Welcome to the June Carnival of Breastfeeding! The theme this month is breastfeeding and pumping and as usual there are lots of great and varied posts which will be listed below as they become available! Here's mine:
Electrify Me!
When I was pregnant with my first baby I had no idea it was possible to express breastmilk. However, all the pregnancy magazines I read seemed to have adverts for a particular breastpump so it wasn't too long before I realised it must be something pretty important. So I did a little research and duly purchased myself a well-known little manual hand pump which I carefully placed in my steriliser as I awaited the birth of my baby.
Soon after my daughter was born I decided it was probably time to give the new pump a go. Imagine my disappointment when I barely managed to pump anything from my over-inflated breasts! For me, pumping wasn't exactly very successful to begin with.
Over time, I learnt from other mothers that electric pumps were easier to use and much more successful. So off I went to the shops again and purchased myself a Medela as it seemed to be the one that was most recommended to me. What a difference! Although somewhat noisy, I certainly expressed a lot more milk and on several occasions managed a full 8oz!.
I also realised a few things helped me when I was expressing:
I often pumped whilst feeding my baby from the other breast: the letdown was much stronger and the milk flowed much more quickly.
If my baby wasn't available (ie was asleep or unwilling to feed) I looked at her or a photo of her and sometimes even sniffed some of her clothes. Again this meant a much quicker flow and a lot more milk was expressed!
At the first sign of a blocked duct, my little Medela would come to the rescue and helped avoid manys a bout of mastitis which was something I was very prone to getting!
To be honest, I didn't need to express a lot as I was at home with my daughter most of the time so fortunately she was able to breastfeed on demand. However, when I did need to express for one reason or another my electric breastpump was a godsend.
To any breastfeeding mother I would say this: go out now and treat yourself to an electric breastpump. You won't be sorry!
Now, enjoy the following participants posts in this month's Carnival of Breastfeeding (links activated when the posts are up!):
Motherwear Breastfeeding Blog: Breastfed Babies and Bottles plus video clip
Mama Knows Breast: Competition Give-away - Win a Medela Pump
Breastfeeding 123: Exclusively Pumping and Cleft Palate
The Lactivist
Adventures of a Breastfeeding Mother: Adventures of Pumping - Don't Spill That!
Raising Baby Bee: I'm in here...uh...busy!
The Attached Mother: Once a Pumper
Hobo Mama: Thrills and Chills of Person to Person
Mike and Tonis: I Was Pumped to Launch
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