zengal as far as BF goes, the only thing I have to say about leaving the tie is sometimes when supply regulates (6-12 weeks typically) babies with ties suddenly have transfer issues, because they’ve been relying more heavily on the hormonal high supply / easy letdown of the early weeks. So if you leave the tie and in a few weeks suddenly nursing is difficult, you’ve got a good place to start in finding the culprit.
I have neither experience nor training to speak to other reasons for clipping a lip tie, like teeth and speech. Hope your pedi has good guidance for that.
Re: pumping, generally start between 4-6 weeks. Some women start later if they have an especially long mat leave. After the 3 week growth spurt is the minimum guideline, barring extenuating circumstances. And you’re probably almost there!
In general, pumping once a day is how most women go about building the stash. Or once most days.
Supply is highest in the morning, so you can
-nurse one side and pump the other for the first feed in the morning, assuming LO is satisfied with one side. You can do simultaneously or one then the other.
-if LO is sleeping long stretches, wake up between 2am and morning to pump (ha. ha. but it works for some people!)
-pump both sides during LO’s first morning nap
But if those don’t work, just pick a time that does. Output may be a bit lower because you’re not taking advantage of the natural highest supply timing, but your body will adjust.
Or keep a manual pump around and pump a few minutes whenever you walk by it & can. Though this won’t help you practice double pumping for work.
Great article on pumping:
www.nancymohrbacher.com/articles/2012/6/27/to-pump-more-milk-use-hands-on-pumping.htmlPumping is not an indication of what is available for baby. It is normal to get as little as 0.25oz when pumping in addition to nursing full time. If you keep pumping at roughly the same time most days, output should go up.
Once you get enough milk for a practice bottle you can go ahead and introduce. You may want to start with 0.5-1oz to see if baby gets the hang of it. You can give little bottle then nurse, or nurse a little then finish with the bottle. If baby gets a bottle instead of nursing, you should pump at that time to maintain supply.
Paced feeding techniques are very very helpful to prevent bottle flow preference and protect from overfeeding. A slow flow nipple helps (ideally, when turned upside down, no milk should drip. Hard to find. But if milk is just pouring when upside down, find another nipple.)
kellymom.com/bf/pumpingmoms/feeding-tools/bottle-feeding/Truly, you only need enough milk for the first day you and LO are apart, provided you can pump at work. This is 1-1.5oz per hour you are apart.
Of course many women find it comforting to have more in the freezer in case pumping gets a rocky start or to cover low output days, spilled milk, etc. But don’t feel like you MUST HAVE 100oz stored before you go back or anything, just because of the fantastic freezer stashes you see on the Internet.
