And on we go...
So I Googled, and I found this great community of women who exclusively pump breastmilk for their babies (note: "exclusive" refers to pumping vs. putting the baby to breast, not breastmilk vs. formula). They were (and still are) a great bunch of gals, willing to offer tips and opinions and links to other great sites with lots of info about pumping breastmilk. I read a bunch of the posts, and decided that EPing was definitely for me.
My daughter was born via unscheduled c-section, so I hadn't yet picked up my rental pump. Because she was born in the evening, the hospital's lactation consultants were home tucked in bed, dreaming of sugar plums (or whatever LCs dream about), and so my baby girl was introduced to formula. Now, I knew from everything I read that I would probably have to supplement her for at least the first week, so I wasn't all that annoyed. Until the next day, when I explained to all of my nurses and anyone else who came within 5 feet of me that I needed a breast pump now.
A lactation consultant finally showed up at 4:30 in the afternoon with a machine in tow. After haranguing me about whether I had really researched this enough and, gee, was I really sure I didn't want to just give breastfeeding a whirl? (I thought my wonderful, fabulous husband was going to deck her at one point) she finally deigned to give me rudimentary instructions. That was the last I saw of a lactation consultant.
Fortunately, my breasts seem quite happy to produce milk for a pump instead of a baby -- not all women are so lucky. Within a week I was producing enough to keep up with little Becky, and within a month I was able to start freezing some extra. But I couldn' t have done it without the great gals over at the iVillage Exclusively Pumping board. When I got horrible blisters on my nipples after a bout of mastitis, they were the ones who pointed me in the right direction. That's where I found out, too, that not only did I not have to turn the suction all the way up and feel like my nipples are getting yanked right off, it's actually better to keep the suction down!!! Thanks, hospital lactation consultant -- you might have mentioned that and saved me some discomfort. Questions about pumps, horns, schedules? This is the place to be.
My daughter was born via unscheduled c-section, so I hadn't yet picked up my rental pump. Because she was born in the evening, the hospital's lactation consultants were home tucked in bed, dreaming of sugar plums (or whatever LCs dream about), and so my baby girl was introduced to formula. Now, I knew from everything I read that I would probably have to supplement her for at least the first week, so I wasn't all that annoyed. Until the next day, when I explained to all of my nurses and anyone else who came within 5 feet of me that I needed a breast pump now.
A lactation consultant finally showed up at 4:30 in the afternoon with a machine in tow. After haranguing me about whether I had really researched this enough and, gee, was I really sure I didn't want to just give breastfeeding a whirl? (I thought my wonderful, fabulous husband was going to deck her at one point) she finally deigned to give me rudimentary instructions. That was the last I saw of a lactation consultant.
Fortunately, my breasts seem quite happy to produce milk for a pump instead of a baby -- not all women are so lucky. Within a week I was producing enough to keep up with little Becky, and within a month I was able to start freezing some extra. But I couldn' t have done it without the great gals over at the iVillage Exclusively Pumping board. When I got horrible blisters on my nipples after a bout of mastitis, they were the ones who pointed me in the right direction. That's where I found out, too, that not only did I not have to turn the suction all the way up and feel like my nipples are getting yanked right off, it's actually better to keep the suction down!!! Thanks, hospital lactation consultant -- you might have mentioned that and saved me some discomfort. Questions about pumps, horns, schedules? This is the place to be.
posted by Laura Y. at
21.7.06
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
<< Home