M i doin the right thing??

[cmeilim]

congrats! seems like your milk supply is established within a short time already! are u going back to work after maternity leave? if so, you can start freezing the EBM.

having said that, i am a full-time working mum but i only conscientiously started pumping and storing EBM one month before i came back to work. reason being that i dun have a dedicated freezer for storing EBM, and hence limited storage space. Secondly, i try to keep my frozen EBM as 'fresh' as possible and dun freeze them for more than a month.

if u r going to be a stay at home mum, then maybe no need to start freezing so soon cos you will be around for direct latch. but sometimes it's still good to store some bottles, esp if your hubby is willing to bottle-feed baby in the middle of the night after baby's more than 1 to 2 months old (to avoid nipple confusion). then you can sleep better. or else, EBM can also be stored for emergencies or when you fall ill and wanna rest more.

 

[BbpHir3]

my prob now is once my boy had his fill, he'll unlatch himself.. sometimes, he can haf his fill with juz one breast.. den i'll haf to pump the other side, or i'll feel engorged.. when i gif him EBM, i'll pump my breasts oso.. n i can accumulate bout 1oz each, so total i can pump bout 2oz every 2 hours.. so if i dun wan waste the BM, den i'll need to freeze the BM right??

den i got another question..
since i'm latching him, n only pump out the left over right? i can only accumulate 1 feed after 3 latching feeds.. so how to store in freezer?? freeze first, den add in?? or accumulate 1 feed liaoz, den freeze??

cmeilim: i'm a WAHM actually..

 

[cmeilim]

can accumulate one feed than store as long as the EBM is not in the chiller for more than 48h before u move into the freezer. but of course the sooner u can freeze pumped out EBM that is not meant for consumption in the next 48h, the better. 48h is the usual guideline, but i am fussier. i set 24h timeframe for my EBM.

in your case, you can get 3 oz (2 feed) after three direct latches and pumping one side over 6h, right? no problem with accumulating them into one feed, then freezing. just make sure you put the EBM into the fridge within 0.5h after each pumping.

hehe, during the first few weeks of my boy's life, he also usually got satiated after nursing on one side. to prevent engorgement, i just manually expressed out the other side (cos electric was too painful and not that effective for breasts hardened rom blocked ducts several times) and dumped it. but i didn't clear the breasts completely, just enough to make them soft. because the danger with over-pumping is that we will not be giving our body a chance to adjust to the real, natural demand of your baby.

what i did after the first few weeks was that i just alternated the breasts from one feed to the other, making sure that i nursed my boy on the other side at the next feed. As he was suckling every 1.5 to 2h, the regularity prevented any engorgement thankfully.

 

[BbpHir3]

since i'm gonna start freezing EBM, can any one recommend me on which storage bag/cup to use?? i'm thinking of sticking to Avents, since the storage cups are compatible to the breast pump and it's reusable for several times.. any other suggestions?

 

[BbpHir3]

no one answer me?????

over the night, i decided to give all my extras to letitia instead~~ it helps to build her immune system anyway~~ fingers cross tat she wanna drink..

 

[cmeilim]

i used glass bottles (the type from hospital), and get my own caps and sealing discs. so can't help u with storage bags and cups. =/ good idea to give your extra EBM to the elder child!!