Monday, April 27, 2009

Of Importance To Me

In 4 weeks, I will be going back to work (gosh I hates saying that). At this point, hard as it is to imagine, I don't plan to stop breastfeeding my baby and me, being the ideal me that I am, plan to continue purely breastfeeding him. Deep down inside, I am clueless about how to do that given that I will be gone for 4 hours in the morning and 5 hours in the afternoon and will only be home for my 1 hour lunch break. Now that I am home and still on maternity leave, I spend most of my time nursing the baby and pumping while I have time so that I can store enough milk bags in the freezer for his feedings when I have to leave him at home.

But how should I / can I ensure that he will always have enough milk when I am gone when the time comes when I am back at work. I have decided that I will spend my morning and afternoon breaks pumping so that I get to bring home at least 1 bottle a day. But pumping isn't all that easy. Sometimes there is a lot and sometimes well, its just simply dry. I know it will be a lot different when I am back at work as when I am here at home free to do all the pumping I want / can.

I pump manually and it does take a lot of my time and it is tiring. I never owned a breast pump. But right now I am thinking of getting one. If I get one, I want to get an electric breast pump. Should I? Given that an electric breast pump is a bit pricey and I may not be able to use it in the future anymore. Are all electric breast pump effective? Is there a particular brand that seems better than the rest? Any suggestions? Opinions?

4 comments:

Shoshana said...

Louann, are there any La Leche organization near you? Before I bought breast pump, I rented one from La Leche. I like the double pump. It's faster and more efficient. It takes a while getting use to is, but it's worth it.
E-mail me

Shoshana said...

I found this site I have no idea what they have...

Heart of Rachel said...

Sorry I don't have any advice because I wasn't successful at breastfeeding. I just want you to know that I admire your plans to continue breastfeeding your baby.

Heather said...

Wow I'm amazed that you can get anything at all expressing by hand. Go you! I had a Medela Pump In Style that I used with my son. I haven't used it much with #3, as I haven't felt the need to. I found mine relatively cheaply on the internet and got free shipping. I thought it was worth it even though I only used it with one kid. With my first I rented a hospital-grade pump from the hospital. Now THAT was expensive. ($40 a month for 6 months.)

I always got the most pumped in the morning, and less so as the day went on. Drink lots of water, and cover yourself when you're pumping so you're not focussed on how much (or little) you're getting.

Kudos to you for wanting to continue. It's work, but it's worth it I think.