as dd's first birthday approaches, I keep thinking back to my condition a year ago. the pic is of my ginormous, swollen feet. the indentations are from flipflops i had taken off an hour prior. FYI- if your feet look like that, then something's wrong!!!!

In the interest of saving time and being able to answer thoroughly, I am pasting my responses to pumping questions and breast milk questions into journal entries. If I fail to answer someone, please feel free to copy and paste this (or any of the other journal entries) into a thread. Thanks!

Someone asked how long milk is good for at room temp and in fridge.

I had my daughter in July. I found that during the summer, when it was warm in the house, my milk was good at room temp up to 5 hours. During the winter, when the house was cooler, it was good at room temp for up to 8 hours. But during the winter, overnight when the room temp was very cool, my milk was good for at least 10-12 hrs left out. This was a wonderful discovery when I was able to drop pumps. I would pump before bed, and have the bottle ready and waiting for whenever the baby woke during the night- no need to warm or pump.

every person's milk is different. Your best bet is to use the sniff test. Bad milk smells BAD, and your baby will not drink it. If your baby is willing to drink it, it is most likely good. After a while, you will become comfortable with how long your milk is good.

same goes for in the fridge- depends on the person. i personally never let it sit in the fridge more than 3 days. if i started to get too much in the fridge, then i would start freezing. if you are freezing, it's always a good idea to freeze milk that hasn't been in the fridge for too many days.

when deciding which milk to give, always try to give fresh first, then fridge milk, then frozen. Fresh (as in, at room temp- never been in the fridge) is the best. But even frozen milk is much more beneficial than formula, so don't feel bad giving that as well.

Here's what I would do-
After pumping I would measure out bottles. I left one or two out on the counter to use before it spoiled, and put the rest in the fridge. Technically, most guides say that once a baby drinks from a bottle, you cannot reuse it. My LC said that if the baby drinks fresh milk and doesn't finish it, you can put it in the fridge and use it for the next feed as long as you change the nipple before you put it in the fridge. This always worked for me. The milk only spoiled once, and that was when DH forgot to change the nipple before putting it in the fridge (bacteria from saliva stay on nipple). Again, always use the sniff test to make sure it's ok. Some people taste the milk before serving, but i never could. You cannot do this with milk that has already been refridgerated. The longer milk is in the fridge, and with each warming, some of the milk's antibiotic characteristics are lost.

If you have any more questions, need any more hints, let me know!

When you freeze bags, lay them flat in the freezer. after they are frozen, you can stand them upright- it saves TONS of space. That is how I froze bags. Once I had 8-10 bags frozen, I would put them all into a gallon sized ziplock and label the ziplock with the month it was pumped. if you ended up pumping a lot, this is a helpful way to keep the milk organized in the freezer.  The bags are expensive, so I always put at least 6 oz in a bag. It does take a while for them to defrost in the fridge, but we figured out a great trick- I would fill a deli soup container (the taller kind) with cold tap water, drop the bag in, and put the whole thing in the fridge. It would defrost in a fraction of the time, but stayed cold so you could keep it in there up to 24 hrs. If i needed less than 6 ounces, i gently mixed the layers, poured what i needed into a bottle, and warmed what i needed. It was cool- as the milk defrosted, ice actually formed around the bag.

you can add COLD milk to a bag you started in the fridge. Put the bottle you pumped into into the fridge to cool off before adding it to the milk already there. Adding warm milk to cold milk results in warming of the milk. You would have to use it within 1 hr or 2.

a word of caution- certain bags tend to leak, especially defrosting. or you may just get a bad batch of a normally good brand. a good way to avoid tears over spilled milk is to drop the bag into a small ziplock as you defrost it. any leaks are caught by the extra baggie.

Milk that has been frozen will often change in color, smell or taste. This is normal and does not mean that the milk is spoiled. Unfortunately, some babies will not take frozen milk. Thankfully, mine did. If your baby does not, you may want to save it and try again in a few weeks. She or he may take it when older. Don't panic. Worst comes to worst, you can save it to make cereal when she or he is older, or you can mix it with formula if/when you start formula.

basic rules-

first 12 weeks is when you establish your supply. during this period you need to pump every 2-3 hrs during the day. over night, you can go one 4-5 hr stretch as long as it doesn't seem to affect your supply. be sure to get at least 1 pump in between 1 AM and 5 AM, as that is when your prolactin levels are the highest. those were always my biggest pumps! (i think the rule is to pump 8-10 times in 24 hrs). remember, just like with nursing, you count time from the beginning of the last session, not the end.

after 12 weeks you can start to drop pumps. they say 12 weeks because at that point your supply is no longer hormone driven, but primarily based on supply and demand. i actually started after 8 weeks for my sanity. my supply had been sufficient, and my LC saw the toll pumping was taking on me, so she encouraged me to spread them out more. She said worst comes to worst, i'd have to give a bottle of formula here and there. My supply actually increased after i dropped that first pump. I greatly enjoyed the extra time, and after a week spread them out even more. for me, my max production was when i was pumping every 5-6 hrs (i was making 45-49 oz/day). by that point it's safer to go longer stretches overnight, since like i said it's supply and demand, not hormone driven at that point.  It's important to keep in mind that when you pump less frequently, you need to pump for much longer. throughout my months pumping, i always spent the same number of hours/day pumping. when i was down to 3 pumps i had to pump 45-60 minutes to empty completely. if you do not do this, your supply will go down quickly. so if you are pumping for 15 minutes 10 times/day, you spend a total of 2 1/2 hrs pumping. at 3 times/day i was still pumping about 2 1/2 hrs/day.

the length of time necessary to pump varies from person to person. in general, in the beginning you are advised to go 15-20 min, or 5 minutes past the last drop. this is necessary to build supply. i got away with 10-15 min in the beginning.

i was able to maintain a steady supply pumping 4 times a day. had plenty to feed and freeze. i did see a drop in supply when i went to 3 times a day at around 4 months post partum. still, i had enough to meet dd's needs- i just wasn't freezing extra anymore.

if you plan on exclusively pumping, or mainly pumping, you MUST get a good pump. You can rent a hospital grade pump, or you can purchase a good pump like a medela pump in style or pump in style advanced, the ameda purely yours, or the lansinoh double electric pump. don't waste your money on anything cheaper, as chances are you will lose your supply quickly. always have a hand pump with you in case you get stuck out.

.


Pumps I used- The Medela Pump In Style Advanced and the Medela Harmony (manual that i used for when i had to move about or pump on the go)

I will add tips and tricks in the next few days.  you can also find tons of info and support on
http://messageboards.ivillage.com/iv-ppexcluspump
I never would have been able to pump without the info and support on that site. I've been busy lately, so if anyone sees a pumping question, please refer the person to this entry or have them PM me.