Fore & hindmilk question for pumping moms--

[quikeye]

Hi all, seems I have a billion questions lately. :)

I just finished pumping one breast that was super engorged for some reason (baby's been stepping up nursing over the past few days, but hasn't been "starving" today :)) Anyway, I pump into the newborn pumpmate liners (4 oz liners) and I usually store in 3 oz increments. I got 6 oz. (!! a lot for me, from 1 breast in the middle of the day!) -- the 1st liner's milk seemed more watery/less thick than the 2nd liner's milk... Kinda like 2% vs whole milk :) I think I know about foremilk & hindmilk, but shoudl this "difference" affect how I freeze? (Should I mix the milks to be more uniform?)

And, how does foremilk/hindmilk affect freezing in general? Is the pre-feed pumping more of the foremilk, and does it really matter? Or, is pumping after baby (like my ped recommended, but I haven;t really followed) important to get the hindmilk?

Baby hasn't had any green poops for weeks now (no problem with too little hindmilk), but this is a new one for me... maybe someone has some insight/advice? Thanks in advance!

[stillplayswithbarbies]

I never worried about mixing foremilk and hindmilk to store, especially when storing small increments.

Think of it this way. If she had nursed at that time, she would have got just the foremilk and stopped, so it shouldn't matter when she gets a bottle that it is mostly foremilk.

That's my opinion on it anyway.

...Karen
Jacob Nathaniel Feb 91
Logan Elizabeth Mar 03

[wagner36]

I actually do the opposite of Karen. If I get one bottle that's really watery and blue, then I'll mix it with the more hind-milky stuff to make it more uniform. We only started doing this because my husband swore that DS ate more frequently and was less satisfied/more gassy when he was feeding DS my first morning pump (and early on, I had a bit of an over-supply problem, so the first morning bottles had much less fat when they separated then the later ones). I started mixing them, and DH thinks it made a difference. I'm not sure if I believe him, but we've kept mixing them anyway.

[sntm]

long-term it shouldn't make a difference, because if baby gets more foremilk at one feeding, he'll get more hindmilk at the next.

and as far as pumping before or after a feed, same thing. either you are pumping more foremilk but baby gets more hindmilk, or baby gets more foremilk but you pump more hindmilk.

in the short term, you can mix, but don't need to. when i did 5 days of night shift over new year's and was pumping in the middle of the night, i got really watery EBM, so when i send it now, i'll send 1-2 of those bags + 1-2 creamier bags from when i switched back to pumping during the day.
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shannon
not-even-pregnant-yet-overachiever
trying-to-conceive :)
PREGNANT! EDD 6/9/03
mama to Jack 6/6/03