you try!