Engorgement and sleeping

KerrinG

Hello ladies,

Two nights ago, my LO slept through the night.  It was thrilling, but I woke up after 5.5 hours about to cry because my breasts hurt so very badly, I had to go pump.  Then after storing the milk and washing the pump parts, LO was up.

I'm just wondering if others who are BFing or pumping are able to sleep through the night, or how long it was before you could?

I know I'm very lucky, my supply has been great so far (KNOCK ON WOOD), and I've already got a freezer full of milk, but I'm afraid that I'll never get to sleep through the night until I'm done BF'ing?

Just curious.  I'm working on about 3 hours of sleep right now, so I guess, I'm having a little "I miss sleep" pity party right about now.

kittylove

The trick is to only pump enough to get back to sleep. This will help ease the engorgement and leave you with enough milk for LO should they wake up right after pumping.  I promise you will be super thankful for that freezer stash when you go to work or when you just want to leave the baby for more than an hour.

SS091506

I don't think I am a good example.  I do not have a great supply.  At this point, I am just keeping up with my LO's demand (she is almost 3 months old).  When she was 1 month old, I started sleeping through the night. Dh wakes up with her if she gets up.  I wake up in the morning hurting but apparently not enough for me to wake up in the middle of the night to pump.