Exclusively breastfeeding vs Pumping?

[robinrocks]

Hi everyone! I’m a first time new mom with a 2.5 week old baby. I’m so happy to have her home and healthy as I myself had quite the fertility journey, and she had a very short NICU stay after her birth.

I’m currently pretty much pumping exclusively as my baby isn’t the best at breastfeeding - and although it’s a lot of labour, I don’t mind as sometimes she eats as frequently as every 45 mins at night and this allows my partner to help out with feeds. I was however wondering why everyone pushes exclusive breastfeeding so much - is my baby missing out on something? Should I be trying harder to get her to eat from the boob? I’m so taxed that I only try once or twice a day and then bottle feed her as she becomes frustrated.

Just wondering what facts and research are out there! Thank you!

 

[jonnyalliance]

@robinrocks In my experience pumping is the hardest and most labor intensive way to feed your baby. There’s nothing wrong with it if that’s the route that works for you that’s awesome.

 

[tinygiraffe]

@robinrocks Way less prep! Instead of having to wash and sterilize pump parts and bottles every couple hours, you just whip out a boob. You can still add in pumped bottles when and where you want to get a break (we did this if grandparents were over and wanted to feed, or at night do we could switch off) bit overall I found pumping to be WAY more work than breastfeeding.

 

[vlisco]

@tinygiraffe There are also ways to minimize the effort—extra parts, fridge storage, wearable pumps. And I’ll be honest I never sterilized daily, and after he started on solids (3 mo adjusted age) I basically stopped. I

I definitely wish I could skip the middle man sometimes, but overall I’m happy with my (somewhat forced) choice to (almost) exclusively pump.

 

[timoneill]

@vlisco Just want to point out - Fridge storage and not sterilizing daily is not a good strategy for newborns after a NICU stay. This is probably fine for older, healthy babies, but not OPs situation.

 

[vlisco]

@timoneill That is certainly the recommendation (I had a preemie with a short NICU stay as well but didn’t know about the recommendations, hard to say whether I would have done anything differently). I got the impression OP was asking about pumping long-term though.

 

[nimbus]

@vlisco I will just note that the nipple backwash theory is just a theory at this point and needs more research and evidence.

 

[ashvinne]

@nimbus I've also always wondered if you don't get similar effects just by kissing and loving on your baby. I mean, I know that drool has gotten in my mouth on many occasions.

 

[tinygiraffe]

@vlisco Totally. Any of my friends that exclusively pumped or formula fed had enough bottles or spare parts that they just sterilized once at night. And I think most of us stopped sterilizing after a few months. For us it was mostly an issue of space - we live in a pretty small apartment and didn't have the space to store tons of extra bottles or parts!

 

[alolbu]

@vlisco What does 3 mo adjusted age mean

 

[vitalyg]

@alolbu When babies are born prematurely, they have their like legal age, starting counting the day they are born. Then they have an adjusted age which is the age they would be if they were born full term.
So a baby who was born a month prematurely, would be expected to be meeting milestones(such as reaching, smiling, eating solids, etc) about a month behind other babies who were born on the same day, but full term.

 

[alolbu]

@vitalyg So if the baby was born 1 month prematurely they could be 4 months old but 3 months age adjusted?

 

[vitalyg]

@alolbu Yeah exactly!

 

[alh]

@alolbu And eventually this evens out. There comes a point when they hit milestones based on their actual age after they've caught up with their peers. I know for sure by 2y you stop counting adjusted age but it could be sooner.

 

[plains]

@tinygiraffe “These findings complement emerging quantitative evidence that suggests that feeding pumped HM may not confer the same benefits to infants as feeding them at the breast and may introduce other risks. This possibility raises urgent questions about national policies that endorse bottle‐feeding pumped HM as equivalent to feeding at the breast.” - https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5491362/

Weight gain velocity:
“Breastfeeding is inversely associated with weight gain velocity and BMI. These associations are dose dependent, partially diminished when breast milk is fed from a bottle, and substantially weakened by formula supplementation after the neonatal period.” - https://publications.aap.org/pediat...ant-Feeding-and-Weight-Gain-Separating-Breast

Direct is the optimal way to go for immunity: “it has been demonstrated that breast milk leukocytes respond dynamically to maternal as well as infant infections” -

https://pubag.nal.usda.gov/catalog/1330894

Before pumping, it may be best to establish latch. And if pumping is to be done, it should probably be done in addition to direct feeding if possible. I’m basing that on this: “Pumping without feeding at the breast is associated with shorter milk feeding duration and earlier introduction of formula compared with feeding at the breast with or without pumping.”
- https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5646745/

Pumping did not increase likelihood of mothers continuing to provide breast milk longer. In this study: “Although breast pumps were free, breast pump use among predominantly AA WIC-eligible mothers was not associated with increased rates of exclusive breastfeeding at 1.5-3.5 months postpartum.” - https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28394660/

“Through breastfeeding directly, the mom can continue to protect the baby. If the baby gets sick, through attaching to the mom's breast s/he can transfer the illness-causing organisms to the mom. Then the mom will build anti-bodies--which are immune factors to fight the infection and then transfer them back to the baby in the breastmilk. Without that physical connection, the mom's body won't be able to build those protective anti-bodies (unless she gets infected through a different way).” - https://www.truthaboutnursing.org/care/pumping-vs-latching-breastfeeding.html

 

[sarebear1992]

@robinrocks Check out r/exclusivelypumping it’s a great and really supportive community!

ETA: FWIW I tried to breastfeed for 6 weeks and it just wasn’t working for me and the LO. We were both stressed about it and I ended up really liking pumping. I could do it on a schedule, see how much milk I had, dad could feed baby too, I could see exactly how much LO was eating, and freeze some for later. I ended up exclusively pumping for 4 months and then we moved to formula and frozen milk. It is a lot of work with the cleaning and parts.

 

[klf45]

@robinrocks This is purely anecdotal, I exclusively pumped from when she was 2 months (when I officially threw in the towel on breastfeeding) until she was 14 months old when she was on solids and whole milk.

I was in a similar space, newly postpartum, where I had a traumatic birth and didn't have the bandwidth to be constantly pushing for breastfeeding when she was uninterested and pumping was working.

The downside is the time and energy it takes to exclusively pump. With direct breastfeeding, you don't have to wash bottles, when you take baby out, you have their food source on hand! With formula feeding, you don't have to sacrifice your time and live according to a feeding schedule. With pumping, you have to wash bottles, pump parts, and spend hours every day pumping. Not to mention traveling with a cooler of breast milk, clean bottles, and your pump if you're gone for an extended time.

I don't regret my decision. My baby was (and is now) healthy and happy. We were (and are) very much bonded. Pumping was best for my mental health. I just think the intense amount of work that pumping requires encourages people to keep trying directly breastfeeding (not saying that it's not also a tremendous amount of work!)

I believe that refigerated and frozen breast milk have slightly less protein content and anti-bacterial properties than fresh, but that's about it. At the end of the day, fed is best!

 

[friendofstmina]

@robinrocks To be clear: you are exclusively breastfeeding even if you are pumping. Your child is not missing anything from not being on the breast (and wouldn’t be missing anything on formula either, aside from a very small immunity boost that can be achieved through combo feeding).

If exclusively pumping is working for you and you are happy with that journey, I’d just exclusively pump. Ultimately what we’re talking about here is parental choice and it’s about what works for you and your baby. In my 16 month breastfeeding journey with my kiddo I went through periods of exclusively pumping and periods of exclusively nursing and both were great.

 

[bugz444]

@robinrocks Pumping is just a lot more work. It’s so much easier to just pull a boob out anywhere and let them eat. I don’t have to bring bottles anywhere. I wish my boy would take a bottle so that dad could feed him and now and then though. We’re going on 1 year breastfeeding and I stopped pumping at around 2 months old when he got more efficient at nursing.

 

[flyingmaguro]

@robinrocks It's less prep than cleaning and sterilising and storing milk etc. Easier if you're caught short out and about to have milk "on tap"

Dependent on how you feed baby bottle there's benefits with breastfeeding from skin-to-skin, dental benefits and jaw muscle strengthening

But don't let anyone disparage you for pumping. It's still incredibly demanding and hard work and you're still getting benefits of immunosupport etc.

Also with breastfeeding feeling taxing, it may be that as baby gets bigger, it's less taxing. My LO was early but as she got bigger she was so much better at breastfeeding. So if you do want to persevere with breastfeeding, it should get easier.