Starting a milk stash before returning to work

FarmingBride

What is your plan of attack as far as pumping before heading back to work to start a milk stash?  I just started my daughter on 1 bottle a day to get her used to the bottle.  So I am pumping when she is receiving that bottle.  I am also wanting to pump some more to get a stash going, but I don't want to overstimulate and cause too much milk to come in I guess.  I am trying to keep it at a happy medium or maybe I should be feeding her and pumping as much as I can.  I am just looking for suggestions and thoughts on what everyone else is doing?  Or are you not making a stash?  I just had lower supply towards the end of the year breastfeeding my last and my freezer stash really saved me and allowed me to go actually over a yr. of breastfeeding.  I guess I am just trying to prepare myself for that again I guess.  Just curious how often, times of day, you are pumping after nursing your baby while still on leave preparing for going back to work. 

boggs507

Does she have a reliable sleep schedule yet?  With DS, I either added a pump either to the morning a bit before he woke up or at night before I went to bed.  I can't remember which.  

FarmingBride

Somewhat...I could pump after she eats last in the evening.  So did this mean you just pumped once a day then or were you pumping after every nursing session through out the day as well? 

ebp913

FarmingBride:

Somewhat...I could pump after she eats last in the evening.  So did this mean you just pumped once a day then or were you pumping after every nursing session through out the day as well? 

I would only pump once per day.  The morning after your first feeding would be ideal.  Do not pump after every session... that seems like an oversupply disaster waiting to happen!  If you get 2-4 oz everyday, you'll build a nice supply quickly.   

Karla CS

FarmingBride:

What is your plan of attack as far as pumping before heading back to work to start a milk stash?  I just started my daughter on 1 bottle a day to get her used to the bottle.  So I am pumping when she is receiving that bottle.  I am also wanting to pump some more to get a stash going, but I don't want to overstimulate and cause too much milk to come in I guess.  I am trying to keep it at a happy medium or maybe I should be feeding her and pumping as much as I can.  I am just looking for suggestions and thoughts on what everyone else is doing?  Or are you not making a stash?  I just had lower supply towards the end of the year breastfeeding my last and my freezer stash really saved me and allowed me to go actually over a yr. of breastfeeding.  I guess I am just trying to prepare myself for that again I guess.  Just curious how often, times of day, you are pumping after nursing your baby while still on leave preparing for going back to work. 

I pumped 1x per day extra in the mornings after feeding her. In hindsight, it was probably too much, but I got obsessed with the idea of huge freezer stash. The only time I take anything out of it is on Mondays for daycare, and I replace it on Fridays, so I would have been fine with just 10-20oz extra, instead I have over 400 oz. I guess if I want to get sloshed for several days straight, I'd be covered.

boggs507

No, just that one time everyday.

*sparky*

I built a pretty big stash by adding one pumping session/day while on ML.  It actually worked out pretty well because I was not able to get much while pumping at work and could not pump enough in a day to keep up with what he needed at DC.  So I used my stash to supplement what I was able to pump each day.

jnnfrrose6

I started out once a day, about an hour after nursing in the morning.  Your supply is better in the morning, so that's the best time to pump if you're trying to get a stash.