BFing/STTN/Pumping Question...

MrsArrow

Ok Ladies, FTM here. My sugar bear is FINALLY STTN (9-9a).  He has dropped the 12am and 4am nursing sessions. I have been getting up and pumping at those times. I get 4oz from each side both times. I put two bottles in the fridge and two bags in the freezer. But I really want to sleep..lol!! When do I stop pumping at those times and how will it affect my supply. I do like to have the extra BM in the freezer, but it would be nice to be able to sleep at least 6-8 hours at a time. Any advice? I would also like to hear how you guys handled similar situations? Thanks in advance ladies!

TurtleMomma

Your body will down regulate production a scooch, but if you continue to maintain pumping during the day you should be fine. You will wake up engorged as hell, but oh well. The best time to pump is first thing in the morning, anyways (I got 7.5oz from right boob this morning, hooray!).

AshleyJune

I have been exclusively pumping since my LO was 2 weeks. He is now almost 5 months. I pumped every 3 hours around the clock up until 3 months. I too got tired of pumping when I could have possibly been sleeping when my DS was sleeping. I decided to reduce my pumpings to 6 times a day for a few weeks, then 5 times a day for a few weeks, and now I only do 4 times a day. I go all night (sometimes 12 hours) which at first was scary. I am extremely engorged in the morning and usually just need to pump a little longer. My supply has not dropped at all yet. If anything it surprisingly increased somehow and I had to store the extra milk in a deep freezer. Happy BFing and Pumping!

FarmingBride

My daughter is 5 months old now and my son is now 4 years old.  I breastfeed my son for 14 months and was back to work at 8 weeks.  With my son when I went back to work  I would pump at night before I went to bed and once he was sleeping through the night (typically 7pm to 7am).  So I would pump around 10:30 or so.  But then later down the road my supply started to decrease.  So started pumping in the am as well before he nursed when he got up at 7.  So I would get up and pump at 5:30am as well as the 10:30pm.  This time around with my daughter I am doing that from the get go since I was afraid I'd see my supply decrease.  I was reading on www.kellymom.com I believe it was about how you should pump every 6 hours if kid is sleeping through the night.  So I try to pump around 10:45-11pm and 5:30pm.  Yes...a little longer than 6 hours but I need to sleep as well!  I am just scared to not pump that often and see my supply decrease.  I know there are other factors that can lead to decreased supply but after reading a few things after going through low supply issues with my son, I just want to be on the safe side.  I haven't hit a low supply issue yet with my daughter and I have plenty in the freezer if I do, but I just would rather not find out!  I pump 3 times while at work then twice at home (one am and one pm). But I have decreased my pumping time at 10:45pm & 5:30am to just 10 minutes vs 15 as I don't want my body to try to produce more at those times so I try  not to completely drain my body. 

taraleanne

I've just recently gone through this. DS has been sleeping through the night for some time. I was pumping just once a night because I was so bloody engorged it hurt! I'd just wake up randomly and pump sometime inbetween the 12 hours. This went on for some time, like a month, no problems. Then I started to just hand express in the middle of the night or morning, enough to relieve pressure. Sure enough, my supply regulated and I started to just have to hand express a bit in the morning. It didn't take long...BUT then all of a sudden my DS started to get really fussy at the boob by the evening. It was almost as if I was all dried up! I don't know for sure though, alot of lactation nurses told me I wasn't, but some told me I was losing supply. The advice varied. All I knew was that he wouldn't nurse and I had to go to the freezer every night.

I started taking Fenugreek and pumping after day feeds to help build my evening supply back up. Then I would pump once before I went to sleep and once in the middle of the night. All seems back to normal now. It didn't take long. I get at least one big bottle a day now for my freezer stash, milk for his cereal and still have lots of sleep myself (although he's been waking lately for who knows what, the 4m regression I guess!!) 

I think you should just pump before you go to bed and then at one time in the middle of the night. I don't think it even has to be at midnight and 4. I do it at different times every night and have no problem. Actually last night I just pumped once because I was way too tired after he went to sleep.