That's great news llg!

I have an Avent Isis pump (I think that's an English brand?) with both a manual and electric handle/pump thingy.  I've never used the manual one though.  The electric one can also run on batteries if needed, but I never tried that either.  It does the job, but I wouldn't want to use it all the time (although I never tried any other kind of pump so I don't have anything to compare it to).  The whole thing cost around $200 and I only used it a few times, but I plan to sell it on ebay once I'm sure I won't need it anymore, so I'll probably get about half my money back.

OK ladies!  Another question: What do you do when you no longer have to get up for a middle of the night feeding?  I am still getting up about 5 hours after I last fed him to pump.  If I don't my boobs feel like bOObs and then it becomes more difficult to nurse him in the morning.  Suggestions, tips, anything???

Gavin is mostly past the point of needing one.  When (if) he wakes up in the middle of the night now, I see if he'll go back to sleep with some cuddles.  If not (or he's rooting or wakes up again shortly after I get him to go back to sleep) then I'll feed him.  I'd rather not have him only wake up out of routine since pretty soon there will be nights I am gone.  Of course, Evan can feed him in the middle of the night but if its just habit I view it as wasting milk if Gavin isn't truly hungry.

Oh dear god.  When did Stella start teething?? 

Oh!  I've also read that babies that co-sleep do wake up more often for night feedings.  My best friend had her daughter the same day I had Gavin and she's still waking up twice a night too.  And that frequency just went down for her in the last week.

Wow, I'm impressed that Gavin would be starting to sleep through already.  I've heard of babies who sleep through around 3 months, but I've only known one baby who actually did it.  Vincent didn't sleep through the night until around 13 months and that was only because we did controlled crying (he went from waking up once a night to 3-4 times again, and I could tell it wasn't out of hunger.  I found it very stressful for the 2 nights it took for him to get used to it, but I'm really glad we did it because now he sleeps like a baby, lol).

Anyway, if you want to keep storing milk then you'll probably have to keep getting up and pumping.  Otherwise, like mdv said, you can skip pumping and just express a little before nursing in the morning if you need to, and it should only take a few days for you to stop producing so much milk at night.  At around 6 months, Vincent went from 3-4 night feedings to 1-2 and my boobs would hurt and leak, but it only lasted maybe 4 nights at most (I slept on a towel to catch the drips).

As far as teething, Vincent got his first tooth at 4 months, but one of my friends has a daughter who's 16 months and still doesn't have any teeth.  :o  So it could be a while before you have to worry about it...although I guess most babies start teething around 6 months.

mdv - that sounds really scary.  Is there anywhere else you could put her crib temporarily?  Like the living room?

Unfortunately, my insurance doesn't cover anything to do with breast pumps...so I've been doing some research.  I didn't figure I'd need one of the fancy, expensive ones since I'll be staying home, but thought I should have something for when I wanna leave the house without the babe.

I was deciding between a medela manual and a medela electric single pump.  The electric one makes sense, but having to plug it in would limit where I could do it.  Most our our outlets are ridiculously inconvenient.

It probably totally depends on the person, but I tried starting with a less expensive, double pump and it was BEYOND frustrating, so I caved and got the Medela expensive one and it was WORLDS different! The less expensive one (that was still like $120 or so) didn't have enough suction to get that much milk out....and the thing I would worry about with the single one, is that 1.) many times, both breasts start to "let down" at once, and 2.) I would get really antsy waiting the 10-15 minutes for the double one, I would think a single one would take twice as long.....

again, just my opinion :) I am sure not all boobs are created equal!
I remeber being so annoyed that I bought the 120.00 one then ended up buying the 250.00 one a few months later, and don't want anyone else having to spend that much!

I am glad things are going better LLG, nursing can be so exhausting and difficult!!! Honestly, when I think about having another baby I automatically think, 'oh man, I don't think  I can go through the whole nursing thing again yet!'....

MDV, that is super scary!!!! Would you have room for her crib down there for naptimes and stuff? Thats what we do with Kea, naps in her 'big girl bed' and sleeping at night with us...

Good luck with that phase, LLG.  Is he coming off to look around/play, or is it just because he can?  If he wants to look around or play with your face/hair/etc, you could maybe try a breastfeeding necklace.  They're usually big colorful and textured beads or little toys that you hang around your neck that give babies something to play with/look at while they're nursing.  Maybe if he has something to hold his interest he'll stay latched on.

Vincent was an early teether also (first tooth at 4 months), and also a biter.  I weaned him 3 months ago and I still have the bite marks on my nipples.

Cailtin gained nearly a pound a week for the first few months.  I don't know if this will help you, but I thought I'd share just in case.  She would nurse and then throw up what seemed like gallons.  Then she would nurse again like she was starving.  The pediatrician wasn't overly concerned, because she was gaining weight well and just told me to burp her better.  It didn't matter how much I burped her.  She frequently was throwing up.  Finally I called my doula who was also a lactation consultant.  She told me that some women produce so much milk that the baby overfills his stomach before he realizes it, and then throws up the entire contents of his stomach.  The solution was simple really.  She told me to only nurse on one side per session and to continue to offer that same side for a couple hours before switching to the other side.  This worked like a charm, and she never threw up like that again.  I did look very lopsided though.  I suppose I could have pumped the other side, but I didn't have the pump until I went back to work. 

My son does this at almost every feeding! He eats, spews, eats.. But he's gaining weight. I went to see the dr about it, and he wants to put him on an acid reducer, because he thinks he has reflux. He's 6 weeks old. Maybe I'll try this

Jomamma ~

Yes, he was very boobie driven in the beginning.  After we fixed the over-eating / spit-up dilemma he still wanted to be latched on for comfort purposes.  We had to find a pacifier that he would actually take to satisfy his urge to suck.  I hope this helps.  On a positive note; since Gavin has got older he has been better able to handle the fast let-down and feedings don't take forever. :)

LLG

He ended up going with Avent pacifiers.  Even now he only uses them to calm down / help get to sleep.  By 6 weeks your baby has definitely gotten the hang of breast feeding and is gaining weight.  I really don't think you have to worry about nipple confusion. :) Gavin knows the difference between my nipples, a bottle (when I'm not around) and pacifiers.