https://boards.hellobee.com/ Pregnancy, Baby and Parenting blog, by Hellobee en Thu, 23 Apr 2026 12:37:15 +0000 https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/exclusive-pumping-educate-me#post-2239858 Sat, 18 Jul 2015 12:59:30 +0000 simplyfelicity 2239858@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@Charm54: Walling you! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/exclusive-pumping-educate-me#post-2239746 Sat, 18 Jul 2015 05:10:12 +0000 marionberry 2239746@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@PawPrints: I'm so sorry to hear this. I EBF my first and now EP for the twins. All that matters is that your baby is getting enough to eat - no matter where it comes from. My advice is to stick to pumping every 2-3 hours and try to pump while bottle feeding to save time. Also since your supply has been low always pump until the boob is entirely empty. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/exclusive-pumping-educate-me#post-2239539 Fri, 17 Jul 2015 16:04:26 +0000 MrsLonghorn 2239539@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@PawPrints @simplyfelicity: I WOH and EP -- happy to give you any tips/tricks/advice or answer any questions you want via email. Wall me if you want to exchange info. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/exclusive-pumping-educate-me#post-2239521 Fri, 17 Jul 2015 15:31:59 +0000 PawPrints 2239521@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I may be joining you ladies soon. I'm dealing with postpartum depression and anxiety and my supply has taken a major hit, lo isn't gaining fast enough, and I'm suffering a huge delay in my let down reflex. EPing and maybe supplementing is looking like a good idea. I'm pretty sad about it. Breastfeeding had been going really well, at least I thought. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/exclusive-pumping-educate-me#post-2239447 Fri, 17 Jul 2015 14:09:58 +0000 nicollette1189 2239447@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@simplyfelicity: There are tons of great EP groups on Facebook that have a wealth of knowledge! Two I love are 'Fancy Pumpers' and 'Breast, Bottle and Beyond support group'. I have learned so much about EPing over the last couple months :happy: </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/exclusive-pumping-educate-me#post-2239430 Fri, 17 Jul 2015 14:00:01 +0000 HappyBaker 2239430@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@simplyfelicity: @Charm54 helped me so much, she gives great advice! </p> <p>I decided to EP my second after like 3 days of nursing because my experience nursing my first was so awful and I could feel myself going to a bad place pretty quickly. </p> <p>I only lasted 4 months EP-ing, though I did like it much much better than nursing, it ended up being really painful for me because I kept getting milk blisters / clogged ducts that I didn't experience with nursing. </p> <p>While it was hard, I liked it - I could plan my day around pumping times (which are a LOT in the beginning but it gets less and less as you make it further). I liked knowing exactly how much my baby was eating since my first had growth issues from not getting enough. I also liked that anyone could feed him, so I wasn't as attached to a baby as I was the first time around. </p> <p>To save time I just kept my pump parts in the fridge and used the same ones all day, and you get in a pretty good routine pretty quickly! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/exclusive-pumping-educate-me#post-2239316 Fri, 17 Jul 2015 12:16:23 +0000 Charm54 2239316@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@simplyfelicity: no new insights but if you have any questions or want to chat about EPing, feel free to wall me. I'm gearing up to EP #2 and hoping I have as good of an experience as I dd with DD </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/exclusive-pumping-educate-me#post-2239295 Fri, 17 Jul 2015 11:57:43 +0000 simplyfelicity 2239295@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I am seriously considering EP...any new insights??? </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/exclusive-pumping-educate-me#post-1970792 Thu, 04 Dec 2014 12:59:01 +0000 MamaG 1970792@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@HappyBaker: THanks for checking in on me. I stopped feeding over the weekend. We are supplementing and pumping at this point. I haven't been able to be consistent about my pumping. I do pump about 5 times/day and am getting 3-4 oz each time. </p> <p>LO still roots at my breast when she's hungry, but is taking the bottle without issue. I'd like to get my output up higher, so I've added some lactation friendly foods and am trying really hard to make sure I'm drinking plenty of fluids. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/exclusive-pumping-educate-me#post-1968820 Wed, 03 Dec 2014 09:56:54 +0000 HappyBaker 1968820@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@MamaG: How is pumping going? Would love to hear how your experience has been so far. Congrats! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/exclusive-pumping-educate-me#post-1960952 Wed, 26 Nov 2014 09:18:48 +0000 Mrs. Lion 1960952@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@MamaG: you have 2 options....use formula for one feeding to get ahead, or you can continue pumping after each feeding until you have about 3 ounces stored up. Then you would bottle feed the expressed milk and pump once for every time you normally would feed baby (not necessarily at the same time, but the number of sessions should be equal). </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/exclusive-pumping-educate-me#post-1960942 Wed, 26 Nov 2014 09:14:58 +0000 Adira 1960942@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@MamaG: Continue to pump after every nursing session (or roughly every). Eventually you'll have enough for a bottle and you can do a bottle feeding instead of nursing one session. Then you can pump that session instead and hopefully get enough for the next feeding, etc.</p> <p>You may find you have to pump more often than you were nursing though to have enough to cover all feedings, because baby tends to be better at emptying the breasts than the pump is.</p> <p>Good luck!! :goodluck: </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/exclusive-pumping-educate-me#post-1960933 Wed, 26 Nov 2014 09:05:58 +0000 MamaG 1960933@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Okay, help! I'm one week into breast feeding and really ready to transition to pumping/bottle feeding. How do I make this transition from feeding at the breast every 2-3 hours to actually pumping and bottle feeding? I've pumped a couple of times and only get about a half ounce. This has been after nursing LO already. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/exclusive-pumping-educate-me#post-1939690 Tue, 11 Nov 2014 14:51:11 +0000 MamaG 1939690@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Oh how timely that my thread got action. I'll have my c-section next week. Should I plan to take my pump to the hospital with me since it's my intent to EP? I haven't bought a hands free bra (though I have one in my Amazon cart) and I also haven't bought a second set of parts. I don't trust myself and have been wary of making too large an investment and then quitting. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/exclusive-pumping-educate-me#post-1939675 Tue, 11 Nov 2014 14:46:03 +0000 swurlygurl 1939675@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@HappyBaker: I pumped at people's houses. It wasn't even that uncommon for me to just decide an event wasn't worth it because the logistics of pumping were too difficult. :( </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/exclusive-pumping-educate-me#post-1939654 Tue, 11 Nov 2014 14:40:38 +0000 Adira 1939654@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@HappyBaker: I wasn't an EPer, but I always pumped after nursing Xander, especially in the morning and especially in the later months. If it was just one feeding, I would skip pumping, but if I was going to be at someone's house all day, I'd bring the pump and pump after nursing. And if we were out and about (like shopping), I'd skip pumping, but I tried to do most of my outings between feedings so I could nurse and pump when I had to. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/exclusive-pumping-educate-me#post-1939638 Tue, 11 Nov 2014 14:36:08 +0000 Charm54 1939638@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@HappyBaker: Depends... I brought my pump with me wherever I went (if I was gone for an extended period of time). I pumped at my parents if we were spending the evening there, away on mini-trips and lots of times in the car</p> <p>. If I was only going to miss the session by an hour or so I would just delay it until I got home. Once I established my supply I would just skip the session completely if I was out. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/exclusive-pumping-educate-me#post-1939627 Tue, 11 Nov 2014 14:30:49 +0000 HappyBaker 1939627@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>This is probably a dumb question, but if you EP do you also pump it if you are out and about with LO / at someone else's house / out for dinner or whatever? Or do you just do it as soon as you get home from somewhere / rearrange the times each day a little to make it work with your schedule? I just don't get it logistically! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/exclusive-pumping-educate-me#post-1903819 Thu, 16 Oct 2014 15:13:38 +0000 SweetiePie 1903819@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I exclusively pumped for the first month. Most helpful to me:</p> <p>You can refrigerate your pump parts for 24 hours rather than washing between each session. </p> <p>Def get at least 2 sets of parts</p> <p>I had and liked the medela pump in style advanced</p> <p>DEFINITELY recommend a couple/few hands free bras. I have the Simple Wishes one that @sunshineandsushi mentioned above. </p> <p>Have a dedicated pumping station - for me I liked being in the glider in his room at first - but then I teally got bored and decided to do it in our room so I could watch tv. </p> <p>I used this a lot! Lots of advice.<br /> <a href="http://exclusivepumping.com/about/" rel="nofollow">http://exclusivepumping.com/about/</a> </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/exclusive-pumping-educate-me#post-1903320 Thu, 16 Oct 2014 11:39:04 +0000 sunshineandsushi 1903320@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Lots of good tips here already. Some others I found helpful:</p> <p>Drink TONS and TONS of water.</p> <p>Make lactation cookies to help with boosting supply.</p> <p>The price has gone up since I bought mine, but this is the hands free pumping bra I used. It was AMAZING, could not have done without it. <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Simple-Wishes-Hands-Free-Breastpump-XS-L/dp/B00295MQLU" rel="nofollow">http://www.amazon.com/Simple-Wishes-Hands-Free-Breastpump-XS-L/dp/B00295MQLU</a>.</p> <p>@MamaG: Is it possible to request a fridge in the mother's room? I stored my parts in the kitchen fridge, but we don't have a mother's room and I pumped in my office. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/exclusive-pumping-educate-me#post-1903201 Thu, 16 Oct 2014 10:37:14 +0000 aegie 1903201@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@MamaG: Medela makes these wipes that you can use to clean your pump parts. I rinsed them, washed them with the wipes and then washed them under water again. I dried them off and kept them in a clean ziplock bag to use for my next pump. After my 2nd pump, i'd just leave them dirty in the ziplock bag and wash them at home. This is why I suggest multiple pump parts because I did the dishes once a day. So I would have another set at home to use while I'm home and then wash everything all at once. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/exclusive-pumping-educate-me#post-1888065 Fri, 03 Oct 2014 16:03:04 +0000 swurlygurl 1888065@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@MamaG: With #1, my company had a nice pumping room with sink so I washed my parts each time. Awful, but our fridge was also inconvenient. With #2, it's a small office, and I'm lucky to even get a closet to pump in... The fridge isn't too inconvenient though, so I keep my parts in a little cooler bag with an icepack and take it to the fridge.<br /> If you don't have access to a sink and *really* don't want to walk to the fridge, you could probably get by with a lot of icepacks in a soft cooler </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/exclusive-pumping-educate-me#post-1888035 Fri, 03 Oct 2014 15:34:07 +0000 MamaG 1888035@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Thanks for the responses ladies. I love how detailed you were, it's so helpful. Since this is my second, I feel like this is something I should know, but clearly don't. </p> <p>For those of you that stored parts in the fridge to avoid washing, what did you do at work? I could do so here, but our refrigerator is on a different floor than my desk and our mother's room. It'd be a pain to go retrieve/store my items.</p> <p>And I'm most nervous about the first month. I will have family staying with us much of the first month and I still like to maintain some modesty. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/exclusive-pumping-educate-me#post-1887996 Fri, 03 Oct 2014 15:05:11 +0000 Charm54 1887996@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I was an EPer and actually loved it! I will be EPing with future LOs for sure. I did not like BFing at all so EPing was the perfect balance for me.</p> <p>The fridge trick mentioned above is a lifesaver</p> <p>I bought multiple part sets and always kept a spare set in my bag for travelling</p> <p>The boon LAWN dryer is a must! Don't buy the grass size!!</p> <p>The cheap gerber bottles fit on medela PISA flanges</p> <p>The sanitizing wipes were a lifesaver when I was traveling and couldn't store parts in a fridge </p> <p>Don't stress yourself out...I told myself that if I wasn't pumping at least 50% of her intake I would stop and just switch to formula. Once she started STTN (very early on, I think bottle feeding helped that!) I no longer pumped in the MOTN. Once my supply was established I only pumped 3-4x a day. Establishing all this made EPing very manageable!</p> <p>Good luck, the first month is tough pumping 6-7x a day, but it does get easier! Feel free to wall me if you want to chat about EPing . Sometimes it feels like you are the only one "crazy" enough to do it, but in my baby group 4/10 of us EPed so it wasn't all that uncommon! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/exclusive-pumping-educate-me#post-1887967 Fri, 03 Oct 2014 14:49:14 +0000 Mrs Green Grass 1887967@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>This is my best advice: <a href="http://babymakingmerrygoround.blogspot.com/search/label/Pumping" rel="nofollow">http://babymakingmerrygoround.blogspot.com/search/label/Pumping</a> </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/exclusive-pumping-educate-me#post-1887910 Fri, 03 Oct 2014 14:12:03 +0000 Mrs. Lion 1887910@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@swurlygurl: i followed los eating schedule. So i pumped every time he ate. By the time he was down to 5feedings i tried to drop to 4 and it seemed to work. I would go ahead and try to drop 1 and see how it works for you! Ypu can always add it back if its too soon! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/exclusive-pumping-educate-me#post-1887902 Fri, 03 Oct 2014 14:06:13 +0000 swurlygurl 1887902@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@Mrs. Lion: I am really glad to hear this about dropping pumps! When did you start dropping? K is 5 weeks and I'm doing 8 pumps. With working full time and a toddler, I have better things to do with my 4 hours pumping! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/exclusive-pumping-educate-me#post-1887883 Fri, 03 Oct 2014 13:56:32 +0000 Mrs. Lion 1887883@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@swurlygurl: i am so afraid of this!! Im going to do the best i can to make it to 6 months, but if it doesn't work i am fine giving up he fight too. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/exclusive-pumping-educate-me#post-1887879 Fri, 03 Oct 2014 13:55:19 +0000 Mrs. Lion 1887879@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@swurlygurl: ooh i forgot about the power pump!! :) i did a lot of those too, especially in the beginning. </p> <p>I also wanted to add...after the first few months i found that i got the same number of ounces whether i pumped 8 times or 4. So dot be afraid to try dropping a session once your supply is established. After 3 days if your supply is the same, you can probably drop another, and so on. If you start to notice a drop, go back up to where you were. For me 4 was my magic number. If i went down to 3 my supply started to drop, but when i did 5 or 6 it didn't increase my output any...i just got less each time. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/exclusive-pumping-educate-me#post-1887869 Fri, 03 Oct 2014 13:50:34 +0000 swurlygurl 1887869@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@Mrs. Lion: It is so much harder with baby #2!! Especially since there's a toddler to care for too. I'm going to be shocked if I make it past 3 months :( Great tip about the manual pump in the car!! I have one from the hospital, I'm going to have to put it in my glovebox </p>