I successfully breastfed my son for almost 10 months so it was a no brainer this time around that I would breastfeed again. In the hospital she took to suckling right away and seemed good at it. At 3 days old when my milk came in we had our latch checked and everything looked good according to the nurse. She had lost more weight since leaving the hospital but no concerns with that. One week later at our check up she had gained 7 ounces. Not back at birth weight yet but only 2 ounces away and a 7 ounce gain over a week isn't bad. She was wanting to breastfeed 12-14 times a day for at least 30 min sometimes more and with my toddler it was getting difficult for me but I knew from experience that it gets better with time so I wanted to persevere. One week later (17 days old) she was weighed again and this time only gained 1 ounce in a week and still not at birth weight. Now the doc and I are getting a little concerned. I did think it was odd that overnight (10 hours) I didn't have to change her and she was not soaked in the morning yet I still have been breastfeeding the same. I was told to try pumping so I did and was able to get out plenty. That day I chose to quit breastfeeding and only pump and give bottles and see what happened as I was tired of listening to my baby girl cry all the time and looking for the breast all the time. What a great decision that was! She gained 11 ounces over the next week and is as happy as can be! We're not sure why she's not able to get out what she needs on her own.
I scoured the internet about exclusively pumping as I didn't know much about it. I wanted to know what to use and how often and such. I'd been using a hand pump and was getting enough but it's quite time consuming and you're pretty much stuck and apparantly it's hard to increase your supply with a hand pump. I decided to follow advice online and rent a hospital grade electric pump. These pumps cost around $1200 to buy!! I'm renting an older model for $2.50/day and they wanted $3.50/day for a newer one!! Seriously.....formula would not even cost me that much! I can think of many things I could be using that money on especially with my pay being cut on maternity leave. They push breastfeeding as being the best yet really don't make it that affordable to people who can't breastfeed but still want their baby to have breastmilk. They should offer subsidies or cheaper options that are just as good. I know you can buy cheaper breast electric pumps but it's still quite an investment for something you'll use probably just for months. I'll keep this up hopefully for a few more months freezing what I can but don't see myself doing this for 10 months!! The whole medical system just doesn't seem right sometimes........
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