BFers

7river7wed7

I'm struggling with my supply and I have some questions.

If your LO is in day care, at what age (if ever) did you have to start dipping into your freezer stash to provide enough to get them through the day?

Do you pump on the weekends to build your stash? I keep my PISA at work and have a small cheepo pump I use at home if I'm uncomfortable, but I'm thinking maybe I should start adding a session or 2/day to help with supply and to have something to add to the freezer.

DD is still eating the same amount now as she was at 3 months when we started daycare. Is it realistic to think that if I can get her to start taking larger bottles (like 6 or 7 oz instead of 5) she will space out her feedings more?

If she would take two 6 oz bottles and be ready to eat right when I picked her up it would be a lot easier for me to keep up than 3 5 oz bottles and have her not eat until 6 or 6:30.

I have tried all the tricks to help with supply and the only thing that worked to get me back up to pumping what she needs is to pump 4x/day instead of 3, but thats just not realistic to do every day in an 8-9 hour work day. I pump 20 minutes or more each time and I feel like my work is being more than generous to let me spend an hour pumping every day - an hour and a half seems like just too much. Why should they pay me to pump?

If it matters, DD has started solids, but only once a day. Her daycare doesn't let us bring in outside food becuase some kids have severe food allergies and since dd is only on purees, adding another meal at this point to help tide her over isn't an option.

Sorry for the book - this has been stressing me out for a while now.

CindiLu1

I struggle the same as you.  I pump JUST enough for DD to have at daycare.  I'm so happy to BF, but it can be stressful.

I have added a pumping session at home right before I go to bed and it usually gets me the last couple of ounces for 3 5oz bottles.  Sometimes she'll only drink 2 of the bottles though now that she gets a solid lunch at school.

I also find that if I pump on the weekends my supply is better during the week.  So I try to pump about an hour after her first feeding in the morning on Sat and Sun.  I usually get a lot - and that surprises me.  And, if I fill full during a nap I'll sometimes throw in another pumping session during the weekend, but not always.

You could talk to your daycare and ask them to do the 2 6oz bottles and to hold off feeding her after 4pm.  That way she'll be ready to nurse as soon as you pick her up.  Try if for a week or so and see if it works, if not, switch back.

KaitlynDC6

I pump 3x a day for about 10 min. each and get enough for each feeding the next day. DD eats 4-6 (usually closer to 6) every 3 1/2-4 hrs. So, she's getting 2-3 bottles while I'm gone. I would def. start spacing feedings out more at that age. Try doing by 5 min. increments and work your way up.

Sorry, I don't know if this helps or not. Another thing I notice is that when she sleeps longer at night for a few nights (so one or less feedings), my supply dips. I always pump right after she goes to bed to try to keep it up.

GL, and try not to stress. (Easy for me to say, I know.) 

LydiaE2

I SAH, but at that point my DS was nursing the same # of times per day as a newborn. ?Things have changed a lot since then. ?At about 7 months we intro'd a second meal and began more interesting purees. ?DS loved them. ?He also cut his nursing sessions down dramatically from at least 12 to about 8. ?He is continuing to drop more sessions as we are night weening. ?The older kids at day care, must be getting fed and if you are okay with it, I would suggest letting day care feed your daughter one solids meal. ?Also I would just try sending two 6 oz bottles and see what happens. ?I thought I was feeding DS on demand, but I was really feeding him to a schedule. ?I realized he would and could go longer in between feedings if I didn't offer. If nothing else works, dip into your supply. ?In a month or two your DD will be eating a lot more solids and nursing a lot less.

7river7wed7

KaitlynDC6:

I pump 3x a day for about 10 min. each and get enough for each feeding the next day. DD eats 4-6 (usually closer to 6) every 3 1/2-4 hrs. So, she's getting 2-3 bottles while I'm gone. I would def. start spacing feedings out more at that age. Try doing by 5 min. increments and work your way up.

Sorry, I don't know if this helps or not. Another thing I notice is that when she sleeps longer at night for a few nights (so one or less feedings), my supply dips. I always pump right after she goes to bed to try to keep it up.

GL, and try not to stress. (Easy for me to say, I know.) 

OMG - I never even thought about how eating less at night would affect my supply during the day. I have been completely puzzeled as to what caused this becuase I never struggled before -- like you I always pumped pretty much exactly what she needed. She has always been a good sleeper, but she recently dropped the 10 or 11 pm feeding and now goes from 8 to 6.

I can't believe that never occurred to me - thank you for solving my mystery!!

7river7wed7

LydiaE2:

I SAH, but at that point my DS was nursing the same # of times per day as a newborn.  Things have changed a lot since then.  At about 7 months we intro'd a second meal and began more interesting purees.  DS loved them.  He also cut his nursing sessions down dramatically from at least 12 to about 8.  He is continuing to drop more sessions as we are night weening.  The older kids at day care, must be getting fed and if you are okay with it, I would suggest letting day care feed your daughter one solids meal.  Also I would just try sending two 6 oz bottles and see what happens.  I thought I was feeding DS on demand, but I was really feeding him to a schedule.  I realized he would and could go longer in between feedings if I didn't offer. If nothing else works, dip into your supply.  In a month or two your DD will be eating a lot more solids and nursing a lot less.

I would like to add a meal while she is there, its just that we didn't start solids until 6 months so she's only tried a limited number of things and only purees and mum-mums. If I have them feed her a meal I have to pick from their daily menu and they won't puree it for her...so she'd have to comfortably eating finger/chopped foods and they don't always have something on the menu she has had before so it would throw the 4 day rule to the wind.

edmo

My pumping supply dropped significantly when my son turned about six months old.  Up to that point, I had woken up once per night to pump and also pumped once before laying down for bed.  It got to be way too much and I finally eliminated most home pumpings.  That of course hurt my supply even more and I had to get into the freezer stash for daycare.  After a ton of stress not being able to pump enough for daycare each day, I finally had daycare feed my son half breastmilk, half formula bottles, when he turned around 7 months old.  That way my son still received breastmilk but I didn't have to freak out that I wasn't getting enough to send to daycare and was rapidly losing my freezer stash.  I hope you can increase your supply, but that's just what I had to do to feed my son enough during the day.