Will adding a pumping session help?

brooksidebride · August 2010

I recently increased the amount of ounces LO takes in a day when at daycare. She takes 3 6-oz bottles, so 18 ounces. Each day, I use what I pump at work for daycare bottles the next day. And I build a freezer stash because I work from home one day (ie. what I pump on Tues. doesn't need to be used Wed. because I'm home with her so it goes into freezer.) But now that we've increased how much she eats, I can't keep up. I pump about 13-16 oz in my day at work. For the past few weeks, in order to not use so much of my freezer stash, I've been getting up around 3:30 am, pumping the 2-5 ounces I was short the day before, then going back to bed. But it's killing me and I would rather not have to do that early morning pumping.

I pump twice a day at work. I tried doing it 3 times when I first went back and it was near impossible to break away from my desk that often. But now maybe I need to try 3 again.

My question is: Do you think I'll get more milk total for the day if I add a session? Or, will I just get less on sessions 2 and 3 so I'll probably still have the same total amount for the day as when I did 2 sessions?

I hope my questions are clear... I realize I took a short story and made it long just to ask if adding a session will yield more total milk for the day!

hannibal+ed · August 2010

Initially, you will likely get less for the next session or two, but after a few days it should adjust and you should get more.

fortworthmom · August 2010

Make sure you are drinking a gallon of water day. Water is the best way to help increase your supply. But adding in additional sessions at first will help to increase your supply. It does take about a week or so. Once your supply is built up, you can start to decrease the number of sessions because your body will be making enough milk.

rmaxim · August 2010

I have heard that three 15 minute sessions are better than two 20-minute sessions. I too was only pumping twice a day at first but then the amount I was able to pump started to go down. I went to 3 sessions and the amount went back up so it seems to have worked. It's hard but if your supply starts to drop you'll realize you need to make the time. Find some work you can do while pumping if you need to! I read work related books or just work on things that can be done without a computer.

cindyhow · August 2010

Just throwing out there that 18 oz is a lot for baby to take in while at DC (assuming they are there 9-12 hours?). Have you seen the milk calculator at kellymom? https://www.kellymom.com/bf/pumping/milkcalc.html

How long are you apart and how many bottles do you send? did DC ask for bigger bottles (mine asks about every few weeks).

Will adding a pumping session help?

Re: Will adding a pumping session help?

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