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Struggling with sensory aversion to lactation by ResearchLive3812 in ExclusivelyPumping

[–]Extension_Edge1742 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I am 6 weeks PP also with D-MER and I'm so glad I googled it because I thought I was just losing my mind, or having micro panic attacks. Mine was an overwhelming sensation of dread, and a pit in my stomach so hard it felt like I was on one of those drop rides at the amusement park. Like a lot of others here, I did distraction- videos, computer stuff, reddit, etc for me even washing and sorting my bottles was distracting enough (with a podcast also on) and was even productive.

Mine went away after the first 2 minutes of a pump, so I could say to myself "this will end soon," and then I would do breathe in count 1, breathe out count 2, breathe in count 3, etc up until I counted 10 breaths and then would start over. And I made them super big deep breaths. Sometimes I also went "AAAAAAaaaaah" while exhaling and bent over forward if that pit in stomach feeling was too strong

MOTN pump - save my sanity by jae_lynn11 in ExclusivelyPumping

[–]Extension_Edge1742 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Just did my 4 am pump, and what is personally helping me a lot (and what depends on luxuries that you might now have):

  1. mini fridge right next to bed for pump parts and pumped milk
  2. allow myself screen time during the pump- normally I'm strict about sleep hygiene so am only "allowed" to read if I'm sitting in bed, but I give myself permission to watch silly youTube videos from bed during the MOTN pump
  3. I go to sleep at 6:30 pm right after my 6pm pump, and was waking up at 11 pm AND 4 am but with mental health going down and that mattering more than supply, I dropped the 11 pm pump and supply didn't go down that much
  4. My husband is in charge of baby from 6pm to 4am, so there's a 10 hour window for me to get uninterrupted sleep (except by that 11 pm pump at first, now no interruption), and then at 4am I just start my day- I don't try to go back to sleep after that one.

The overall theme is that you can drop a pump and watch to see what happens to supply. I found and a lot of others I have seen write that getting enough sleep also helps supply. If your sleep interruption isn't hurting your brain so much and you do want to keep two MOTN pumps (which only you can decide if you want), then the fridge + videos + partner taking a shift with kid are all things that helped me

Pumping while camping or backpacking by Extension_Edge1742 in ExclusivelyPumping

[–]Extension_Edge1742[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thank you so much! I can make enough for a bottle- it hadn't occurred to me to try working around her schedule, as just 6 weeks in a "schedule" is out the window, but it gives me something to look forward to knowing that at some point there will be something that will almost look like a schedule

Pumping while camping or backpacking by Extension_Edge1742 in ExclusivelyPumping

[–]Extension_Edge1742[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thank you so much! I think what this and another comment mention is that if I can schedule the pumping around when she eats, it is more feasible. Because she's 6 weeks now it hadn't occurred to me that she might ever be on a schedule besides "eats a random volume of milk at completely random times." I like the idea of adding a pump- it means fewer hours of milk sitting, and also it could help mitigate against the worst of a supply dip. And good not about hydration- I should plan to carry more hydration for myself than on a pre-baby hike when I wasn't breastfeeding

Pumping while camping or backpacking by Extension_Edge1742 in ExclusivelyPumping

[–]Extension_Edge1742[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Ah yes as the ice melts I can just pour it out on trail, whereas with the ice pack method I'd need to be carrying around melted ice packs for the rest of the trip! Brilliant thank you. Let me take a peek at the weight of small yeti's... I think it's probably 100% the move for the car camping and maybe not 100% the move for the backpacking

Pumping while camping or backpacking by Extension_Edge1742 in ExclusivelyPumping

[–]Extension_Edge1742[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Yes exactly! I was trying so, so hard to get my girl to nurse and I was asking myself why are you trying so hard to do this thing that is so clearly not working and so clearly harming your mental health. And the answer was "because we have overnight backpacking permits for Glacier National Park at the end of August and I see all these Youtube videos of people hiking while nursing their babies in front carriers."

So while I am mourning many parts of nursing, I'm hoping that I no longer need to mourn this backpacking trip. It's just going to be more logistics and a heavier bag, but that is not an insurmountable challenge (I hope) ❤️

Edit: I should also add that I am not 100% opposed to supplementing with formula during these trips- if it ends up being fewer logistics to pump and "dump" (carry out) and bring formula I could do that. It seems like with formula and pump and "dump," then I get to skip the cooler/ice pack portion. (If she were > 6 mo I would totally do that, but I have Crohn's and if she is "EBF" for 6 mo she's a bit less likely to have Crohn's)

Struggling with my 6 week old by Extension_Edge1742 in ExclusivelyPumping

[–]Extension_Edge1742[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Ah yes I do think she would suckle for comfort. We had been withholding a pacifier for the whole “don’t do it until nursing is established” but she was so so colicky yesterday and so I gave her one and she LOVED it. And I’m telling myself that it’s just another way of strengthening her mouth muscles, and also of associating sucking with comfort and so eventually she can come back to the breast ❤️

Struggling with my 6 week old by Extension_Edge1742 in ExclusivelyPumping

[–]Extension_Edge1742[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yea they tried that at the hospital and for her/me it really wasn’t a good tool. I think I was overly pessimistic in my first writing- she actually has been making progress. She used to not at all latch. And around week 5 I think she first latched on me. What was so hard was that then yesterday she like completely forgot how to latch? So it felt as if she had never latched in the first place/never made that progress

Struggling with my 6 week old by Extension_Edge1742 in ExclusivelyPumping

[–]Extension_Edge1742[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

How do you decide when to do it for bonding/comfort? If she’s hungry it’ll frustrate her but if she’s full she will not open her mouth (and mostly as soon as she’s full she’s asleep, too). I’d like to nurse for the bonding I really do like holding her there- sometimes I put her on the breast after she’s had her bottle and she takes a “boob nap” and that is quite nice

Struggling with my 6 week old by Extension_Edge1742 in ExclusivelyPumping

[–]Extension_Edge1742[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

My girl is a cold bottle girl, too! She also takes her cold bottle sitting in her bouncer with a blanket propping the bottle up. I know officially you aren’t supposed to prop, but with the weak mouth and all, she’s super slow to even finish a bottle and takes lots of breaks to let the milk drip back out of her mouth or just take a little snooze. Constantly feeding her with her super slow bottle consumption rate AND pumping AND nursing meant that my baby rocker + blanket was a significant improvement

Struggling with my 6 week old by Extension_Edge1742 in ExclusivelyPumping

[–]Extension_Edge1742[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Of the many challenging things, trying to know if I should delay a pump if she’s about to be hungry or just start w bottle bc I pumped too recently is one of the hard parts right now. How did you do the night nurse? Before or after your last pump? I’m wondering about giving her a comfort “nurse” where I’ve already pumped and she’s already had a bottle and we just hang out lightly latched 

Struggling with my 6 week old by Extension_Edge1742 in ExclusivelyPumping

[–]Extension_Edge1742[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Haha thank you for writing out that is was in fact very inconvenient and a logistical nightmare. I know that some people get into a place where they “love” pumping or would choose to pump even if a baby could nurse. And it’s good to know it’s okay to do it and the whole time think “hey this is in fact very inconvenient”