Tips for new moms on breast pumps and breastfeeding issues
Factors to consider when buying a new breast pump
1. Noise level
As mentioned in my previous post, you might want to get a breast pump that is not too loud, so that you can pump while baby is sleeping. Medela is quite loud. Avent too. Lacte Duet, the one that I have been using is soft. Not too sure about other brands though.
2. Hands-free
Whether you are working mom or not, being hands-free while pumping makes your life easier. You want your hands to be free while the pump is going on, so that you can kill time. Usually this is the time for me to watch my favourite Korean variety or drama shows. Some moms like to walk around to do chores with the pump running. So, it depends on you. But you would not want to hold the bottles for 30 minutes straight.
3. Portable
There were times when there is no socket in the pumping room or spoiled. Or there are times the room allocated doesn't have a socket. So, being portable is best. Sometimes can pump when walking around, say if you are hands-free + portable.
4. Not many parts to wash and sterilize
If you find washing the parts is a hassle, you might want to look for a breast pump with lesser parts. Lacte Duet has a lot of parts to wash and my husband was the one washing and sterilizing the whole breastfeeding journey. He only does it once a day, at night before we sleep and then morning time I just take everything and put into the zipper bag and put in my office's fridge. After pump, I will put back into the fridge and not wash. It's fine.
5. Light and small
Most of the not heavy duty kind of pump is light and small. If you have a big and heavy one, then you can't walk around while pumping.
6. Hard or soft shield
This is rather a trial and error phase. Lacte Duet has both shields. The soft one is very comfortable for the breast and makes it easier if you are pumping for the first time. But I think and this is entirely my opinion, soft shields might make my milk lesser. I don't know. Because I was using the soft shields during the first 3 months, when it was time to regulate your milk supply, and was using the hard shield after my milk has regulated and established, I wasn't able to know exactly.
Once you are experienced in pumping, hard shield is much easier to handle.
7. Levels of pumping
Some moms like to adjust the levels of pumping, say left is 3 and right is 7. I just kept it at default the whole time.
8. Pump with timer
You want the pump to stop automatically so that you don't have to keep looking at the time. Mine is defaulted to stop after 30 minutes. I usually pump 15 minutes and then go to massage mode and then continue until the end.
OK, that's all I can think about getting a pump that you like. If you want to try it out, go to Pump On The Go at Kelana Jaya. I think they also have other branches. They allow you to test out the pumps before buying. But of course, this you can only do after delivery and not when pregnant.
So if you are buying before delivery, then you can only read the reviews online and see what the mothers are saying.
Breastfeeding Issues
Breastfeeding is great and highly recommended. However, I would like to bring to your attention the few breastfeeding issues that you might face.
1. Mastitis
If you don't latch enough or pump enough, then you will have this mastitis problem, which is swelling of the breast, hard like rock and having block ducts. It is also painful and I was having this when my milk kick in and my-oh-my, I was crying while trying to pump out the milk. So, use warm towel to reduce the pain and pump at a lower speed gently. Try massaging also to get the milk out.
2. Milk blisters
This is something that I have a lot during my breastfeeding journey. And it is super painful as well. There is this tiny milk skin that has grown over the opening of the duct and because of that one tiny thing, the milk can't come out from that duct and the pain like burning sensation on your breast. And it is difficult to remove it. First time, I went to my girl's paed who is also a lactation consultant and she used a sterilize needle to open the skin so that the milk can flow again. Then when it happened again, I tried to use my finger nails to do it and it was quite difficult to do. So try to do it in a warm shower and then use a sterilize needle to do it yourself. It can be painful. And blood might be oozing out. But once your milk start to flow freely, then the pain goes away almost immediately.
3. Leaking
I don't have this issue the entire time. But some mothers have this. Wear a breast pad so that you don't get this embarrassing leaking.
4. Low milk supply
This, you will hear quite often. So many mothers will look for ways to boost their supply. Some breastfeeding consultant will say there is no such thing as low milk supply. Because baby's stomach is small, so the supply is just enough for baby. But if you are trying to build up storage for baby, before you go back to work, this may be a problem if you have just enough or low supply. I was struggling the whole time to pump and latch and pump and latch so that my supply increases, but it doesn't. That was because I was unable to latch baby in the beginning and by the time I was able to do it, I missed the important time period to establish my supply, which experts says is 2 weeks after birth. And some say the milk will get establish from 9-15 weeks upon delivery. So, please be reminded that these weeks are super important. Latch as much as you can and proper latching, not comfort latching. If unable to latch, then pump. I did neither because that time all I heard was latch, latch and latch. And I didn't know my latching was just comfort latching. Talk about lack of experience and didn't attend breastfeeding class.
So bear in mind here. Latching is to help your brain to know how much milk to supply to your baby. So demand = supply. Pumping, if you overdo it, you will get over supply, because brain thinks your baby needed more because you pump so much. This can lead to problems like storage problem, mastitis and milk blisters and plugged ducts. Pumping, if you underdo it and not latching as well, will result in under supply. This is from my own experience ok. I was supplementing with formula and then someone donated some milk to me and was depending on that for a bit until I manage to keep supply just enough for her. So, I pump today, enough for her tomorrow. Once she started solid food, I was so relieve because I didn't have to push so much. I was also doing power pump almost everyday. But no increase. So, please, please remember this. First 2 weeks, please latch as much as possible, with the proper latching and if you can't hear swallowing sounds of your baby, then it's comfort latching and correct it as soon as possible.
5. Tongue-tie
Some babies are born tongue-tied and it causes pain to the mother when they are breastfeeding and because of this, can't latch well too. So, check it out with the paed and get it corrected. Else, you just need to pump to extract the milk out.
Direct breastfeeding vs exclusive pumping
Some mothers are blessed to be able to directly breastfeed their child for 2 whole years or more. These mothers don't need to go to office and they are mostly stay-at-home mom.
I am not one of those mom and have to go to pumping. I don't see the difference between these moms as we are giving the best milk to our babies. But some mothers like to compare and see who is more superior than who. Nonsense they are, I tell you. Like some said pumping mothers can't use breastfeeding room because it's for breastfeeding moms. Crazy!
Once I got back to work, I only latches at night before bed. Was pumping few times a day. It was tiring and frustrated because my milk only enough for her next day.
Most importantly is:
RELAX! When you are stress, milk doesn't come easily. So, relax and enjoy the journey, though it may sound difficult at first.
OK, that's all I can think about getting a pump that you like. If you want to try it out, go to Pump On The Go at Kelana Jaya. I think they also have other branches. They allow you to test out the pumps before buying. But of course, this you can only do after delivery and not when pregnant.
So if you are buying before delivery, then you can only read the reviews online and see what the mothers are saying.
Breastfeeding Issues
Breastfeeding is great and highly recommended. However, I would like to bring to your attention the few breastfeeding issues that you might face.
1. Mastitis
If you don't latch enough or pump enough, then you will have this mastitis problem, which is swelling of the breast, hard like rock and having block ducts. It is also painful and I was having this when my milk kick in and my-oh-my, I was crying while trying to pump out the milk. So, use warm towel to reduce the pain and pump at a lower speed gently. Try massaging also to get the milk out.
2. Milk blisters
This is something that I have a lot during my breastfeeding journey. And it is super painful as well. There is this tiny milk skin that has grown over the opening of the duct and because of that one tiny thing, the milk can't come out from that duct and the pain like burning sensation on your breast. And it is difficult to remove it. First time, I went to my girl's paed who is also a lactation consultant and she used a sterilize needle to open the skin so that the milk can flow again. Then when it happened again, I tried to use my finger nails to do it and it was quite difficult to do. So try to do it in a warm shower and then use a sterilize needle to do it yourself. It can be painful. And blood might be oozing out. But once your milk start to flow freely, then the pain goes away almost immediately.
3. Leaking
I don't have this issue the entire time. But some mothers have this. Wear a breast pad so that you don't get this embarrassing leaking.
4. Low milk supply
This, you will hear quite often. So many mothers will look for ways to boost their supply. Some breastfeeding consultant will say there is no such thing as low milk supply. Because baby's stomach is small, so the supply is just enough for baby. But if you are trying to build up storage for baby, before you go back to work, this may be a problem if you have just enough or low supply. I was struggling the whole time to pump and latch and pump and latch so that my supply increases, but it doesn't. That was because I was unable to latch baby in the beginning and by the time I was able to do it, I missed the important time period to establish my supply, which experts says is 2 weeks after birth. And some say the milk will get establish from 9-15 weeks upon delivery. So, please be reminded that these weeks are super important. Latch as much as you can and proper latching, not comfort latching. If unable to latch, then pump. I did neither because that time all I heard was latch, latch and latch. And I didn't know my latching was just comfort latching. Talk about lack of experience and didn't attend breastfeeding class.
So bear in mind here. Latching is to help your brain to know how much milk to supply to your baby. So demand = supply. Pumping, if you overdo it, you will get over supply, because brain thinks your baby needed more because you pump so much. This can lead to problems like storage problem, mastitis and milk blisters and plugged ducts. Pumping, if you underdo it and not latching as well, will result in under supply. This is from my own experience ok. I was supplementing with formula and then someone donated some milk to me and was depending on that for a bit until I manage to keep supply just enough for her. So, I pump today, enough for her tomorrow. Once she started solid food, I was so relieve because I didn't have to push so much. I was also doing power pump almost everyday. But no increase. So, please, please remember this. First 2 weeks, please latch as much as possible, with the proper latching and if you can't hear swallowing sounds of your baby, then it's comfort latching and correct it as soon as possible.
5. Tongue-tie
Some babies are born tongue-tied and it causes pain to the mother when they are breastfeeding and because of this, can't latch well too. So, check it out with the paed and get it corrected. Else, you just need to pump to extract the milk out.
Direct breastfeeding vs exclusive pumping
Some mothers are blessed to be able to directly breastfeed their child for 2 whole years or more. These mothers don't need to go to office and they are mostly stay-at-home mom.
I am not one of those mom and have to go to pumping. I don't see the difference between these moms as we are giving the best milk to our babies. But some mothers like to compare and see who is more superior than who. Nonsense they are, I tell you. Like some said pumping mothers can't use breastfeeding room because it's for breastfeeding moms. Crazy!
Once I got back to work, I only latches at night before bed. Was pumping few times a day. It was tiring and frustrated because my milk only enough for her next day.
Most importantly is:
RELAX! When you are stress, milk doesn't come easily. So, relax and enjoy the journey, though it may sound difficult at first.
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