Prenatals While Breastfeeding
20 Replies
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How many of you are taking prenatals still while br___tfeeding? I heard you are susposed to, but my sis in law's doc said it's okay not to. She also only took regular vitamins during pregnancy..
I am comparing costs with br___tfeeding and formula. My prenatals are $35 a month with my insurance! At this point I am only looking at a $175 difference over 6 months when I take vitamins, nursing bras, and a half decent pump into account.
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I don't take my prenatals; I never did. Jill, are you planning on ever having more children? If yes, then divide the cost of b___stfeeding by the number of children you plan to have. You're not going to throw those nursing bras away after this baby weans, are you? You can continue to wear them as bras; all of the nursing bras I have are more comfortable than my non-nursing bras ever were. And, a pump isn't really necessary...you can always manually express milk. Or, get one off of Ebay - they don't have to be brand new, because you can clean/sterilize them very easily. Heck, you can probably get at least a Medela manual for free from the hospital. Or, if you choose to buy an electric, you can always sell it when you are done having children, and thus recoup some of the initial cost.
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I'm sorry if it seems like I'm badgering you about this, it just seems to me as though you're making the decision to not b___stfeed, for all the wrong reasons. So what if it's only $175.00 cheaper than formula feeding? It's SOOO much healthier! And, once you get the hang of it, it really is a LOT more convenient! You don't have to carry a bulky diaper bag with you everywhere you go, you don't need to worry about being able to heat a bottle, etc...and, I honestly can't figure out how you came up with the $175.00 figure...formula feeding is an on-going cost...most of the women I know who formula-feed go through 3 to 4 cans of formula a month. You also have to buy the bottles, and the nipples, and if you use the disposable liners, you have to buy those, too. With b___stfeeding, yeah, it's an upfront expense - and that's all it is. So you have to dish out $300 for a hospital-grade electric double pump - it'll last you forever, and when you're done having kids, you can sell it EASILY for $250 on Ebay. Can you sell back the formula?
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Yes, I plan on more kids. But I know I will not wear non underwire bras when I am not nursing, and my guess is I will wear them out with each kid. Once my bras get stretched they don't hold me up well. I was estimating 6 bras.
As for the pump, yes you DO need a pump if you will be working. Even if it is part time from home. Never thought about reselling.
Figuring the cost is just part of this for me. From my other posts, you know I have concerns about being a G, I, ??? cup. If I was currently a B or C cup and could take off work for 3 months like some people do, this would not be as much as an issue for me.
As for being healthier, yes, I understand that it is. But, if I am in pain from the size of my chest, and if it adds stress to trying to work, I'll be miserable. I don' think it's healthy for baby when mommy is miserable.
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I understand your concerns, I really do..I mean, an F cup for my frame is HUGE. I'm 5'3 and was 105 pre-pregnancy. I have 3 nursing bras, and do laundry halfway thru the week. They're a good, sturdy cotton, so I really don't see them wearing out...but I suppose they could. And, if you feel a pump is necessary for your lifestyle, that's your choice, but I can manually expresss 4-6 ounces from one b___st while nursing baby on the other side; I do have a manual pump, but I only use it if I need a lot of milk in a really short time. Ultimately, it is your decision...and honestly, I don't know why I care so much...lol...I'm really NOT gung-ho about b___stfeeding; I very nearly gave it up myself. So...I dunno.
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Jaime, can I ask what your work situation was? Did you not go back at all, did you go back full time...?
I think that can be a big difference for some people.
It sounds like you had an easy time, especially being able to express so much at once!
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Both my husband and I were in the Army, until I was chaptered in July for complications with my pregnancy. Right now, I'm still a stay-at-home mom, until I have a doctor's go-ahead to return to work. I don't know when that will come, but hopefully it'll be around February (6 months post-partum) When I am able to return to work, I don't know if I'm going to re-enlist or what. So, to you, who has to earn an income, yes, I have an easy time of it - but to me, I'm having a fairly hard time, as I still have not regained all functionality, and yet I have to be sole caregiver to my 2 month old daughter. My husband works a minimum of 12 hours per day, and so isn't really much help either around the house or with the baby. I also have no daycare, as we don't qualify for daycare through the military (we only have one income), and, living in Germany, I don't speak the language well enough to find a civilian care provider. I may be reading too much into your post, but I take it as being rather condescending, because you have to work from home part-time and apparently you think I do nothing but sit in front of my computer all day every day. In reality, the internet provides 90% of the contact I have with other human beings over the age of 10 weeks.
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No, I did not mean you have it easy. I did not mean to offend you. You especially do have it hard because you don't have family and friends to help you. I just mean that, in terms of b___stfeeding, you can focus your time on you baby. While yes, I could pump for night feedings and for when someone else is watching my baby, pumping takes time too!
I am actually self employed, so I will probably only have to work part time in the beginning if I only focus on my regular clients and don't spend time marketing. But I will have to start doing this at 4-6 weeks. I'm not talking about working part time down the road.
Also, I'm not going to have daycare for all the hours I work. I can't afford to. So I am going to have to work alot around my husband's schedule.
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BTW- when I said you sound like you are having an easy time, I meant with b___stfeeding!
NOBODY has an easy time with a newborn! LOL
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Sorry to cut in ladies... but I have 2 cents to add. Jill, it sounds like you and I have similar work arrangements. I am self-employed and work 20-40 hours per week out of my home around my hubby's schedule. I am nursing my son who is now 4.5 months old. I bought a Medela-Pump in Style, but I wish I would have saved the money, because I hardly use it. Don't get me wrong it works great. It's just that I don't have a need for it. It takes less time for me to nurse Blake than for me to pump the same amount. So If I have time to pump, I have time to nurse plus more. In the beginnings feeding did take a while, but now he nurses in less than 10 minutes and he does this about every 3-4 hours. Nursing him is not an inconvience for my home-based business at all. I just take a break every now and then to feed him. It is really nice to break from work and cuddle with my baby for a few minutes. Also, as far as the prenatals you can get over the counter ones for $10 and less. And I would recommend a good one-handed manual pump for occasional use ( I really like the one by Ameda).
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Jenn, thansk for the feedback. That is good to know you are not having a hard time working. What do you do? I am a graphic artist.
Still concerned about the big b___bs though! Sorry to let all you b___stfeeders down, but the more I read and watch about it, the more I don't want to b___stfeed.
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I work tele-services via the internet. It is similar work to a home-based transcriptionist. Breastfeeding is a personal decision, one I am very glad I made. It is rewarding in many ways to be nursing my son. Just a suggestion... don't buy a pump. Just try nursing, if you decide you want to continue with it then go and purchase a pump that suits your needs. And about the non-underwire bra thing...ALL of my nursing bras have underwires except for 1 and its a sports bra. Also, since you have a large bust to start the girls probably won't get much bigger. I go to a weekly mom to mom club and that is what some of the moms have told me from their experience. I myself took a leave from the ittybittyt_ttycommitee when I decided to b___stfeed.
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How do you work without a pump?
Well I guess you are not huge then, so sitting up at the puter is not a problem. I think everyone is different. Would be wonderful if I don't get too big, but I know people who have gone from a DD to an I.
I am starting to consider giving it a go in the hospital for the colostrum.
If I hate it, stop after 2 days so my milk does not come in. If I'm okay with it, do it for 2 weeks. I think I have pretty much just made up my mind about trying to do it working. I'm a person who needs sleep (after having had mono I get sick when I loose sleep). If I'm up half the night feeding, I'll never be able to work.
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Bottle feeding takes time too, ask a mom who does it. You still have to prepare the bottle and warm it and hold if while the baby eats. Breastfeeding is the original fast food, just unclasp the bra and tu-dah, the meal is ready. Once you get the hang of it - it is SUPER convienent. To each her own, you have the right to make your own decision. I am just telling you about my experience. When I have to feed baby at night, it is very calm and relaxed and I can easily get back to sleep. But if I had to get up, go to the kitchen, stand around while the bottle gets warmed, then feed, then get up and rinse the bottle - I think a night consisting of that would be lest restfull....but like I said I only know about my experience so a bottle feeding momma might correct me if I am wrong. :) What ever you decide I wish you all the best!
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Uh, Jenn..... I ment those nights where I will be working the next day DADDY can get up and feed baby!
I'll be doing most of my work the days my husband is off, so it won't be a problem for him to loose sleep those nights.
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Sorry about the delayed response, hubby and I had to go buy a new car yesterday. (It's a Beamer, we're moving up in the world...lol) Anyway, I agree with Jenn about nightime feedings. After having my c-section, I had a severe allergic reaction to one of the medications they gave me, in addition to pre-ecclampsia and severe hypertension. So, I stayed in the hospital about a week after delivery, with 4 IVs in each arm. So, baby was bottlefed during the hospital stay. Since niether of us learned to latch, I continued pumping and having Dad bottlefeed her at home. He was the one to bottlefeed her because I was constantly pumping to keep up with her.We did that for about 3 days before I said screw it. I scheduled an appt with a lactation consultant and switched to formula.But, it was still hell on wheels. The L.C. taught me how to get her to latch with the help of a nipple shield. We used that for about a month, then my husband lost it so we had to get her latched on the natual nipple. It worked, and since then, b___stfeeding has been a breeze. Nighttime feedings are SO easy...I co-sleep, so I wake up as soon as she starts making the hungry noises...before she even really wakes up. I get her latched, and go back to sleep. She started sleeping through the night around 6 weeks; doctor, LC and my mom all say that's due to the co-sleeping and b___stfeeding. Now, she sleeps from 8 pm til 5 am; I nurse her at 5,and she goes back to sleep til 8. Easy as pie.
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I'm sorry to b___t in. Jill, i'm not trying to preach b___stfeeding or anything to you but whether you put your baby to the b___st or not, your milk WILL come in. For first time mothers, it will be about day 4 or 5 and in having subsequent children maybe 3 or 4 days. I was ambivalent about b/feeding too. Then i ran into trouble as soonas my baby was born. He just won't latch. Or rather couldn't latch due to my tiny nipples. I used to wear a 70D bra prepregnancy (i am 5ft 4 and weigh 105lbs, so my b___sts were big for my stature)then when pregnant i had to have 75C and when my milk came in I was rushing to buy the 70DD bras. Now, after 6 mths my b___sts still produced milk but they kinda shrank. So now i'm back to my 70D. ok. so back to bottle feeding. I bottle fed my baby b___stmilk for a month and a hlf when he couldn't latch. For me, the pumping part was easy cos i had a lot of milk. I pumped after everytime i bottle fed him b___stmilk. Pumping took less than 5 mins and i use the avent manual one. I would have given up had my baby not 'decide' to latch on. I was constantly feeding AND pumping. Then washing AND sterilising. Then one fine day at a month and a half (I try to feed direct everyday) he latched! Then it was kinda much better. I was able to sleep! Also, cos of the shape of my b___sts, I had to sit up and hold my b___sts for my baby each time i fed him or he'll suffocate.LOL! Still it was less work than bottle feeding. So my verdict is if you have to take care of baby all by yourself, without any help, b___stfeding is better, but if you have help like a nanny or someone to mind your baby while you are at work then bottle is easier. Still do give it a try! :)
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