Sara has twins, and reading around on message boards she's gotten the advice that a "hospital grade pump is NECESSARY" for an exclusive pumper in her situation. Here's what she asked our pumping moms:
I have been renting a Symphony for the past 3 months and I am about a week away from having to return it. My insurance only covers 3 months, which is a value of $160. I have purchased the Medela PISA from Target, but have not opened the box and broken the seal, so I *do* still have the option of returning it. I thought I had read enough good reviews about it to be confident in my purchase, but after reading this and other posts from twin moms, I am concerned that returning the Symphony is going to decrease my supply when I start with the PISA. I really don't have the money to be able to rent the Symphony for $50/month, but I also realize that I don't have that kind of money to buy formula if my supply drops and I have to go that route. The only reason I was able to get the PISA is because I saved all my Target giftcards from my baby shower.
So whats the deal? Is the PISA "designed for pumping only a few times a day, not around the clock"??? What would you do if you were in my shoes?
Thanks for your opinions! ~Sara
Here's what our Pumping Moms had to say -
Advice from Arvada -
Dear Sara, Congrats on your twins! I would think that using the PISA would be just fine. I started with the Symphony for about a week and then upon my discharge from the hospital, used my PISA. I never saw a difference in my supply. I have been using my PISA around the clock for nearly 14 months now. While my supply has changed over time, based on the need of my baby, it has never tanked because of a change in pumps.
I would also encourage you to try fenugreek if your supply does drastically change. I do think you might see a small change in your pumping volume with the switch but once your body becomes familiar with the new pump, you should see it come back up.
I would highly suggest that you do change out your membranes about every other month since they will wear out over time. You can get the little white membranes and most Targets and BRU's.
Also, make sure you familiarize yourself with the various parts of the PISA pump since it is vastly different than the Symphony. But you know you can always ask questions here on this blog and any one of us will gladly reply to your question.
Advice from Kristen:
I have a Medela PISA & I pumped 6- 8 times a day for an hour at a time for almost 6 months & now I pump 5 -6 X a day an hour at a time & I get 5 -7 ounces at a time. I love my PISA... Mine is almost 4 yrs old ( got it for my first son & only used for a month) and I have had no problems.
I would say that as long as you keep your nutrition good & your water intake up you should be fine. If you see a drop at beginning you can always add supplements to help (I use Mother's milk plus capsules).
Do you have a health flex plan? If so, you can use that $$ to buy pumping supplies & pumps. Good Luck!
Advice from Kylee:
Sara - I had a Medela PISA - used it for 6 months. The first 3 months I pumped 6-8 times a day, and then the other 3 months I pumped 4 times a day. I had no issues at all with my pump. I would use and will use my PISA again.
Advice from: Janna
First of all I would like to say, great job! I found it hard just to maintain a supply for one baby, so good job providing breast milk for twins by EPing!! As far as switching to a personal use pump, I did notice a slight decrease in my supply when I switched from the Symphony to the Medela Freestyle. However, I also returned to work and was away from my baby, so that may have been a contributing factor as well. I wouldn't give up on trying to get your insurance company to continue to cover the cost of the Symphony. I was able to get approval for an additional 3 months after my coverage ran out just by asking my physician to put in a referral. I that doesn't work, I would go to your babies' pediatrician to see if he/she can get approval; your pediatrician may be able to persuade the insurance company to cover the cost because of the numerous benefits of breast milk (including cost saving benefits to the insurance company due to less childhood illness). Additionally, starting January 1st, insurance companies will be required to cover the cost of breast pumps; your insurance company may be more willing to approve the pump because they will be required to cover it starting in 2012. If that doesn't work, I would check to see if you qualify for WIC. WIC provides loaner hospital grade breast pumps. They can also provide formula if you need supplement. If all these options fail, I would go ahead and use the PIS. I had a friend that was able to build her supply with this pump, so I know that it works well for some moms. I hope this helps! Good luck!!
Advice from: Jennifer
Hi Sara, I have to be honest with you and say that I completely regret returning my Symphony to the hospital. I rented it for the two months that my daughter was in the NICU. Insurance didn't cover a dime, so we paid for it completely out of pocket. I started using the Medela Freestyle and that in combination with starting my menstrual cycle again slashed my supply in half the next month. I'm not certain it is all due to the switch in pumps since my period also started that same month, but I will always wonder if I had kept the Symphony would my supply have stayed up. I even debated going back and re-renting the Symphony again. To me, it was a much more comfortable pump. I find the Freestyle slightly more awkward and not as smooth as the Symphony, as well. With the Symphony, I was able to pump only 4x/day and get more than enough milk for the day and to freeze the excess. With the Freestyle, I pump 6x/day and only freeze excess every few days.
Overall, we've made the transition and survived. Luckily, I had an oversupply so my reduction in milk hasn't been drastic enough that I need to supplement. I also have a massive freezer stash that I can break into on the rougher days. But, I do still miss that Symphony!! Best of luck!
----
Do you have advice for Sara? Share it in the comments!
Have a question for our pumping moms? Send it to pumpingmomsblog@gmail.com
Showing posts with label Mail Call. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Mail Call. Show all posts
Monday, September 19, 2011
Wednesday, August 31, 2011
Mail Call - Pumping on a Plane?
We've got another question from a pumping mom - can you help? If you've had experience pumping on a plane, or want to add to the tips our Pumping Moms offered, share your advice in the comments, or email us at pumpingmomsblog@gmail.com
Here's the situation:
Hi there! I will be traveling by plane next week with my husband and 5 month old son. Just wondering if any of your EPing mamas have any suggestions/tips/advice for me? I have been EPing since the beginning, but have not traveled thus far. Our flight will be about 3.5 hours long and I will definitely HAVE to pump sometime during the time frame of us being at the airport and before we get off the plane. I am on a 4x/day pumping schedule, mainly because I nanny for another 5 month old baby, so I have to make sure I only pump 1x during the hours that I have 2 babies, for obvious reasons--so I would like to try to keep this schedule so my supply is not affected (and so I am not leaking all over the place, which seems to happen when I screw with my schedule).
Also, we will be gone for 5 nights/6 days and I am not sure how many bottles I should bring. We are bringing our bottle-cleaning supplies, but I just don't want to have to pack everything, ya know? Any help would be greatly appreciated! Thanks.
Response from Kristen:
I have not traveled on a plane however I have to travel by car often & I am constantly pumping in the car, so I have become a pro... IMO...
I personally think that pumping on the plane would be easier & probably more private if you can believe it. Do you have a hands free set? If not you can easily make one out of a sports bra. Also your pump needs to be battery operated....wear your hands free set, I do it over my bra so when I am done I can take off if I want.Sit in the window seat & have your husband sit on aisle(assuming it is 2 seat only) I would wait until you have taken off (oh as a side note... You should feed baby on take off & landing.. It will help with pressure in the ears & less fussy) I would have hubby hold up baby blanket so you can lift shirt & get hooked up.. I put the horns & bottles under my shirt then I would lay baby blanket over me & I would just pump.... When done I would unhook & then maybe go in bathroom to take off hands free bra & get more comfortable :) Your milk will stay good until you can get in refrigerator since your flight is only 3.5 hrs. I don't know how long you pump for but I would time the pump session so maybe you only have an hour or less left when you finish pumping, that way you can get to where you are going without wasting milk. Good Luck!
Response from Heather:
I haven't traveled via plane while pumping, but we did take several road trips. One suggestion is to make sure you take a pack of freezer bags, they take up less room than bottles, and if you "run out" of bottles (like if baby eats less due to all the activity and all of your bottles are full of pumped milk) you can transfehttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifr milk to the freezer bags to free up bottles to pump into. For most of my pumping time, I was producing more than my little one ate, so I usually had to bring home more milk than I brought on the trip...extra storage was a must!
My daughter was off the charts in that she took 42 oz of milk a day from 1-6 months. She's not even very big! But when you EP, you really know how much they are eating, and she was consistent. I always took at least a day and a half of milk with me, because I'm a worrier and wanted to be sure if I missed a session or something she'd still have plenty. Clearly you don't have to do that. If you are pretty consistent, think about how long you will be "gone" each day, like will you be at a theme park for 8 hours? 12? Bring enough that you can travel comfortably.
When traveling with frozen milk, one tip I heard and tried was to NOT put it on ice - the frozen milk itself is colder than ice cubes, so the best thing (and what they do when shipping breastmilk) is to just pack the packets of frozen milk close together in an insulated cooler, and use the outside ones first. I tried this for a wedding and after 2 days some of the center milk was still frozen solid, it worked GREAT! I was a little worried since you have a shorter time to work with defrosted milk (should use it up within 24 hours, vs. over a week for "fresh" milk) but it was easier than dealing with ice and refilling coolers for sure.
One final tip - 50% of the time when I had an in room refrigerator, it didn't work properly, so I did keep my "fresh" milk on ice instead - no big deal since hotels usually have ice machines and I already had it in a cooler. Make sure you test the refrigerator if you will be relying on it.
Here's the situation:
Hi there! I will be traveling by plane next week with my husband and 5 month old son. Just wondering if any of your EPing mamas have any suggestions/tips/advice for me? I have been EPing since the beginning, but have not traveled thus far. Our flight will be about 3.5 hours long and I will definitely HAVE to pump sometime during the time frame of us being at the airport and before we get off the plane. I am on a 4x/day pumping schedule, mainly because I nanny for another 5 month old baby, so I have to make sure I only pump 1x during the hours that I have 2 babies, for obvious reasons--so I would like to try to keep this schedule so my supply is not affected (and so I am not leaking all over the place, which seems to happen when I screw with my schedule).
Also, we will be gone for 5 nights/6 days and I am not sure how many bottles I should bring. We are bringing our bottle-cleaning supplies, but I just don't want to have to pack everything, ya know? Any help would be greatly appreciated! Thanks.
Response from Kristen:
I have not traveled on a plane however I have to travel by car often & I am constantly pumping in the car, so I have become a pro... IMO...
I personally think that pumping on the plane would be easier & probably more private if you can believe it. Do you have a hands free set? If not you can easily make one out of a sports bra. Also your pump needs to be battery operated....wear your hands free set, I do it over my bra so when I am done I can take off if I want.Sit in the window seat & have your husband sit on aisle(assuming it is 2 seat only) I would wait until you have taken off (oh as a side note... You should feed baby on take off & landing.. It will help with pressure in the ears & less fussy) I would have hubby hold up baby blanket so you can lift shirt & get hooked up.. I put the horns & bottles under my shirt then I would lay baby blanket over me & I would just pump.... When done I would unhook & then maybe go in bathroom to take off hands free bra & get more comfortable :) Your milk will stay good until you can get in refrigerator since your flight is only 3.5 hrs. I don't know how long you pump for but I would time the pump session so maybe you only have an hour or less left when you finish pumping, that way you can get to where you are going without wasting milk. Good Luck!
Response from Heather:
I haven't traveled via plane while pumping, but we did take several road trips. One suggestion is to make sure you take a pack of freezer bags, they take up less room than bottles, and if you "run out" of bottles (like if baby eats less due to all the activity and all of your bottles are full of pumped milk) you can transfehttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifr milk to the freezer bags to free up bottles to pump into. For most of my pumping time, I was producing more than my little one ate, so I usually had to bring home more milk than I brought on the trip...extra storage was a must!
My daughter was off the charts in that she took 42 oz of milk a day from 1-6 months. She's not even very big! But when you EP, you really know how much they are eating, and she was consistent. I always took at least a day and a half of milk with me, because I'm a worrier and wanted to be sure if I missed a session or something she'd still have plenty. Clearly you don't have to do that. If you are pretty consistent, think about how long you will be "gone" each day, like will you be at a theme park for 8 hours? 12? Bring enough that you can travel comfortably.
When traveling with frozen milk, one tip I heard and tried was to NOT put it on ice - the frozen milk itself is colder than ice cubes, so the best thing (and what they do when shipping breastmilk) is to just pack the packets of frozen milk close together in an insulated cooler, and use the outside ones first. I tried this for a wedding and after 2 days some of the center milk was still frozen solid, it worked GREAT! I was a little worried since you have a shorter time to work with defrosted milk (should use it up within 24 hours, vs. over a week for "fresh" milk) but it was easier than dealing with ice and refilling coolers for sure.
One final tip - 50% of the time when I had an in room refrigerator, it didn't work properly, so I did keep my "fresh" milk on ice instead - no big deal since hotels usually have ice machines and I already had it in a cooler. Make sure you test the refrigerator if you will be relying on it.
Thursday, August 25, 2011
Mail Call: Your Questions
Thank you so much to everyone who visits Pumping Moms, I hope you find it worth your while. Recently we received this plea for help via email from a struggling new pumper:
Hello! I am new to Eping, and being a mom! I have a 10 day old baby, and started 6 days ago. So far, so good. My only problem is I keep getting clogged ducts. First, the right side now the left. I was able to clear the right side pretty quickly with warm compressing and massage. But- here I am again, with another problem now on the left (not as bad as the right side was). I have been massaging each side during pumping since I started. I am to pump about 8-9 times a day, and about 2-2.5 hours between, and I have been getting away with one pump at night, about 4 hours after the last session. Am I doing something wrong? Can I avoid this? Is the 4 hour stretch the cause for the issues?
Help!
Thanks in advance... I really love your blog, its keeping me sane!
I posed this question to some of our wonderful pumping moms, and we got a lot of great replies. Here is what experienced EPers have to offer:
From Kristen:
I think that part of the problem is the 4 Hr stretch... It is a little early to be going that long but I understand needing the sleep. So my suggestion is to use a heating pad on your chest while you pump. Also web you take a shower try to let hot water hit your breasts for like 5-10 minutes. This will also help keep things moving. You don't have to keep the heating pad on the whole time I usually put on until letdown & then again for last 5 minutes of pump( when you still have milk) & then for the 5 minutes you continue to pump after no more milk is coming.
What kind of bra are you wearing? What any at night?
From Jennifer:
My two cents...
I totally feel your pain. I had recurrent clogs the entire first month that I pumped, especially on my right side (which has always been my super-producer vs. my left side). After working with several lactation consultants, one of them finally recommended a supplement called lecithin. To this day, I call it my "miracle drug." It is safe to take several times a day. I started by taking 2 at breakfast, lunch, and dinner. I now just take 1 per day and it seems to still be effective.
You mentioned that you are only 10 days into this adventure. Do you have an oversupply? The lactation consultant figured that was one of the major causes of my clogs. The pump is just not as effective as a baby at taking out the milk.
I also tried the warm compresses, as well as massaging. To this day (4 months later), I still massage the entire time I pump. I find that I can do this more efficiently by using a hands-free bra. I love the Simple Wishes bras that I purchased off of Amazon.
The LC also said that you can try epsom salt. It never worked for me, but she claimed it worked for other moms. Basically, fill a giant bowl with warm water (as hot as you can stand) and dump in a handful of the salt. Submerge your breast into the mixture and keep in until you feel a release. Like I said, it never worked for me, but I was in enough pain to give it a try!
I always tried to increase my pumping when I had a clog. I would pump, rest for an hour, and then pump again. My longest clog lasted about 24 hours. You'll be amazed how wonderful you feel once it releases!!!!
From Janna:
It sounds like she is doing everything right. The only thing that I can think of is that pumping is just not as good at removing milk from the breast as nursing, so it's important to perform "hands on" pumping if your EPing. Stanford university has a good video on how to do it HERE. Also, make sure that you're fully emptying your breasts during your pumping session; you might need to pump a bit longer to fully drain them. I used a heat pack while I was pumping and that seemed to help.
From Jana:
Start taking 1200 mg if lectithan 4 times a day.
Making sure you do compresses as you pump
Drink plenty of water thru out the day.
From Ixelle:
I'm sorry you are dealing with clogged ducts (ouch!), you sound like you are doing everything right and you are doing such a great thing for your baby! Here are my suggestions:
Firstly, make sure you have the right size flanges - that makes a big difference. Medela has diagrams in their little breastfeeding booklets and here.
Secondly, make sure your pump suction is good, I got my milk blister from low suction (I needed to replace the membranes on the pump, since you have only been pumping for a few days this is probably not the problem but it might be another issue with the pump). Since your baby is so young, I very strongly urge you to rent a hospital grade pump if you don't already have one, at least for a month. There's nothing better for a pumping mom when you are initially building your supply and they're not expensive to rent.
Thirdly, make sure you are pumping for long enough (15-20 mins) each session and don't stop pumping in the middle of a letdown (sometimes I would get a letdown just as the timer hit 20 minutes), go the extra 1-2 minutes if you have to since you don't want to leave milk in the breast when you are this new to pumping and when you are dealing with blockages.
Lastly, if nothing else works, try completely soaking the breast in a warm vinegar solution bath (heard about this from a lactation consultant but never actually tried it) along with the massage and warm compresses you are using, and do it right before pumping. Apparently the vinegar helps with any milk blocking the duct openings.
All the best wishes to you, clogged ducts are no fun at all but hopefully you can fix the problem and move on with your life.
-----
To see other posts these Pumping Moms have written, click on their hyperlinked names. Do you have a question about Exclusive Pumping that you could use advice on? Send it to us at PumpingMomsBlog@gmail.com
Hello! I am new to Eping, and being a mom! I have a 10 day old baby, and started 6 days ago. So far, so good. My only problem is I keep getting clogged ducts. First, the right side now the left. I was able to clear the right side pretty quickly with warm compressing and massage. But- here I am again, with another problem now on the left (not as bad as the right side was). I have been massaging each side during pumping since I started. I am to pump about 8-9 times a day, and about 2-2.5 hours between, and I have been getting away with one pump at night, about 4 hours after the last session. Am I doing something wrong? Can I avoid this? Is the 4 hour stretch the cause for the issues?
Help!
Thanks in advance... I really love your blog, its keeping me sane!
I posed this question to some of our wonderful pumping moms, and we got a lot of great replies. Here is what experienced EPers have to offer:
From Kristen:
I think that part of the problem is the 4 Hr stretch... It is a little early to be going that long but I understand needing the sleep. So my suggestion is to use a heating pad on your chest while you pump. Also web you take a shower try to let hot water hit your breasts for like 5-10 minutes. This will also help keep things moving. You don't have to keep the heating pad on the whole time I usually put on until letdown & then again for last 5 minutes of pump( when you still have milk) & then for the 5 minutes you continue to pump after no more milk is coming.
What kind of bra are you wearing? What any at night?
From Jennifer:
My two cents...
I totally feel your pain. I had recurrent clogs the entire first month that I pumped, especially on my right side (which has always been my super-producer vs. my left side). After working with several lactation consultants, one of them finally recommended a supplement called lecithin. To this day, I call it my "miracle drug." It is safe to take several times a day. I started by taking 2 at breakfast, lunch, and dinner. I now just take 1 per day and it seems to still be effective.
You mentioned that you are only 10 days into this adventure. Do you have an oversupply? The lactation consultant figured that was one of the major causes of my clogs. The pump is just not as effective as a baby at taking out the milk.
I also tried the warm compresses, as well as massaging. To this day (4 months later), I still massage the entire time I pump. I find that I can do this more efficiently by using a hands-free bra. I love the Simple Wishes bras that I purchased off of Amazon.
The LC also said that you can try epsom salt. It never worked for me, but she claimed it worked for other moms. Basically, fill a giant bowl with warm water (as hot as you can stand) and dump in a handful of the salt. Submerge your breast into the mixture and keep in until you feel a release. Like I said, it never worked for me, but I was in enough pain to give it a try!
I always tried to increase my pumping when I had a clog. I would pump, rest for an hour, and then pump again. My longest clog lasted about 24 hours. You'll be amazed how wonderful you feel once it releases!!!!
From Janna:
It sounds like she is doing everything right. The only thing that I can think of is that pumping is just not as good at removing milk from the breast as nursing, so it's important to perform "hands on" pumping if your EPing. Stanford university has a good video on how to do it HERE. Also, make sure that you're fully emptying your breasts during your pumping session; you might need to pump a bit longer to fully drain them. I used a heat pack while I was pumping and that seemed to help.
From Jana:
Start taking 1200 mg if lectithan 4 times a day.
Making sure you do compresses as you pump
Drink plenty of water thru out the day.
From Ixelle:
I'm sorry you are dealing with clogged ducts (ouch!), you sound like you are doing everything right and you are doing such a great thing for your baby! Here are my suggestions:
Firstly, make sure you have the right size flanges - that makes a big difference. Medela has diagrams in their little breastfeeding booklets and here.
Secondly, make sure your pump suction is good, I got my milk blister from low suction (I needed to replace the membranes on the pump, since you have only been pumping for a few days this is probably not the problem but it might be another issue with the pump). Since your baby is so young, I very strongly urge you to rent a hospital grade pump if you don't already have one, at least for a month. There's nothing better for a pumping mom when you are initially building your supply and they're not expensive to rent.
Thirdly, make sure you are pumping for long enough (15-20 mins) each session and don't stop pumping in the middle of a letdown (sometimes I would get a letdown just as the timer hit 20 minutes), go the extra 1-2 minutes if you have to since you don't want to leave milk in the breast when you are this new to pumping and when you are dealing with blockages.
Lastly, if nothing else works, try completely soaking the breast in a warm vinegar solution bath (heard about this from a lactation consultant but never actually tried it) along with the massage and warm compresses you are using, and do it right before pumping. Apparently the vinegar helps with any milk blocking the duct openings.
All the best wishes to you, clogged ducts are no fun at all but hopefully you can fix the problem and move on with your life.
-----
To see other posts these Pumping Moms have written, click on their hyperlinked names. Do you have a question about Exclusive Pumping that you could use advice on? Send it to us at PumpingMomsBlog@gmail.com
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