Going from 3 to 4oz bottles - supply?

bluejetta

LO currently takes 3 or 4 3 oz bottles at daycare.  I anticipate she'll need to up those to 4 oz bottles at some point, particularly once she is STTN.  When your LO did this did your supply match it?

I struggle now to get the 12 oz (I pump 10 at work those days and have to pump 2 on days off/weekend to get the extra 6).  I don't know where an extra 12 oz would come from... and don't really want to supplement.

princessjulia28

Remember its supply and demand.. Your DD will feed longer or more often when she needs more ounces. Your body will regulate. You should probably pump more. More stimulation=More milk.

I send DD with 3-5oz bottles so I pump 3x's a day. Once at 5:30am than twice at work. You should be pumping a min of 2 times while at work. I will pump once on the weekend. And if DD has eaten before I get home from work i will pump again. If you need to up your supply def add a pumping session maybe before bed, or before/after you feed in the am.

 Also try pumping for a little longer.. I pump for 20min or until I no longer have anything coming out. TIP* empty breast fills faster NON-empty breast fills slower

bluejetta

I pump 3 time (9/12/3) and I get 9-11oz.  She's only been at daycare 2 weeks and most days she only eats 3 bottles and that means I'm keeping up but on the days she eats 4 bottles I am behind by 2-3 ounces.  To make that up I've adding pumping sessions on off days after her first feeding and I get an ounce or so which adds to my stash or goes to daycare.

I also try to pump up to 30 min as I can sometimes get a second letdown which helps.  I'm hoping that I'll start to get more in the am by having added that pump session in.

smilelari

Let's see if I can form a coherent, readable thought on this.  Your baby's total intake isn't going to go up.  When your baby goes up to 4 oz, it'll be because she's eating at different times, not because she's eating more.  So, maybe she's eating less at night or spaced out her feedings during the day, etc.  So, the supply is already there, the demand will just be at different times.  In theory, when you nurse exclusively on the weekends, that's your body's chance to get the message directly from baby when they need those calories.  Your body will adjust.  Assuming that you don't have supply issues, it shouldn't be a problem.

Now, if you're already struggling to keep up, you probably need to commit to some extra pumping for a while.  I pump 4 times a day on weekdays - 3 at work and 1 at home - every day.  I also pump twice a day on weekends.  A good way to get a few extra ounces would be to also pump in the morning before work while you nurse LO.  Nurse on one side and pump the other.  You can usually get quite a bit this way.  If it's before 6 a.m., hormone levels will be high, plus let down is really good if LO is also nursing.  Plus it doesn't take any extra time out of your day!

smilelari

One other thought.  Some people go with the "feed what you pump" philosophy.  They figure that your body produces what baby normally eats or needs which can vary from day to day and meal to meal (when eating right from the source, not all meals are equally sized!).  So, you pump at about the same times baby eats.  If you pump 2.5oz, 3.2oz, 3 oz then you send a 2.5, 3.2 and 3 oz bottle.  This mitigates the problem a lot of people have with day cares over feeding babies and makes it so you never have a problem with keeping up.