How do I regulate my supply?

nicole0066

DD was born early and had trouble staying awake for feedings so I would attempt to nurse, give a bottle of pumped milk, and then pump.  We have now almost completely stopped supplementing and are EBF but I think I still have a slight oversupply since I was previously pumping more than she needed.  I was also dealing with a clogged duct.

During the day I am ok, but at night I am so engorged.  Will this stop as we get into a routine?  I already have a small freezer stash so I am debating keeping one pumping session at night to help with the engorgement and keep up my stash.  Does this sound like it will make it worse?  Also, if she only feeds from one side what should I do about the other?  Hand express/pump a little or will that regulate with time?  The clogged duct was awful so I defunitely want to avoid more!

becketts

I've been dealing with the same issues. DD was born at 35 weeks and didn't really get the hang of BFing until a couple of weeks ago. I found that slowly decreasing pumping worked the best. I used to be at 3 sessions per day, tried dropping to 1, and got painfully engorged. Now I do 2x per day (1 is to replace a feeding) and I'm slowly decreasing the amount of time. I'd try pumping for less time- enough to take the edge off. Good luck!

Adanessa

I'd say your best bet is to slowly reduce pumping sessions. If you want to continue to pump and save a supply you shouldn't throw out pumping altogether, but maybe keep one session a day.