My Feeding Journey: Confessions of a Pumper

For those of you that are familiar with my blog (which has been severely neglected lately), you might be sick of hearing about my boobs.  As someone once pointed out to me, “You talk about them a lot.”  But I have to admit, I had two kids in a matter of 19 months, so quite a bit of activity revolved around those mounds for some time.  For those of you not familiar, I thought I’d share my story.

The summer between my junior and senior year in high school, I had a breast reduction.  I went from a very uncomfortable E to a much more functional B-C.  At the time, my seventeen-year-old-self didn’t give a flip about breastfeeding in my future but, fortunately, I had a wonderful plastic surgeon that took the time and care to preserve my milk ducts.  When you’ve had a reduction, you are always told that you’ll have a 50/50 chance of breastfeeding but won’t ever know until the day comes.

On the good side, my lactating business kicked in when my daughter was born.  On the bad side, my daughter was born with a birth defect that meant we were not able to hold her right away, and I certainly wasn’t able to start nursing her right away.  My nursing journey began with the hospital grade pump.  Due to Harper’s condition, I heard over and over and over and over how important it was that I continue pumping and giving her breast milk.  I rented a hospital pump and was very regimented about pumping every 2-3 hours, all day, every day, and had a pretty good supply of milk.  I don’t know if it was due to my reduction or pumping but I did struggle with clogged ducts frequently – they are NOT fun.  But I digress.

I was so excited about the day when I would be able to nurse.  I had seen how easy nursing looked, how women would just glide their baby discreetly up to their chest and, wha-la!, they had a happy baby.  The day finally came and after 30 minutes of trying, I was sweating and crying, my baby was screaming her face off, we were both frustrated and I was left feeling deflated and like a failure.  Why was this so hard?  And why hadn’t anyone warned me?

After some time with the lactation consultant, I was told I had inverted nipples (awesome), could use a nipple guard to help and that I should just keep trying.  So I did.  And yes, it eventually came together.  Harper and I both got the hang of it, but it still wasn’t as easy as I thought it was going to be.  Not only did I need a nipple guard to help her latch, but I always needed some kind of Boppy or pillow to prop her on.  I had also been trained to know and record exactly how many cc’s my baby was taking in with every feeding so nursing left me feeling like I didn’t have the information I needed.  In the end, I did nurse Harper but, to be honest, I pumped a lot more than I nursed and ended up going for 9 months with Harper on breast milk.

Fast-forward 19 months later and along came my son.  This time I was determined that I would be the mom that could walk through the grocery store with a baby latched on while I grocery shopped.  Well guess what?  I had a boy, a very active baby boy at that, and he liked to watch his big sister at all times meaning that a boob in the face didn’t quite cut it.  Not only that, but he hated having a nursing cover over his head.  While I would love to say that I wouldn’t hesitate to whip the ol’ girls out in public, I just couldn’t go there.  I could nurse Harris in the early morning hours when his sister wasn’t bouncing around and distracting him but otherwise, it wasn’t happening.  Once again, I found myself pumping through most of my feedings and really got the hang of it.  This time I even went a little longer, 10 months.

I attribute much of my experiences with pumping to the equipment I armed myself with.  With Harper, I quickly realized I needed a REALLY good pump and one that was going to be functional so I did my research.  Yes, it was pricey but the Medela Freestyle Pump is flipping awesome and well worth the investment, especially if you can use it through multiple children.  The pump is about the size of a softball, runs on a battery so doesn’t require you to be attached to a plug, and can clip onto your clothes.  I was also so impressed with Medela’s customer service.  When I was having trouble with my battery, they replaced the entire unit at no cost.  AMAZING!  Second (and a must in my book), I purchased a hands-free pumping bra.  I tried out a few but my fav is the Simple Wishes Hands-Free Breastpump Bra.  I would wear a nursing bra throughout the day, pull the flaps down when it was time to pump and just strap the hands-free bra over my nursing bra.  It was comfortable, stable and machine washable.  My last piece of essential pumping equipment is a nursing cover.  I used an Udder Cover.  They come in a variety of styles and usually have some kind of discount offer online.

So with my battery-powered pump, my hands-free pump bra and my cover, I was free to be fully functioning while I was pumping. I could strap on the pump and hold a baby, make dinner, work on the computer, take care of my kids, wash dishes, and, yes, I was even known to pump and drive on a regular basis.  I’m just happy that I never got pulled over while pumping and driving – no telling how I would have explained that to a cop!

I strongly believe that you have to do what works best for you in your journey through motherhood.  For me, pumping was a great way to still offer my children all of the benefits of breast milk, even when traditional breastfeeding wasn’t very easy for me.