breast milk questions

how do i defrost frozen milk. how long does it take. how long is it good for

can i take out cold milk (from fridge) and let it sit out for 3 hours and then feed or do i have to go right from fridge to warm water to heat bottle up

if they drink from the bottle of bm and dont finish it you have to throw the remainder away

how long should i try feeding 3wk old ; sometimes he finishes in 1/2 hour (50cc's) sometimes it takes him 1 hour. should i stop after 1/2 hour? (he eats every 3 hours) they are premies born at 32 weeks.

thanks for all your help

oh one more.. i'm pumping(obviously) cause they are use to bottle since birth at nicu etc, so ive tried and they dont want to latch on, anythingi can do to help them want to? and another question - when will pumping be easier on my nipples or will it always hurt? i dont want to turn down the setting otherwise it just takesl onger to pump out milk)
thanks for all your help

 

I hated pumping so we dropped that about a week after we came home. I dont hve a ton of advice just want to wish you some luck!! It really does just take time! I hope it all starts coming together for you.

PS did you get the pillow yet??

 

It is best to defrost milk in the fridge, say overnight (just like with meat, lol), but you can also set it out at room temp or run it under warm water. Defrosted milk is good for 24hrs.

You can leave milk at room temp for atleast 6hrs

You can reused milk from a bottle that they drank from at the next feeding, but then throw away if it is not finished again (and do not add milk to that bottle, let them finish the old one and then have another fresh one ready if necessary)

http://www.kellymom.com/bf/pumping/milkstorage.html#storage
http://www.kellymom.com/bf/pumping/bottle-feeding.html

Do you have the right sized horns for your pump? http://www.medela.com/NewFiles/faq/breastshield_fit.html

HTH

 

getting larger shields for my pump made all the difference. Good luck with your babies!

Reyna

 

QUOTE(mrsfussypants @ Oct 29 2007, 09:18 PM) [snapback]472426[/snapback]
getting larger shields for my pump made all the difference. Good luck with your babies!

Reyna


And try some lansinoh before pumping. It has really really helped.

I don't have any experience with getting babies to latch after they're used to the bottle, but I imagine that you'd want to make things as easy as possible for them, so maybe pump for a minute or two before to start the milk coming down, start when they're hungry but not starving, and always offer the breast first before letting them see a bottle. This handout has more information (the helpful part is towards the end), and there's lots of other great info on the same web site.

 

how do i know if i need bigger shields or not? and where would i get them?


QUOTE(mrsfussypants @ Oct 29 2007, 04:18 PM) [snapback]472426[/snapback]
getting larger shields for my pump made all the difference. Good luck with your babies!

Reyna

 

QUOTE(bigeyes @ Oct 30 2007, 12:06 AM) [snapback]473054[/snapback]
how do i know if i need bigger shields or not? and where would i get them?


http://www.medela.com/NewFiles/faq/breastshield_fit.html