Friday, May 28, 2010

Breastfeeding / Pumping

The decision to breastfeed your baby is one of the most important ones you’ll make. It is especially beneficial to premature babies. Neonatologists will even prescribe breastmilk as medicine for preemies, and if the biological mother cannot supply the milk, it can be ordered from a milk bank.

Start pumping as soon after delivery as possible. Pump every 2 – 3 hours during the daytime for about 15 minutes at each session. Once you are pumping about an ounce at each session (this may be after several days), adjust the amount of time pumping to be 2 additional minutes after the final drops of milk have stopped flowing. The NICU will provide a pump; you’ll just bring your pumping accessories (tubing & connectors). The hospital will provide you with those accessories. Try to get them to give you a 2nd set. This helps to have a set at home and a set that you bring to the hospital. All of the hospitals use Medela pumps. For home pumping, you’ll need a double electric pump. I used Medela pump-in-style as my main home pump until I got a free hospital grade pump from the milk bank that I donated to.

If you are pumping under 600 - 750 ml a day by the end of the 2nd week, try to increase your milk supply to be ready for when he will need more milk. There are many things you can do to increase supply such as: breast compression while pumping, skin to skin contact with baby, increase frequency of pumping (every 2 hours and at night), power pump (pump 10 min, off 10 min, etc for about an hour total). As a last resort, Motilium or "domperidome" is a prescription drug available from Canada that has a side effect of increasing the production of prolactin and can increase milk supply. For more information on domperidone, go to http://www.kellymom.com/newman/19a-domperidone1.html.

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