Random questions, postpartum edition

Active sucking

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Then I think I would give a verbal cue, but I remember that tapering off like lady duck says. #2 is clamping down on the latch off, and no

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Do the abs have to completely come back together before I can do crunches and stuff? Ugh

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Probably not but please talk to your physio :+1:

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They might not ever go completely back together but if you do too much ab work too soon that can contribute to them never going back together. Agree that you should see a PT if you can.

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There’s lots of DR friendly ab work. (And literally very friendly- it’s the stuff they have you do to help heal DR!) Crunches aren’t that great even for people without DR frankly, they work an incredibly limited range of motion.

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I don’t think I had DR, miraculously for my age and size, but I found a lot of benefits from starting with DR activities!

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Either the latch got sloppy, or Ravioli bit me. And this time he drew blood. First time I’ve seen blood on my nipple—previous bf issues were all just soreness. We are sooooo close to my 6 month goal and until now I thought we might even be able to get to a stretch goal of a year. Blergh. I have APNO from earlier in this “journey” so I guess I’ll put that on tonight

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Did anyone pump when they returned to work? Looking for more resources. Main concern is wanting to pump enough to feed my son breast milk exclusively for as long as I can. So far my plan is to pump every time he’d be eating, so 9am, 12pm, 3pm…but not sure that’s enough. Thanks!

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I did, although it only lasted around 4 months before we were sent home because of covid. I pumped every time my child ate, but I also lived close enough to home to feed her at lunch time. So I would feed her right before I left in the morning, then around 2.5 hours later at work I would pump, and my husband would text me when she was showing hunger cues and I would go to the pumping room. Then I would come home around 12 to nurse her, then once in the afternoon I would pump when she ate at home, and then I would come home for her next feeding.

I was lucky that my office has 3 dedicated pumping rooms. We used a google calendar to reserve the rooms based upon all of the mom’s pumping schedules. We would often do a video call while pumping too so I could look at her while I pumped to help with the milk flow, and some of my coworkers had pictures set up of their kids.

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I pumped with both my kids until I had enough milk to get them to a year old. For my first that meant stopping pumping around 9 months for my second it was around 10 months.

I started with pumping 3 times a day while I was away with both. Then went down to 2 pumps a month or so later. Both times I didn’t seem to get much more milk with 3 pumps vs 2 so I didn’t want to waste my time doing an additional pump. Eventually I went down to 1 pump per day until I stopped completely.

For actually sending milk I always sent frozen in Mondays so that it wouldn’t start getting old. The rest of the week I sent what was needed from the pump the day before. Daycare also always had some extra milk frozen just in case.

Both times I continued to breastfeed after I stopped pumping and they stopped getting bottles at daycare. First time around we nursed until 27 months. Second time we are still going at 21 months old.

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That’s what I did except I was not disciplined enough to stay on the schedule. I had the good fortune of being able to shut my own office door and pump anytime,* but when it got busy I would push it later, and I didn’t really keep up with her because of that. I had pumped on my mat leave (the whole time because I didn’t know any better), and had a huge stash that got us through, but towards the end we stuck a bit of formula in there too somewhere. She stopped nursing at 13 months of her own choice and we switched to almond milk.

*My very first pumping session back to work, I was halfway in, no shirt, hooked up like a cow…and the fire alarm went off for a drill. I was so so irrationally angry at the building maintenance guy. And definitely the last one out of the building. :laughing:

ETA: Since you have a nanny share, I would assume that they will have a freezer? So you can just send your milk frozen, and let them defrost in a cup of water? That will be convenient for not wasting it. Our daycare back then just had a fridge.

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I pumped for about 3 months after returning to work. My job was fully WFH and even so, it was tough for me – my supply wasn’t great so the combination of juggling work, pumping, supplements, nutrition, BFing, washing pump parts, and trying to preserve a little personal time was too much for me. This was early 2021 so I had a little freezer stash (with covid antibodies) that I would mix into his bottles every few days and then quit once the vaccine was imminent. I think Spore was 8 months so he was already getting lots of different things through solids.

YMMV and it doesn’t sound like you have low supply so it could definitely be easier for you. The every 3 hours schedule seems pretty doable. It’s worth getting your setup optimized for you, whether it’s a pumping room, second pump so you don’t have to carry back and forth, lots and lots of extra parts, etc.

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Thanks for sharing your experiences, all! I also found this website in my hunt for info. Sharing in case anyone else finds it helpful.

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Best advice I have heard is have a pump for home, a pump for work, and then just take the parts that need washing in with you. They can also be reused if you pop them in fridge with the milk but then they are cold when you use them. Good luck!

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Not sure if you’re a podcast person or not, but I got my work to pay for AirPods so I could take calls/meetings during pumping sessions, and I got to use them for podcasts/music when I wasn’t in meetings. (We are a meeting heavy org but always cameras off)

I could not handle wired headphones along with all the pump parts so the AirPods were great.

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Favorite nursing bras? Clip-down preferred, and I hate those insert pads that have to be rearranged everytime I do laundry.

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Tbh I just stuff the inserts in a drawer ¯_(ツ)_/¯

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Yes this! My work had a Medela Symphony in each lactation station so I would only carry parts with me. I would stick parts in a wet bag in between pumps.

I used this one specifically.

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Ohhh the wet bag is a great idea. I had been using a ziploc but this is more eco friendly.