Recently received this email from a customer, who was looking for a little support:
“I have a 3 week old son and currently expressing my milk as during the
first weeks of breastfeeding I did some damage to my nipples
due to poor latching and/or positioning. To allow my body to heal I went and bought a pump and have been expressing since. As great as my midwife and our local lactation consultant are they are pro breastfeeding and are not that supportive of my current choice of expressing.
My intention is to go back to breastfeeding but if for whatever reason
this doesnt work out I will go to expressing fulltime. Currently with my
single pump I spend 25 minutes on each breast every 2-3 hours but I’m wondering is there a pump that can reduce this time?”
Thanks for your email, and congrats on your new baby. I’m sorry to read about the tough time you are having; and its disappointing to read that your midwife and lactation consultant are not entirely supportive – even though you are going to all the effort of expressing milk to continue breastmilk, that is a lot of effort and they should be applauding you for your commitment to boobie jucie.
Good idea to express to allow your nipples to heal.
That is awesome to intend to go back to breastfeeding at boob, if all works out then that is the best result (and so much easier than pumping!!). You are great at planning for the outcome, and allowing for the option of fulltime expressing. LEGEND!!! That is a huge commitment to keep going with breastmilk GO YOU!!!!!
But yes I agree, it is a huge amount of time to sit and pump; and you need to minimise that amount of time.
A double breast pump will reduce the pumping time, so you might go from current 25 minutes (per breast) to probably around 15 minutes both at the same time. By pumping both breasts at the same time it does result in more milk being produced too. They’ve done studies that show this.
You will find over time, that you pump for the same timeframe but your breasts will react and respond to the pump. So although when your son gets older and needs more milk to drink – by that stage it won’t necessarily be taking you any longer to pump; to get a bigger volume. Just because your body will get better at producing.
For this frequent type of pumping, I would recommend the Freestyle pump. I would also very high recommend the Expressing Bra – although it looks like an ugly contraption it is so very handy to have your hands free to do other things while pumping!
Please sing out if you have any other questions
