Baby cereal, jar or mix?

I've noticed a lot of controversy on this topic.

As far as I'm concerned,  what is the problem with the added convenience of ready to eat cereal? Same manufacterer, I'm pretty sure it doesn't matter if u mix it yourself or you buy it mixed, there's no big difference in ingredients. The only downside is your not getting the added breastmilk for mixing, but rather the formula or juice they use for mixing.

For two cereal with fruit meals a day, it was costing me about $2 a week for boxed cereal ($8 mo) and $5 a week for 7 jars of fruit, ($20 no) split in half for each twice daily feeding, for a total of $28. Which would technically be more if I had to buy juice or formula to make the cereal, but i use breastmilk.
Which is turn requires mixing, adjusting to get the right texture, heating, and washing a bowl.

For two cereal feedings a day, one plastic rectangle container or one jar lasts for two feedings as she only eats half. So one 2 pack of rectangle containers, is $1 at pricechopper. Theres a great variety of oatmeals, and mixed rice, granola, etc with all different fruit combinations.
$1 is 4 meals or 2 days. 30 days in a month, is $15 cost to have premixed, always the same texture and amount, room temp, no bowl, and ready to take with you or keep in the diaper bag when your on the run.
Even moving up to three a day, still keeps this cost at 3packs/two days to about $20.

So yes, I buy jars/containera and pay for convience, but it also saves me money!

Six month update.

Ok, well actually 5months and 17 days.
I never thought I would make it this far, but it is still routine to me, and it's surreal how much it has faded into the background of my daily life. So little effort to reap such big rewards.
Between thanksgiving, black Friday, and Christmas, I was prepaired to be finished with my pumping, as I didn't think my supply would last through the long hour gaps. I was wrong. 7am thanksgiving was my last mercy pump. 5am black Friday, I returned home and out of curiosity decided to try a session. Same result as always, as if I had not almost gone 24 hours.

My schedule now is about 3-5 pumps a day, depending on when I have the extra time to fit in more if I feel it's better for me to do two short sessions rather then one longer session.

Typically I do about 8am when I wake, 2pm after lunch, 7-8 pm, and then 11-12 before bed. But sometimes its more like 11am, 5pm, and 11 pm.

 I no longer count out my ounces daily, but I also no longer have enough to freeze which was intentional as I ran out of freezer space. So I shortened my pumps to about 5-6 minutes. I get about 3-4oz on both sides which is enough for about two bottles which keeps up with her feedings.

At 5.5 months her schedule is in this ballpark, give or take an hour depending on the day.

8am mixed cereal/rice cereal/oatmeal or granola with fruit and a 2oz bottle.

12-noon 4 oz bottle

2:30pm vegetables or a meat&fruit/vegetable mix. 2oz bottle.

4-5pm 4oz bottle

8pm cereal with fruit and 2oz bottle

11 5-6oz bottle

Occasionally she wakes up around 3am and will drink an ounce or two and head back to sleep. Sometimes her daily bottles vary by an ounce, I make them the smaller size and if she wants more I get her another ounce, as if I make her a 4oz bottle with her cereal, she usually doesn't drink it past 2 ounces and 2 are waisted.

3 month update.

THREE MONTHS!
I honestly never thought I would be able to tolerate this whole process as long as I have. My main goal was one month, then 3 months, now I am shooting for 6 months. If I was to stop pumping today, my daughter being about 3.5 months, I would have enough frozen to get her through to 6 months+

What does my schedule look like? I AM NOT TIED DOWN by the clock, or hours and ounces. My supply is established enough that I can pump 3 times one day, 5 times the next day and still consistently produce the same amount of milk. I usually pump at 11-1130 before bed, 9am upon waking, and two-three times during the day when I have a free minute or feel like squeezing in a session.

what does baby's schedule look like?
SHE SLEEPS THROUGH THE NIGHT!
Baby wakes up between 8-930 A.M. Upon waking she gets changed, eats 1.5tsp of rice mixed with breast milk, and a tsp of fruit (apples, peaches, or bananas) along with 4oz of breast milk.
about 3-4 hours later, usually around 12, she has a 4.5 oz bottle
330 or so, another 4.5 oz bm bottle.
630-7 another 4.5 oz bm bottle.
8pm (average) 1.5 tsp of rice cereal mixed with BM and a tsp of fruit.
1030-11:00pm 5 oz bottle, then goes to bed for the night.
(4- 4.5 oz bottles, 1-5oz bottle=23oz average a day, =2 additional ounces -1oz in ea cereal feeding)

she naps off and on throughout the day, has random tummy time, play time, bath time etc. we dont have a set schedule for her play times.

Made my first goal! One month!

Got through the first month :) its so much easier now, I'm so glad I pushed through the first tiresome weeks without giving up!
I still pump 5-7 times a day for 10-15 minutes each. My output varies from 39-50ounces total in 24hours, depending on the time of day and if I do 15s or 10s.
I usually pump around 5, 9, 12/1noontime, 5, 9, 12midnight. Always about 3or so hours apart, except overnight.

If I pump anytime after 11pm my husband does her first feeding between 1-3 and I sleep through to her second feeding and pump then usually between 4-7am.
Even going the 5+ hours overnight I no longer wake up uncomfortable and engorged in the morning.

The constant leaking all day has stopped and almost vanished except a few leaks when she is crying or eating. Mother natures way of prepairing my body even though its not being used that way lol.

All in all I'm very comfortable with the whole situation now, whereas before I was debating if I made the right choice. It no longer feels like a chore, and its fit right into my daily routine to where I'm not tied down to a clock. That extra half hour of sleep or hour doing errands won't hurt my supply.

And the emmotional side effects from post partum, milk coming in, and breastpumping have faded as well.

Momma and baby are both happy as clams!

Btw the freezer bag total is currently 97 bags at 6oz each. Enough for 166bottles/23 days at her current 3.5 intake :)

Two week update...

Well turns out I didn't have the time or energy for daily posts lol.
At the two week mark my little one is drinking about 2.5 ounces every 2-4 hours depending how long she sleeps in between. At her two week checkup she was 8.6 two ounces above birth weight, eight ounces above hospital discharge weight.
I'm getting between 35-50 ounces per day. About 20 of which goes to feedings and the rest is frozen nightly in 6oz milk bags after I make the next days bottles.
I have cut back my pumps to about 6 per day over the last week and my supply is still keeping up with me.

Storing the b. milk and pump cleaning

I have found what I think to be the least complicated.
I was previously pumping into bottles then using that bottle for the next feeding, lots of washing and rotating.

Now, I spent one day pumping and filling a large container with the milk I didn't need for feedings. (a 64oz juice bottle)
Then I used the bottle to fill ten four ounce size bottles with two ounces of milk each, and with any left over milk I filled six ounce freezer bags for storing..

Now whenever I need a bottle, I grab one of the ten ready made ones, and whenever I pump I add it to the jug.
Once a day I repeat the process of cleaning all ten bottles, filling them, freezing the extra, and starting fresh. As the tem bottles are plenty for the day, and the jug fills enough for the next day.

Some people frown upon using a large container because it can harvest more bacteria and you are mixing old and new milks. However it is only used for a 24hr or less collection before it is used or frozen so I don't have to worry about any of it going bad.

During the day instead of washing my pump parts after each use, I put them in a ziplock bag in the fridge and wash them once a day when I make my bottles. In theory because breastmilk stays fresh in the fridge, the ones on your pump parts will stay fresh also. This saves some time on cleaning....
Baby wakes I grab my bottle and my pump parts, pump while feeding. Return pump parts to the fridge and put my fresh milk in the container and head back to bed. You can rinse the pump parts first before returning them to the fridge to avoid getting milk drips anywhere when you reuse them.

Day four. Huge increase! Yay.

Today I made enough to cover all feedings, and have extras in the fridge for tomorrow.

Here's my pump schedule.
12:00am 2oz
3:00 3oz
6:42 3oz
10:25 3.5 oz
2:40 4oz
5:24 4oz
7:26 3.5oz
9:30 3oz
11:25 2.5oz
TOTAL 29ounces/780 ml!

Here's what she ate.
3:00am 2oz
5:00 2oz
7:30 2oz
11:00 2oz
2:40 2oz
5:45 2oz
7:45 2oz
10:25 2.5oz
TOTAL 16.5 ounces 495mls
A difference of just about 13 ounces left over after all feedings.

Two poppy diapers. Wet diapers every changing. No gas. No spit ups.

Tomorrow I plan on splitting my sessions to freeze half and store half so I have enough for daily feedings and enough to start building a freezer stash for later.

Hospital stay, days 1-3.

My first pumping took place about two hours after delivery. I was worried it wasn't enough, as it looked like only a few drops, but the nurse said it was an awesome amount and more then plenty, and that she wouldn"t have gotten anymore then that being on the breast.

My goal was to pump every two hours but I didn't stay completely on schedule with company etc.

I had also gone into the hospital knowing there was s possibility I may need to do a few formula feedings and I was comfortable with this option. This allowed me to send her to the nursery on night 1, and allowed me to get some rest, while I still woke up to pump, I was able to store it for her morning feeding when she came back.

Below is a list of my schedule, how much I produced, and how much she drank. You will notice that sometimes each side produced differently. And you will see where the formula was substituted has a larger ml amount then the bm feedings because its not as thick/strong as bm allowing her to want more of it.

I will note that on the nights she had formula, she was very gassy and spitting up, and sort of restless. So I believe I made the right choice going with pumping because since we have been home and there is no substitutes, she hasn't had ANY gas.

DAY ONE I delivered at 12:30 so this is based on half a day. When one number is posted it was a combined total. I pumped for 15-20minutes a session.
2:45 15ml
5:24 5ml
7:00 1ml
9:10 1ml
TOTAL 22ml, four sessions.

DAY TWO
1:05am 5ml
6:45 2ml
10:15 5ml
3:20 5/4 ml
6:00 10ml
8:30 14ml
10:45 13ml
TOTAL 53ml seven sessions.

DAY THREE
1:00am 7/6ml
6:00 15/23ml
8:10 30ml
10:25 40ml
1:00 35ml
4:04 40/25ml
8:58 45/35ml
TOTAL 331ml, eight sessions

For day three I combined some sessions to even them out for more balanced ounces/times.

Here is what she drank:
DAY ONE
4:45 15ml
7:20 5ml
9:10 2ml
1:10 20ml formula
5:30 20ml formula
TOTAL 62ml (aprox two ounces)

DAY TWO
8:25 25ml
11:05 5ml
1:00 15ml formula
3:30 5ml
5:50 4ml + 10ml formula
7:45 12ml
9:45 14ml
TOTAL aprox 90ml (3 ounces)

DAY THREE
12:40 35ml formula
3:45 15ml
5:40 15ml
7:25 15ml
10:15 24ml
1:00 25ml
4:00 40ml
6:30 40ml
9:44 45ml
11:45 50+ml
TOTAL 305ml (10.1 ounces)

In the hospital, during labor.

When I went into labor, the nurses had asked me if I was formula or breast feeding. I replied that I was pumping. I thought this would cause an issue, or would cause them to ask me to try and nurse but it didn't. They seemed familiar with the topic and were not pushy at all.

I was told I would be provided with a pump, storage bottles, and labels. I had brought my own pump, but hospital policy required me to use there's, which was just a more fancy medela system. I was provided with small two ounce disposable storage bottles, a set of new tubes/horns which were mine to keep, and disposable nipples.

The labels were printed with my name and info, and gave me a place to fill in a date and time it was pumped.

Baby doesn't eat for 3.5 hours after birth so that gave me plenty of time to pump before hand.

Learning your machine.

If you have never used one before. I recomend reading every part of the manual and putting the machine together and seeing how everything works, to familiarize yourself with it.

If you are going to attempt to try and pump before going into labor to see how it works or feels, I would not recommend doing so before you are considered full term. As pumping can cause contractions and early labor.

Additionally you should also know that after labor it still causes Mini contractions or cramping as natures way of getting your uterus back to normal.

How/why I decided to exclusively pump.

While I have nothing against breast feeding itself, it was never a comfortable option for me. I just couldn't see myself doing it in public or in front of family or my children. It was more personal then i liked.

With my two older children, I just went straight to formula with no second guesses. I wish I knew what I know now back then!

My daughter had to be put on alimentum after weeks of being miserable and trying every other formula on the market. Along with having to take persciption acid reflux pills. She had Colic and acid reflux and was always screaming and projectile vomitting. It caused her to be smaller in size and have dental problems. At age eight she's the size of an average five year old (she's almost nine)

My son had similar issues but not as severe and he was still gaining weight so he ended up on soy formula, and still have spitup and gas issues.

I decided to do my research to see my options, and came accross a story of exclusive pumping. Right away I thought it was interesting, yes it seemed like mote work, but the more I read the more it seemed like it was for me. I could provide my baby with the healthiest option, I can still bottle feed, and we both will get added benefits of "breastfeeding". Not to mention it can save thousands a year in formula, especially when my first daughters was $40 a can!

Some benefits include, lesser chance of breast cancer, ovarian cancer and other problems for mom. Helps get mom back into shape and burns calories. Helps the uterus return to normal. As far as baby, reduces risk of sickness, allergies, diabetes, cancer, less spitting up, healthier check ups, and most important in my book, research shows that for every 90 SIDS cases, 3 were breastfed and 87 were formula fed babies.

So I decided that was what I was going to do!

Getting a pump.

I was able to purchase a semi second-hand pump from a family member at a great price. However a lot of insurance companies will provide reimbursements for breast pumps after baby is born.

I purchased a medela pump in style (metro bag) this set retails for between 3-400$. While buying used equipment isn't recommended by the manufacturer you could buy a used system for the motor itself, but purchase your own tubes/horns etc for sanitary reasons...just the same as you could rent a hospital pump.

You will definitely want a double electric setup, and a nursing bra is a huge plus! At first I was holding and pumping then I purchased a nursing bra that holds the pumps right inside for hands free use. Its faster and easier! Double pump hands free! A cheaper alternative to a nursing or pumping bra is to buy a sports bra and cut a slit large enough for the horn to fit through. Yes you will have a giant hole in your bra, but its easily covered by your breast pads.

If you are able I recomend a second setup for travel. I have my pump "station" next to my bed where I don't have to move or rearrange thing. For now I have a battery operated single pump and a hand pump for travel, but I will have a second double electric setup once I recieve the one from my insurance. This one will be kept in the car for travel and visits with family etc.