Working Mom Question

Cleto2007

My LO is 6 weeks old and I went back to work last Monday 1/26/15.  I am breastfeeding currently and up until yesterday everything had been going great.

 My MIL ( watches her during the week) had said last week  that LO would eat every two hours and wouldn't sleep during the day (more than 15 min here and there). I thought that was really odd, because while I was on maternity leave she would eat about every 2.5 to 3 hours, be up for a little while and than sleep.  She even slept for four hours at a crack during the night, I really felt spoiled. Sure enough when the weekend came, it was just as my MIL said (not that I doubted her or anything). 

I know babies change, and being on schedule this early is not likely.  So I thought maybe she wants more milk, but after today my MIL said she wouldn't eat more then 4 oz at a time.  My dilemma is LO is eating every two hours, and I am bumping every three at work which means im coming up short for what LO needs for the next day.  There is no way I can pump any more often than that. I am taking Fenugreek twice a day, and it seemed to have helped, but not really seeing a bump in production. I figure the only way to get my body to recognize baby needs more is by having her nurse. Unfortunately I can't leave work that often. 

I am totally fine with going to formula if I have to, but I would rather breastfeed.  But how can I get my body to produce more milk? Has anyone been in this situation before?.

I am breastfeeding little one at night and in the morning. She sleeps great once she is home from daycare, and will eat twice before going down for the night at 10 and then she wont wake up until 2am and than again at 6.

surpriseaddition

If LO is getting a bottle every 2 hours, she shouldn't be getting 4 oz each time. Babies need about 24-30 oz of BM max each day. Kellymom is a great site to use to figure out ounces based upon the number of feedings per day. For example, with 8 total feedings a day (including nursings) each bottle should only be about 3-3.5 oz max. It seems like you are doing even more than 8 though so maybe 2.5-3 would be better. Whether she eats every 2 hours and you pump every three doesn't make a difference, as long as you aren't going too long between pumps. you should net the same as what she's consuming in that time. The most a BF baby will ever drink in a bottle is 5 oz, even at a year. It's much smaller amounts than formula.

eggmankate

Ditto to what PP said--way too much milk! It's so easy to overfeed a baby especially in the beginning because we have a tendency to think that crying means hunger. There is a really classic growth spurt around 6 weeks. My otherwise chill daughter went through it 6-8weeks (I was on maternity leave) and I spent the entire time wondering if she wasn't getting enough milk from me while nursing because she cried so much. In retrospect I realize it was just a growth spurt because all of sudden she went back to being mellow again 10 days after it started. I would encourage your MIL to give less milk and read about Paced Feedings on KellyMom website. Every baby is different, but to put some perspective on this--my DD at 12 weeks was taking 3oz every 3 hours from 7-5pm while I was at work. We gradually worked our way up to about 4.5oz every 3 hours around 7 months before she started gradually decreasing her intake.

Russiandea12

She's probably eating more often for comfort. I agree with pp, if eating every 2 hours do same amount if milk as you pump but just in more bottles. Smaller feeings more often. Also your MIL may be feeding when bored and not really hungry, hence eating more often.