pumping at work -> increased supply?

alison43 · July 2009

I have been pumping at work (12 hour shifts, 3 times a week) and I think it's increasing my supply. Which wouldn't be a bad thing but I really dont' want to pump when I'm not at work.

Currently I either pump or BF DD at 5 am...then I aim to pump at 8am, 11am, 2pm, 5pm. I am hesitant to go 4 hours between pumps because of the nature of my job--I'm a paramedic and if we get a call say at 8, I may not be able to pump until 9 or 9:30 and I am exploding by then. if I planned to pump at 9, and then had to wait until 10...well it would not be pretty.

I generally get about 4 oz at each session and DD usually only takes about 12 ounces while I'm gone, giving me 4 extra ounces. But the days that I'm off, I notice I feel engorged and sore...I don't want this to turn into clogged ducts and all.

Any advice? Grin and bear it? Will my body figure this one out? I've been back for 2 weeks now.

ETA: On re-read I guess I sound whiny for something that lots of people would be happy to have...I suppose I'll just try to pump once a day when I'm home to clear out any excess and count my blessings!

FriendlyFanny · July 2009

Your body will figure it out. I'm hessitant to recommend this since you're still so early into it, but the other thing you can do is to stop pumping when you have what you need instead of pumping until the milk stops flowing. Personally though I'd just keep freezing the extra bottle.

And as far as being "whiny," those of us with oversupply have just as much right to ask questions here as those with undersupply.

JLB0017 · July 2009

Not for me it has seemed to dip my supply.

savannah11 · July 2009

Last week was my first full week back to work and by the end of the week I had an oversupply. I didn't want to pump on the weekend either so I dealt with engorgement and plugged ducts. My problem stems from the fact that DD won't eat much from the bottle during the day and is up every 2-3 hours at night eating instead. So between the night time feedings and the pumping I'm increasing my supply. I am hesitant to decrease pumps in hopes that she'll start taking more during the day. Guess I don't have much advice, other than that I'm hoping time takes care of the problem for me.

anna7602 · July 2009

I would keep doing what you're doing and freeze it. I had major oversupply the first few months of DD's life, I was getting 9-10 oz. each time I pumped and it felt like I would always be that way. Fast forward a few months and I could only get about 12-15 oz. per day pumping when DD was drinking about 18-20 oz. I was so happy to have my freezer stash. (I kept rotating the stash, so that she was always getting a mix of fresh and frozen when I was working and I never had BM in the freezer that was more than 3 months old.)