Wondering what breastfeeding/chestfeeding look like when your baby is 6-9 months? As our little ones continue to grow physically {begin to roll over, sit up, crawl} and developmentally {sleep longer stretches at night and interact more with the world around them}, we notice the impact of these changes on their feeding patterns.
So your breastfed baby is refusing bottles. Isn’t the typical concern that a breastfeeding/chestfeeding baby may prefer bottles over nursing and not the other way around? While breastfeeding refusal can happen as well, any type of feeding rejection is your baby’s way of communicating that something is feeling challenging. So let’s dive into some of the reasons why a nursing baby rejects the bottle and some tips to remedy a bottle feeding aversion.
Did you know that lactation consultants not only help with breastfeeding, but can also help with bottle feeding? It’s true! We are here to offer guidance with all aspects of feeding (introducing solids, as well!) and know a ton about bottles and how to balance them with breastfeeding.
Breast milk storage guidelines can be incredibly complicated to decipher. With each pump company and breastfeeding website having its own storage and handling recommendations, how's a mother to know which one to follow? Plus, throw in whether the baby is full-term, pre-term, healthy, or in the NICU, and we have quite a confusing situation.
After delving into our lactation consultant guidelines for human milk storage, I think I have the definitive list for you….at least for this year!
So your breastfed baby is refusing bottles. Isn’t the typical concern that a breastfeeding/chestfeeding baby may prefer bottles over nursing and not the other way around? While breastfeeding refusal can happen as well, any type of feeding rejection is your baby’s way of communicating that something is feeling challenging. So let’s dive into some of the reasons why a nursing baby rejects the bottle and some tips to remedy a bottle feeding aversion.
When I think about my own Going Back to Work experience, as well as our lactation clients’ experiences, there are some common themes and emotions that come top of mind.
Feelings of overwhelm and stress while preparing for this transition. How can I get my baby, my baby’s caregiver, and my supervisor all on the same page?
Anxiety about our milk supplies decreasing. How is my pump going to keep up my milk supply? How will I find time to pump?
Worry that our children are going to be overfed by their caregivers. How much milk should I leave for my baby and how can I convince our caregiver that this is the correct amount?
Concern about managing work life and family life (balance never really happens, right?) How will I be able to do it all?
But, when I look even deeper into where those emotions are coming from, I believe that they are coming from this......
This is the thing, though…. You have the ability to retain control. It is all in how you prepare for this transition in your overall journey.
This is exactly why I created an easy-to-follow process to prepare yourself, your pump, your baby, your baby’s caregiver, and your supervisor for a smooth transition where you remain in control of your breastfeeding relationship!
We are so excited to announce SDBFC's first online course, Breastfeeding for the Working Family! This is the easiest, most comprehensive step-by-step course to prepare everyone for this transition back to work.
With the purchase of this online course, you will receive:
14 short, info-loaded videos to watch at your leisure
6 customizable handouts
Access to our exclusive private FB group, where you can share all of your thoughts and advice with other pumping working parents, watch extra video content, and get special deals from our favorite product partners!
Weekly Live Q&As on our Facebook group, with a lactation consultant, to answer your burning questions (This might be my favorite part of the whole course!)
For more information about the course, check out our online course page
How to purchase the course RIGHT NOW:
In honor of our online course launch, you may use this coupon code (COURSELAUNCH20) to receive $20 off your purchase! This deal lasts only until June 30, 2019.
Written by Amanda Glenn, from HTTPS://EXCLUSIVEPUMPING.COM/
When you start exclusively pumping, most lactation consultants recommend that you pump the same number of times that your baby eats, which is about 8-12 times per day. Usually, each session is about 15 minutes.
Whether or not this changes as your baby gets older is completely up to you! There is no harm is keeping this schedule up as long as you continue to exclusively pump. However, most exclusive pumpers find pumping so often to be pretty exhausting and start to drop pumping sessions around the 6-8 week mark. (Here are some sample pumping schedules by age.)
When you drop pumping sessions, what you're really doing is consolidating your pumping time - you're pumping for the same amount of time per day, but just less often. So, for example, if you are pumping 8 times a day for 15 minutes, and you want to drop down to 7 times a day, you would add about 2 minutes to each of your 7 remaining sessions.
(Why drop pumping sessions if you're still going to have to pump for the same amount of time each day? It helps you avoid the hassle of stopping what you're doing, getting hooked up to the pump, and putting your breast milk away and washing your pump parts.)
Increasing the length of your sessions will help you maintain your supply; you'll pump less often, but get more milk at each session because you'll get multiple letdowns of milk.
The other thing that changes with regard to exclusive pumping schedule over time is overnight pumping. When your baby stops waking up in the middle of the night to eat, many women drop their middle of the night pumping sessions as well.
This makes sense, as your pumping schedule should mimic your baby's feeding schedule (and also because you need to sleep). However, some women do decide to keep a middle of the night session if milk supply is an issue for them, because prolactin levels can be higher at night.
Another thing that can change your pumping regiment as your baby gets older is how you manage to get your pumping sessions in. When your baby is a newborn, you may have family members or your partner home with you at times to help hold the baby when you need to pump, or you may be able to feed your baby a bottle while you pump with a hands-free pumping bra.
Older babies like to play with tubing and are mobile, so being tied to a pump can sometimes be more challenging. Luckily, their sleeping habits tend to be more predictable, so it's easier to schedule your pumping sessions for times when they are napping. (When this doesn't work, sitting next to baby in a high chair with some finger foods and/or toys is my best strategy for dealing with this.)
Another thing that might affect your pumping regiment over time is going back to work. In the United States, many new moms have to go back to work when their babies are 12 weeks old. The good news is that exclusively pumping moms are a bit ahead of the game - if you're an exclusive pumper, you are already very familiar with a breast pump, and you know your baby will take a bottle.
However, you do need to figure out how to fit your pumping sessions in with work. Women with office jobs may have an easier time with this, especially if they can work on a laptop with a hands-free pumping bra. If pumping at work for you is easy, it might make sense to do more pumping sessions at work so that you can spend the time that you do have at home with your baby.
Other moms, like teachers, have a harder time getting breaks from work to pump. If this is true for you, you might have to be creative with your pumping schedule in order to get your pumping sessions in, maybe by concentrating your pumping sessions at home before your baby gets up and after he goes to bed.
A few months ago, we sent out a Call for Breastfeeding Stories. Our desire was to flood the Internet with beautiful breastfeeding and pumping stories of triumph, overcoming challenges and struggles, and positive outcomes, regardless of the total amount of milk a mom was producing. We are thrilled to share these stories with you, our readers, and hope that they offer support and inspiration for you, wherever you are in your breastfeeding or pumping journey.
Thank you to all of the mothers who submitted their stories! If after you read these memoirs you are inspired to submit your story, feel free to send it to RobinKaplan@sdbfc.com.
When I was pregnant with my second child, I was planning to breastfeed her. I was also really nervous about it because of my experience with my first child.
After my son was born, we struggled with nursing while we were in the hospital. Each nurse suggested that I hold him a different way, and it always worked when they were standing right there. However, after they left and I tried to nurse again on my own, I could never get him to latch. I remember being so sleep deprived from labor that I couldn't really listen to what they were telling me and have it sink in.
Additionally, the hospital had a lactation consultant, but there had a been a huge snowstorm a few days earlier, and she "hadn't been seen since the blizzard." So that form of assistance wasn't available, unfortunately.
(After my nurse told me that, I had this mental image of the lactation consultant getting lost on her way to the hospital in a sleigh or something. Hopefully, she eventually made it back.)
After three weeks of struggling and my son still not being back up to his birth weight, I ended up deciding to exclusively pump for him. I had a lot of complicated emotions around this - guilt for not trying harder to nurse, inadequacy for not being able to make nursing work, pride in myself for managing to breastfeed by pumping only. As a Type A person, I became pretty obsessed with it - how much I was pumping, how much he was eating, how much my stash was, etc. Exclusively pumping became such a big part of my identity as a new mom that I started an entire website about it.
So, when I was pregnant with my daughter, I wanted to make sure that she got breast milk, too, just like my son did. At the same time, I knew how hard it was to exclusively pump, and I was already terrified of having two kids under two years old. Exclusively pumping with a toddler and baby seemed impossible to me, and I wasn't sure if I could manage it again.
As soon as she was born, though, it was obvious that this baby had a completely different temperament than my son. While he had screamed for his entire first hour of life outside the womb, she just cried a little and then latched on like a champ.
There were definitely some bumps in the road over the first few days - again, I struggled a bit with latch in the hospital - but we moved past them pretty quickly, and she was back up to her birth weight after a little over week.
I have such great memories of nursing my daughter while on maternity leave. Some days (instead of going to Stroller Strides or trying to run errands) I would just decide to be lazy and spend the whole day on the couch with her - snuggling, switching to the other breast from time to time, and watching entire seasons of Game of Thrones.
I ended up nursing my daughter until she was 18 months old. I don't think I had much milk left at that point, and it was just part of her bedtime routine. When I ended up needing to go on a trip without her, my husband to put her to bed, and that was the end. I was sad to be done with nursing her, but it also felt like it was time.
Being able to nurse my daughter really helped me heal from the feelings of guilt and inadequacy I had felt after not being able to with my son. I'm so grateful for both breastfeeding relationships, though, because they taught me different things - my son taught me that I could figure things out as a mom even when things didn't go the way I'd planned, while my daughter taught me the importance of being in the moment and savoring time together.
In honor of World Breastfeeding Week 2015, we are sharing inspirational stories from breastfeeding/working moms.
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When I had to go back to work I knew I wanted to keep providing my son with the very best I could offer and one of them was his dear breastmilk. I was very confused with the whole pumping at work idea. I had done some research at work before delivering as to where the lactation room was and what the process was to reserve the room. I work at a hospital and I thought that just by going to the L&D department everyone would know where our lactation room was and it was going to be very easy to find. Well to my surprise, no one knew exactly what I was referring to, all the nurses looked at me with puzzled faces and confused as to why an 8 month pregnant employee was asking about this room and they didn't even know where it was! When I finally found it, it was a rather disappointing, sad room that looked like a utility closet, but at least it was clean and it had the necessities: a chair, a desk and a fridge.
In honor of World Breastfeeding Week 2015, we are sharing inspirational stories from breastfeeding/working moms.
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I had a long, stressful delivery that resulted in an emergency c-section, a tongue tie revision on day 2, followed by 48 hours in NICU. I was given a nipple shield, instructed to supplement with formula through an SNS and sent on my way. Breastfeeding was painful and difficult even with the shield, I went to many support group meetings and did weighed feeds and was able to stop supplementing. We were also dealing with a "colicky" baby until about week 8 . Then at week 10, I was able to get off the nipple shield with the help of an LC at Mary Birch. I was supposed to go back to work after 12 weeks but I was so exhausted and we were finally starting to turn a corner where we could actually enjoy our time with baby, I thankfully was able to extend my maternity leave to 16 weeks.
This prelude is to say that with all the struggles we went through in the beginning, I was very anxious about going back to work, whether I would make enough milk, whether he would get nipple confusion or a bottle preference. I worked so hard and suffered through so much literal blood, sweat, and tears to make breastfeeding work I started to really resent the fact that I had to go to work and interrupt our breastfeeding relationship.
Written by Ashley Treadwell, IBCLC
Going back to work can be a very stressful time for many new moms. It’s difficult to leave your baby for the first time. You may feel nervous about returning to a job you’ve been away from for months. Your schedule/routine may have changed due to child-care arrangements. Plus, if you’re anything like me, none of your work pre-pregnancy work clothes fit yet! A concern that often adds to this stress is the fear that you may not be able to pump enough for your baby’s bottles while you’re at work. Some moms find that they are constantly playing a game of catch-up, trying to keep up with their baby’s intake while with the caregiver. Below are some things you can do to improve your ability to keep up with your baby’s needs.
'Help a Mama Out' Topic of the Week:
Tips for Talking with Your Boss about Pumping
What's your best tip for discussing your pumping rights/schedule with your boss?
Shelly Hovies Rogers: Be assertive with your rights, but be flexible and willing to work with your boss and coworkers. I found my workplace to be quite accommodating to me when I nicely, but matter of fact, told them what I needed. Also, although I didn’t have to quote the state law, I familiarized myself with it, just in case I needed to use it.
Kelly Reyes: Before I left for maternity leave, I discussed my need to pump with my boss and then HR, just to make sure we were all on the same page. When I had issues with the way the ‘wellness room’ schedule was being managed, my boss went to bat for me and fixed the problem that day!
Marie Bishop: My best advice is to know the law and stand up for yourself and your baby. In states, such as California, it is required by law that your employer provides a non-restroom space that is private for you to pump.
Meggin Dueckman: We just talked about it! We’re all pretty close at work, so it was no problem. I was the first of our staff to want/need to pump at work. Mind you, here in Canada we get a year of maternity leave, so it’s not as common for people to want to pump as frequently when they return to work. I only pumped 1 times a day at work, more for my own comfort!
Jamie Howell Swope: As a teacher at a school, it wasn’t an easy process, but I went in knowing the law and advised my principal ahead of time why I wanted to meet with her. That way she had time to think about how to make it work, too.
Kat Picson Berling: I was really lucky in that 2 of my coworkers were pumping moms, so they had paved the way. I told my boss that I was going to take 2 pumping breaks at x and y time and I will be in this office and it will take 15 minutes. He was fine with it. I’m not going to lie…. Because I had a cubicle at work, it was sometimes difficult to find a place to pump. Even our HR coordinator wasn’t sympathetic for me. Just make sure to know the law.
Chantel McComber: My advice would be to put your fears aside. Sometimes it’s hard as a working mom to ask for things because not everyone has them. Remember that you are doing this for your health and your baby’s health and those are two things that should always come first.
Jennifer Haak: When I discussed my date of return, I told my boss that I needed a lock installed on my office door and I explained why.
Andrea Blanco: First, know your right. Be sure that your company falls under those rights. Then file that information away and try *not* to use it as it can be perceived as a threat (and no one likes to be threatened.) Second, have a plan in place. I find that if you’re willing to have the conversation in advance, go into it as sweet as possible, and have it all planned out as to how it will work for you (with consideration given to work environment/demands/pumping law.) Then, it is much harder for your employer to say no.
For the United States Lactation Accommodation laws, check out Break Time for Nursing Mothers
Help a Mama Out Topic of the Week: What are your favorite ways to nurture your breastfeeding relationship when you work outside the home?
Sarah – When I was working out of the home, I pumped at the times my daughter would take a bottle. Then, when I came home I would exclusively nurse her. She was fine with 2 or 3 small breastmilk bottles a day, then nursed the rest of the time. She always preferred the breast and when it came time to wean, I was nervous….but at 13 months she just did and that was that!
Alicia – Comfort nursing on the weekends and morning nursing cuddle time. I always nurse as soon as we get home from work/daycare.
Alyssa – My favorite part of my working day (as a teacher) was when I sat down in the glider at daycare and nursed my son before taking him home for the night. We were always so happy to see each other and it helped wipe away any headaches from the day. Plus, I developed a friendship with his teacher and got to hear all about what he did that day, which was way better than just reading a quick note on a daily info sheet!
Jeanne – Co-sleeping helped us and a feed before I leave and ASAP when I get home. I also pump 3-4 times at work and always demand feed when I’m home.
Katie – We nurse in the evenings, when she wakes up in the middle of the night, and at least once more before I leave for work. It’s funny, as soon as I pick her up after work, I think her mind lights up with ‘milk!’ because she immediately wants to nurse regardless of when her last feeding was. I can tell that she misses that when we’re a part, as do I.
Janell – As soon as I get home, he’s on the boob. The rest of the night, he is on the boob. We spend all weekend with him on and off the boob. Time consuming, but I love the connection time and it forces me to sit down and breathe with my son.
Rachel – I sit with my daughter every evening after work. Even if she goes to sleep, we spend the entire evening and night together because we co-sleep. I make a point to forget about all of the housework I have to do and just relax with her because I know that she won’t be little forever!
Rachelle – One of my favorite things is when I get home from work, I shower (I’m a paramedic). After I shower, I fill the bath and my husband brings me the baby and we usually relax and nurse for 20-30 minutes. It is my wind-down time and it is quiet with few distractions. I love it!
Sarah – If possible, try to arrange a mid-day nursing session. I used a local daycare that I was able to visit at lunch and nurse, rather than pump. It greatly helped my supply and we were able to EBF for 13 months without any supplementation.
Amanda – I asked out childcare provider not to feed our little one within 90 minutes of when I planned to pick up. That way I could nurse as soon as I got there.
