pumpers - how often do you pump?

jenniesue

My LO has not been able to latch yet so I've been pumping since day one. I started pumping whenever I gave him a bottle but now I am feeding him every 1 1/2 - 2 hrs during the day and whenever he wants it at night. I am building up quite a supply.

Lately I've been pumping every 3 hours and get about 4 oz on each breast. Do I need to keep pumping so often? I don't want to effect my supply by slowing down but I don't want a freezer full of breast milk that will go bad either.

 thanks ladies

bennett

Pumping as often as he eats is a good rule of thumb. Keep in mind that he will occasionally increase ounces too, then there will be the times you think he's hungry but he decides he's not, etc etc. So that stash will come in handy when he's suddenly increases his bottles by 3-4 ounces or you have to dump bottles!

That said, if you're getting waaaay ahead, no one says you can't skip every so often to compensate. That's great your milk supply is doing so great! It was kind of a pain, but I used to freeze it all, then rotate out the stock so nothing got wasted.

Sadly, when I hit some stress and illness and my supply took a dump, my supposedly large stash disappeared VERY quickly and we never quite recovered. So of course I say "Store, baby, Store!"

kel716

So you're getting 64 ozs/day? 

If that's the case, yes you can slow down a little.  Maybe try pumping every 3.5-4 hours?  DS topped out at 40 ozs in one day at 4 mos during a growth spurt.  Stacyc's topped out at 45-50 ozs day (and that's the high end). 

If you lose too many ozs, you can always go back to pumping every 3 hours.  Your supply will continue to increase until 12 weeks pp.  If you like the oversupply though, keep pumping and store the milk.  You may have enough to feed for several months after you're done pumping and/or donate it to a milk bank.  (milk is good in a deep freeze for 6 mos+).