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anyone partial wean? (Pumping at work)

orthomomorthomom member
in Breastfeeding

I am back to work now and pumping up a storm. I nurse DD once on the morning and once or twice in the evening depending on her eating schedule. She gets EBM all day with the nanny and EBM from DH before bed and one formula bottle in the middle of the night (I won't do that feeding...takes too long for her to eat... and it is a PITA to warm the EBM while she is screaming for food and waking up the whole house). I do pump while DH gives the bottle. So right now I am keeping up with her needs as far as my supply goes.

My question revolves around the future months...I have a really hard time pumping at work (I am a surgeon) and I will be grateful when I can pump a little less often. I planned to continue my current regimen until 3 months then start to back off the pumping sessions. I have plenty of frozen BM. When you start to back off the pumping (I will do middle of the night one first) did you just drop it cold turkey or just do it later and later each day? How much did your supply drop? So far when I pump less often I get the same amount of milk (Pumping twice at work getting 6+oz at a session, pumping 3 times getting 4+oz per session). I think this is just because my schedule is irregular and if I permanently dropped one session it would drop my output.

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Re: anyone partial wean? (Pumping at work)

  • PolofskyPolofsky member
    I EP so I'm not sure if it would be the same but I dropped the middle of the night feeding after they started STTN and it didn't drop my supply. I get about 20 oz in that morning pump. However, when I tried to drop a pump session at work, my supply started to decrease. So now, in order to keep up with them I have to pump 5x/day, they take four 6oz bottles/day.
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  • orthomomorthomom member
    Thanks. Wow...20oz in one pump!! I have gotten 10 and I thought I was gonna burst before that pump...I can't imagine 20!
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  • JDWNYCJDWNYC
    I am doing a partial weaning right now, and dropped my middle of the night pump too...I just slept with a big sports bra on and stuffed it with cloth diapers since I leaked the first few nights. That was the first feed/pump I dropped. I was still pumping after my first morning feeding and right after DS got a bottle of BM for his bedtime feed. Next I dropped that post-bedtime pump over the course of a few days - I just pumped the one side that DS would have eaten from (he's a one side feeder), a little less time and oz each day, for about 5 days until I dropped it all together. Now I only pump once a day, right after the morning feed, and I am able to get the 6.5oz I need for DS's bedtime bottle. I have also recently switched his noon feed to formula, and never pumped to drop that - and never had any major engorgement. So, since I was keeping one bottle of BM in the mix of BFing and formula, I am able to get what I need. I actually could still get more than the 6.5 oz in the AM if I pumped longer. I do eat oatmeal daily and try to stay hydrated and so far have not noticed that my supply is dropping except when I wanted it to (overnight, noon time and 6pm). Good luck!
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  • trackchik6trackchik6 member
    you might want to post this on the working moms board too
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