Pumping schedule for work- thoughts?

OntheWater

I am mentally preparing to head back to work in 5 weeks. LO will be 6 months. I will be pumping at work only to maintain my supply, as 1.) I have an enormous stash (I could get away with not pumping at all if it wasn't for worrying about supply), 2.) my MOTN pump yields about 12 oz. alone, and 3.) My pumps are pretty effective later in the day too. If I pump to replace a feeding, I get between 6-7.5 oz. LO will likely eat 3x's in the time I'm gone, but I plan to start off with pumping twice for the above reasons (nurse at 7:15, pump at 11 and 2:30/3, nurse at 6ish- she'll likely eat around 10, 1, 4). This will be 4 days a week. At 6 months old, i don't expect that this should really cause any supply issues for her normal nursing on the days I'm home, right? Also, any thoughts on how soon it's safe to drop to 1 pump? I know many women successfully nurse just a.m. and p.m., but I'm curious how soon it's safe to do this without supply tanking altogether, and how it would affect our nursing on my days home. Separately, I would love to drop my MOTN pump, but I worry about the cumulative effect of trying to drop that and "dropping" a session by only pumping two times at work. I have always done this MOTN pump because DD goes from 7:45 to 7:30ish at night between feedings (gaining more than enough though), and I worry that's too long to sustain my supply, although, again, I know plenty of women who maintain on a similar schedule. Any thoughts appreciated!

jesuisfatiguee

I would definitely pump 3x a day at work (in fact, I still do and DS is 10 months, eating 1 meal of purees a day), because it really can affect your supply for the days when you're home with LO. You want to pump roughly the same number of times you expect your LO to eat throughout the day.

You're probably good to drop the MOTN pumping session, though. I would prioritize dropping that one before cutting out any mid-day pumps or feeds

surpriseaddition

I have the opposite view from the PP. I am a teacher and have very limited pumping times at work. I also went back to work at 6 months. I finish nursing at 7:10 but can't pump at work until 11:30. I then have to pump again at 1:00pm, since that is the only other time I don't have students. I kept the MOTN feeding, since I was only getting about 8 oz pumping at work....while LO was eating 15 oz in the same amount of time. I only nurse on the weekends, and then pump MOTN. I was off for 2 weeks for break, and I slowly moved the MOTN pumping up to 5am. LO is a little over 8 months now, and I have 200+ oz in the freezer. I want to get down to only 1 pump at work, since I'm only getting 2-2.5 oz when I do that second pump anyway. So far, I haven't had any issues nursing on weekends (my supply is fine). Just figure out which feeding you prefer to drop first, and wait a bit before getting rid of the second one. GL!

OntheWater

Thanks all...I would rather drop a daytime pumping than the MOTN just because I have sooooo little time between meetings, etc. If I get 15 or so oz between just the 2 pumps (plan on leaving 14 each day), my MOTN session is just excess. On top if the 1500 oz (yeah, you read that right) in the freezer already. Edit- I also recognize that whether I pump MOTN or a 3rd time at work, I'll have crazy excess.

OntheWater

I'm trying to reduce it - it's a long story but at 2 months I got mastitis and my supply tanked big time. I was pumping and nursing to bring it back. It came back with a vengeance a few days later after DD had a growth spurt and nursed around the clock for 48 hours. I weaned off the pumping but kept the MOTN for 2 reasons- first because of her long stretch of sleep at night and because I was afraid that if my supply wasn't great when I went to work, I may have to add a pumping session which takes a while to build. As long as it was already good, I kept it for a while, but now it's ridiculous. But if it allows me to give her BM after I go back to work even if I run into problems pumping with my schedule, I'm grateful it's there.

theresat858 said:

Why are you maintaining such an oversupply?