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When LO starts sleeping long stretches...

ashleyrsotomayorashleyrsotomayor member
in Breastfeeding
Sorry for the 8 million questions...I am still new at this! LO has been sleeping some longer stretches of 4-5 hours and I have been pumping during some of those long stretches because I am engorged and leaking. I get anywhere from 2-4oz on one side at each pumping session in a matter of 10 minutes...and that's not even emptying them out. I feel like I have an oversupply. It's okay for now because I am creating a stash for when I go back to work, but how do I deal with this supply issue when DS starts STTN or when I go back to work because I won't be pumping at work? I get so confused about when to pump, and I don't do it on a set schedule I just pump when I am feeling engorged and DS feeds on demand. 
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Re: When LO starts sleeping long stretches...

  • stahlopstahlop member

    Pumping will only keep you engorged.  When ever you get milk out (whether from the baby or pumping) your body takes that as a cue that you need milk at that time.  If you stop pumping during that time, your body will eventually make less milk.  The LC that I've talked with says the best time to pump to build a stash is after your morning feeding because you have more milk at that time.  Your baby eats and then you pump.

    Why won't you be pumping at work?  I think legally, your work has to not only set aside time for you to pump but also provide a room for you to do it in.

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  • katlizabethkatlizabeth member
    If you're pumping, even not emptying the breast, you're signaling your body to make more.  So if you don't mind pumping and having an excess, that's fine.  As your LO sleeps longer,  you'll probably want to sleep longer too, which means that you might have some leaking (or lots) and engorgement at first, but your body adjusts.  I don't have a lot of advice, since I was NEVER engorged or leaky with ds (he didn't sleep more than 4 hours until he was a year old) and dd has been sleeping 8ish hours, but I'm just a little full and tender, not really leaky or engorged. 
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  • ashleyrsotomayorashleyrsotomayor member
    I realize that pumping is just increasing my supply, which is good for my freezer stash, but eventually I am not going to want or be able to do all this pumping when he is not eating (night time or when I go back to work). But I am a baby and as soon as I get engorged and start leaking I get super uncomfortable (and leak a lot) so I cave and pump for relief. I also pump after he feeds at night because he doesn't eat nearly as much as I am producing and I will wake up in a pool of BM. Ugh it feels like a no win situation. As for not pumping at work, I will go back when LO is 4 months old and I will be using my freezer stash and supplementing because I am choosing not to mess with pumping at work. I am a kindergarten teacher with one very short little lunch break and no good place to pump. I know they technically "have" to provide a place to pump but I teach in a low income school with every nook and cranny in use...plus due to budget cuts most of the places I could pump are not clean by any means. Our school gets minimal cleaning every day. Think 800 kids barfing, snotty noses, bathroom accidents all day long. It's gross. Really gross. And I just can't get away from my students long enough to pump (I have no aid). So anyways, I made a personal choice not to stress myself out over pumping at work. My job is stressful enough. I am happy I can do it for 4 months:)
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  • damabo80damabo80 member

    Try going longer between pumping sessions...in other words, if you're feeding or pumping every 3 hours, try to deal with the leaking/pain for an additional 20 minutes...then keep adding on time between the pumping sessions. That will lower your supply gradually.

    Also, you're only 2w PP. At that time, my boobs were going crazy, but by about 6 weeks or so, things evened out.

    For now, enjoy your oversupply and build that stash. The way your boobs are now won't be the same way they will be when you go back to work. If I were you, I would just keep doing what I was doing, and if things didn't start working themselves out, then try to add in the additional times between feeding/pumping about a month or so before you return to work.


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