Xp: breastfeeding before and after work w/o pumping?

greenbug

I posted similar questions in the breastfeeding board. Is anyone nursing in the am and pm without pumping at work? I've read on Kelly mom and lc said it would be ok... I have always had pretty low supply though and I think it's dropping even more. I was hoping that if my supply was about half his needs nursing all day, when I went to nursing half the feedings, I wouldn't have to supplement at those feedings but that doesn't appear to be the case. Ive nursed twice tonight and supplemented 2 oz and 4oz. Kelly mom says to nurse all day on the weekends but I thought that would confuse my body. Is anyone else trying this with success? Welcoming suggestions... Oh, my son is 14 weeks.

RobynScott

I do that with DD and did it with DS.  How old is your child?  Started at 9 mos with DS and 11 mos with DD.  Good luck!

 I also nurse on demand on the weekends (in addition to milk sippies) 

shouldbworkin

wife07mom09:

I did this when DD was about 9 mo old. Helped me keep my sanity!

Ditto.  I did this from 9 mos to 13 mos.

stromtobe

I think it is only doable once the child is old enough to be eating quite a bit and not needing quite so much milk.

celiabwatson

I agree with the PP. I do this with great success (no daytime nursing during the week but on demand on weekends). But I stopped pumping at a year. I think once your supply is established it works but before that I would worry. Is there any way you can pump at least once during the day?

LyndaCarter

I did this when my supply started dipping at 10 months with DD#1. She got formula during the day, but nursed first thing in the morning and at night. I did not pump during the day anymore. Seemed to work fine for us.

madhatter2003

I did, but it was after a year for both of mine. At 14 weeks you may need to try to pump at least once a day, especially since you already have a low supply.

naflmj

I think at this early stage, you may lose your supply. I stopped pumping at 10 months and was able to nurse DS in morning and evening and while home with him w/no problem but my supply was well established at that point and DS was getting a lot of nutrients from solids as well. 

law8296

I'd first say consult a local lactation consultant (does your hospital offer that for free?).  When I first started reading your post I was thinking in terms of when I dropped pumping and nursed twice/day (once in am and once before bed); however, my son was 10 months at that point and your child is 14 weeks.  So, there's some difference there in what you may want to do for keeping your supply up; how long you'd like to breastfeed, etc.  I would agree with Kelly Mom and BF exclusively when you can (weekends or whatever).  My understanding of breastfeeding is that the more you supplement- the more it gets supply out of whack.  Or at least if you do supplement- make sure you also pump an extra time that day so your body knows how much more it needs to make. 

 

bear7328

I did that with DD starting at around 6 months.  It took about a week for me to not feel uncomfortable during the day, but after that things were fine.  I didn't have any supply issues.  I ate oatmeal every day to keep the supply up.

Maybride2

I don't see how this would last very long at 14 weeks, if you go this route I wouldn't expect to be breastfeeding long.

Stacyc625

at 14 weeks- if you did that it would be next to impossible to keep up with BFing very long. If that is your intent- fine. (nothing wrong with that) ~

As others have said- you can usually swing that much later 9-10 months or so

kj07

I know a woman who tried to do this when her son was 3 months old and she lost her supply.

greenbug

Thanks for the responses - especially ones with helpful suggestions! The problem with pumping at work is that I'm an attorney and in court 2-4 days a week handling 10-15 of 20-25 cases on the court's calendar on a given day - so when they call my cases, I need to be available immediately. But I thought about it and realized that although my judge is slow and keeps me there all day, her slowness also means if they call a case that's not mine, I probably have a good half hour or so - so as long as I am not too tied to pumping at an exact time, it MIGHT work. Today I was in the office all day and brought the pump to start... And realized I left little yellow parts with the membranes on the drying rack at home! Argh. This weekend nursing all day and will try pumping at work and court next week. Thank you!!

gwenypher7

I have been doing this for 10 weeks and my supply is fine. (DS is 14 weeks old). I work half-days. I nurse in the am around 6, then nurse again around 1:30pm and on demand throughout the rest of the day. I don't pump and usually go 6-7 hours.

I nurse exclusively when I am with baby in the afternoons and weekends. My body has adjusted and everything is going well. Good luck!