Mummy the cow

So I just started pumping my milk regularly. I bought a Medela breast pump some weeks back but haven’t really used it except for the first couple of days after I got it to test it out.

I’ve only been doing it once a day in the morning for the past few days. I’m planning to go back to work on a part-time/work-from-home basis but going into the office for a few hours once a week for some ‘face time’. So I’ll need a good supply stocked up for that, plus it’s always good to have some in stock for emergency situations. Not sure what the emergency would entail but always good to have something just in case right?

Been doing lots of reading on pumping and handing expressed breast milk. Here are few things I learnt:

1. Breast milk can be stored up to 3 days in the fridge and up to 3 months in the freezer

2. Breast milk should never be heated in the microwave as it will change the chemical and molecule composition of the milk

3. To warm up refrigerated breast milk, set the bottle it in some hot water for a few minutes, then swirl it gently in the bottle – never shake it as this will damage the molecules

It takes me about 15 minutes to get about 3-4 ounces of milk. I sit myself down comfortably on the couch in front of the TV, have a photo of Nathan ready to admire to encourage my milk to come (strangely, it really works!), position the breast shields appropriately and away I go (gosh, don’t I sound like a cow!)

The only annoying thing I found at first was to have to hold breast shields in place with my hands during the entire pumping session. I was not able to multi-task and it was pretty tiring holding up the breast shields the whole time. So if you’re planning to pump, here is a very useful tip I found for this:

>> How to make your own hands-free pump holder

I tried this and it does work pretty well though it’s a little bit fiddly at first to attach it to your bra strap and all, but once the pumping is underway, it holds the breast shields quite steadily.

Then I came across this:

Hahaha… that image should have made you go “whoooooah!!!”. Amazing right? But pretty clever. Then I thought, this is just like a sports bra but with holes cut out in the right strategic locations! So I made my own version using some elastic fabric the physiotherapist at the hospital gave me to help with the tummy support after the birth.

Now I too can enjoy hands free pumping!

So it seems all is going well in the pumping department, but not so well in the bottle feeding department.

When I first got the breast pump, I tested it out on myself and I decided to try and see if Nathan would take expressed milk from a bottle. He did that one time, so I thought if the time came for him to drink regularly from a bottle he would be fine. So recently I got hubby to try feeding Nathan using the bottle for practice…

Such a beautiful picture right? However Nathan actually didn’t take kindly to the bottle at all. Finally he got so frustrated he just lost it and just wailed at the top of his lungs. So we decided to finish off the feed with me feeding him directly instead.

Oh well, we’ll try again next time. Maybe both dad and baby just need a bit more practice time with each other.