What No One Told You About Pumping

My advice to pumping is make sure you invest and get a good pump! I have a medela and love it! I love the option of being able to plug into the cigarette lighter and pumping in the car. I breastfed my baby until she was 12 months but I also work full time. Pumping allowed me to give my baby the very best start to life and still be able to enjoy the snuggle time in the evening. Yes, it's time consuming but totally worth it! I would highly recommend nursing to all moms! Not only is it great for your baby but it helps you loose baby weight too!

it's so time consuming! and no one ever told me when to pump. I'm a sahm, so I didn't have that time when I was away from my dd.

My baby sleeps through the night--yeah for me! No one ever told me that you need to pump between 10-11 pm in order to prevent the pain of 3am waking too full to move and soaking wet! I wish someone would have given me some advice as to when to pump. I was always afraid that I would pump before the baby wanted to eat and I worried ALOT. However, if the baby is hungry just feed what you pumped!

I wish someone would have told me that I would develop an intense love/hate relationship with my pump at about 6 months. I HATED that stupid machine! I guess that goes with the "time consuming" idea. I'm so happy and lucky that I was able to nurse/pump until Joey's first birthday, but there were absolutely days when I didn't FEEL like pumping. My advice to a new mom would be to stick with it because the first year flies by.

I agree 100% about breastfeeding - I did with both of mine and loved it. I also pumped as well. For those first time moms that are trying their best to do it all including breastfeeding and are totally sleep deprived don't be afraid to pump 1/2 hr to an 1 hr before the "last" feeding of the day - 10-11pm and give the bottle to daddy and get some extra rest. I did this with my second and what a difference it made!! I also agree with the advise form the other moms and get a good pump - it does make a world of difference. If you don't want to invest in buying one, you can rent them and your hospital should be able to give you some info.
When it comes to b'feeding and pumping, you just have to do what works best for you and your family.