Exclusively pumping... I never heard of anyone doing this before I had my twins. I didn't even really know it was an option! I feel as though I am quite the expert on pumping (I am on month 8 of exclusively pumping). Here's what happened...
My twins were born two months early. Therefore, they had to spend their first 6.5 weeks of life in the NICU. The first two weeks they were in NICU they had to be fed through a tube 100%. When a baby feeds by breast or bottle, they use a lot of calories working to get the milk. This is something you DON'T want a preemie to do at first. Preemies need to conserve all the calories they can until they start gaining some weight. Also, their suck/swallow/breathe reflex doesn't start that early.
The evening they were born a lactation consultant came into my hospital room to teach me about the pump. She placed the flanges on me, and showed me how to turn it on, and all about the speeds and suction options. About 2 minutes in, I started producing a tiny bit of colostrum! I was very lucky to be able to have my milk come in this early. I set my phone alarm for every 2 hours and I pumped all through the night and all day. I pumped in my hospital bed and I pumped in the NICU in between the twins' isolettes. Around 2 weeks I extended my pumps to every 3 hours. My husband and sister were such a big help at this time. I was recovering from a brutal emergency C-section and they woke up all through the night with me to get me my accessories, help me get set up, wash all the parts afterwards, and take the milk down the hall to the NICU. They did this every 2 hours for 3 nights. When I was sent home, my husband still helped me all night. When I didn't set an alarm, he would remind me when it was time to pump. It was so nice that the boys' getting breast milk was important to him, too. It really does start to take a toll on your body!
When the twins were two weeks old I was allowed to start 'non nutritive nursing' with them. This is when the baby is placed at the breast as if it were going to nurse. Some do this early, some don't. My twins did! I thought this meant they would be exclusively breastfed, but that wasn't the case. More about that later...
Reid and Dayton breastfed 2-3x a day in the NICU. It was a wonderful way to bond with them. I would take my Breast Friend Twin nursing pillow and everything went well.
When the twins came home from the NICU I had a freezer FULL of breast milk. That didn't last long once they started hitting growth spurts, though! My plans for breastfeeding did not work out. The twins had severe reflux and would choke, aspirate, scream, and pull awake whenever I tried. If I had only one baby, I probably would have kept trying more than a few weeks. Finally I started to accept that they would mainly be bottle fed. The perk to that was I could have my hubby, family members, and friends help me feed them. The con was that I still had to pump every 3 hours.
Here is an idea of what my schedule looked like:
Let's say we start at 7 a.m. to make things easy (of course with preemies there is no 'start' and 'end' to a day. It is a cycle of 3 hour feedings non stop).
7-7:10 AM: Wake up and start bottle in warmer
7:10AM: Change both diapers
7:15 AM: Prop babies up on Boppys in the Playard
7:20 AM: Feed babies (*note: the twins had severe reflux so feedings were very difficult for us. Feeding them consisted of the babies screaming, arching their backs, and spitting up constantly. Some feedings went well, some didn't.)
8:00 AM: Babies finish eating and spit up for about 5-10 minutes while I attempt to burp them. Then they cry some more. I console them and they finally settle down.
8:15 AM: Take babies back to co-sleeper and swaddle to go back to sleep.
8:30 AM: Sit down to start pumping.
9:30 AM: Finish pumping and store milk in refrigerator.
9:35 AM: Wash all pump accessories and bottles
9:45 AM: Lay down in bed to sleep. Guess what? The babies will need to eat again in FIFTEEN MINUTES!!!!!!!!
Do you see something wrong with this?? My hubby started out helping with each feeding during the night so it wouldn't take as long and I could pump. This would allow me about an hour of sleep. That wasn't working for either of us. So instead, we took turns with the night feedings. I would take the 1AM and he would take the 4 AM, then I would take the 7 AM. That worked best.
My life at this time was rough. Having twins is hard enough. Then to throw pumping every 3 hours and reflux on top of it all was very hard. I was a wreck. I felt like I was going to die of exhaustion at any minute. I can't believe I survived! GO ME!
Anyway, pumping at that stage was very difficult but it got easier when the boys got older. After 12 weeks pp, milk is established. I started increasing my time between pumps to every 4 hours during the day, and one time at night. That helped a lot.
Now at 8 months pp, I am pumping 4 times a day and not at all in the middle of the night. My last pump is around midnight and my first pump of the day is around 8am.
I survived!
My next post will be about tricks I have learned to make pumping easier, and ways to increase your milk supply.
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