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Old October 17th 05, 04:47 PM
Donna Metler
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Default Pumping for preemies




"Jake Mysterio" wrote in message
...
I was told you do produce "milk" just that it is the right kind of milk

for
a premmie which is often rich in colostrum as well. at day 3 with my twins
(34weeks) I was pumping 10oz + a sitting. I could have fed all the babies

in
the nursery!

Cheri
"Anne Rogers" wrote in message
...
My guess would be that her milk hasn't come in and she's still getting
colostrum, which would be expected since the babies aren't anywhere

near
their due date yet. Alli was almost 2 months old before I started

getting
really mature milk and before I really started to get engorged, and she
wasn't nearly as "preemie" as these little ones were. Remember, she was
only
a bit over halfway through the pregnancy. Not only were the babies born
prematurely, but normally she wouldn't have had to produce milk for
several
months yet either. Once I started getting mature milk, I could easily
pump
12+ oz at a sitting until my supply regulated itself a few months

later,
but
those first weeks where I wasn't getting "milk" exactly yet were tough.
And
that was with a much older preemie. I remember calling my LC at one

point
in
tears because I was only getting about 12-15 oz a day, and having her
tell
me that was actually a LOT of colostrum.


really? I always thought that milk production was triggered by the

removal
of the placenta and that it comes in after a similar time regardless of
when the placenta is removed, which is why mums with late losses often
have their milk come in and the engorgement is similar to a full term

mum
who isn't breastfeeding, but having not been though it I probably don't
understand all the factors, sorry to ask this, but what happened to you
milkwise after Brian? The only data point I have is a friend who had 34
week twins, and she produced gallons.


I didn't get much milk at all after Brian, but there was absolutely no
demand, and the nurses had me binding my breasts almost from delivery. I did
get some spontaneous letdowns and leaking for quite some time afterwards,
but never the engorgement and producing enough milk for three babies that I
got with Alli once my milk came in.


It also may make a difference as to WHY the babies were premature-my LC told
me at one point that sometimes mothers with a lot of fluid retention due to
pre-eclampsia had delays in milk production, and I definitely had major
fluid buildup with both pregnancies. And I still wish the nurses and LCs at
the hospital had realized that I needed to start pumping earlier, so I
wouldn't have had such a supply hit due to lack of demand at the beginning.