Breastfeeding
Audgxoxo
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Why advise to pump so much extra?
Audgxoxo
member
Ok, so around 4 weeks I started pumping and storing twice a day per my lactation consultants advice. She told me to start storing up for work about 4 weeks before I went back. I did that and I have more than enough milk in the freezer. Probably close to 200 ounces. I came back to work as of last Wednesday and I am pumping twice a day. I feed my son in the morning around 6am. My mother is watching him during the day so he eats around 9 from a bottle. He never takes much from the bottle and seems to just snack on it, but if she can get him to eat the whole thing it's about 3.5oz. At that time at work, I pump. I then go home at noon and feed him on my lunch break. Then I come back to work and while my mom is feeding him a bottle at 3:00, I pump at work. I am back by 6pm to feed him again. Last week, I was pumping 15-16oz a day at work. If he eats the whole 3.5 oz bottle (which he doesn't always) that is only 7 oz of milk I need for a bottle. Meaning I could be pumping 9oz extra a day. I seem to make a lot of milk and since my son seemed to be getting too much foremilk and would choke while eating sometimes, I tried to reduce my supply by feeding him only on one breast per feeding and not pumping over the weekend. From what I am reading, a lot of people think it's crazy to not pump as much as possible. My question is, why would you WANT to pump so much extra? Out of pure curiosity (I feel like I am doing something wrong) why should I pump so much extra? If he only eats 7 oz a day while I am away from him and I get down to only pumping 7 a day, wouldn't that be ok since I have a huge freezer stash? I am thinking I am going to shoot for pumping 8 to 10 on any day at work just in case, but 15-16 was way too excessive. By the end of the week I would have to freeze 25-30oz of milk and I just don't have that kind of room in my freezer. and I don't want to pump on weekends while I am with him, but if I am used to pumping so much extra monday through Friday I would have to...I know having too much milk is probably a good problem to have from some people, but I didn't see the benefits. Did anyone ever run into this? if so, what did you do? Do you think it's ok to only pump what he needs? Thank you! This is driving me nuts not knowing what's right...
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Re: Why advise to pump so much extra?
I had a decent stash - not huge, but a good buffer. Now that my supply has dropped around 8-9 months (very common) I am burning through it and will likely be out of my back up by the end of this week.
It's good to have.
IMO, there isn't a "right" or "wrong" in this scenerio.
It is what it is, if you want a freezer stash, great. If not, that's fine too.
For me, I like to have a freezer stash for when I do stop pumping, I have enough frozen BM to last me an extra month or so. Or for if I ever have a decrease in supply, I know I will have extra available. Some people aren't as lucky in having such a great supply. And you can't always expect your supply to be as plentiful as it currently is.
med-free birth x2, breastfeeding, baby wearing SAHM
My BFP Chart
I kept on pumping at 4am long after we sttn because it was 12 bonus ounces a day that I never knew when I'd need or want to use. Many weeks I froze extra. Thinking ahead a few months, will you be going out of town for a weekend or a day where you might need more milk?
My supply seriously dipped around 8.5 mos. I could barely pump 3 oz a day and we had just started full-time day care, which meant going through a lot of frozen milk until my supply came back up. I thought I had a lot frozen but we worked our way down to 1 bag of frozen milk and I was sure I was about to have to buy formula (thankfully I didn't). So, you never know.
Or, you might start to hate pumping and want to stop that before you actually stop BF. For now, though you do want to pump at the same times your LO takes a bottle so you can feed him when you're home on the weekends. You could certainly pump just enough with no damage done.
Francesca Pearl is here! Josephine Hope is almost 3!
After a few weeks back at work my supply went down some and her demands have now started to go up. She went from drinking 4 oz bottles at 2 months to 5.5 oz bottles at 4 months. That's 16.5oz per day, and I typically only pump 11 or so while she's at work. I pump nights and weekends, and I still have to sometimes go to my freezer stash to get enough.
Between that and the trip to the ER+gallbladder surgery that required me to pump and dump, I was really glad I had 100oz or so.
Now, would I store thousands of oz and fill a deep freeze with nothing but milk? Probably not, but I understand the desire to do it!
Hard as it is to believe, your LO is going to grow up and there will come a day when you decide "enough is enough" but they'll still need milk and it's cheaper/easier to have that extra supply on hand to use down the road than it is for you to have a supply problem and need to do something like formula supplement.
In a few months your LO will go to 4-6oz./feeding then closer to 8oz./feeding. It's hard to believe, but it's a lot easier to have a freezer stash than it is to have the mommy moment of not having enough stash on hand...
I'd just simply skip the pumping on weekends if it's an issue for you... Pumping is a supply/demand situation too, if you're pumping too much, then go ahead and back off, but know that a large freezer stash is better than not enough down the road...
Exactly this.
I wish I had more than a day's freezer stash.....but I can't imagine having so much milk in the freezer. I wish I had more for instances when I need to take a medicine that requires me to pump & dump (my migrane medicine requires this for 12 hours) and I try to pump before I take it so I only have to dump one session, but sometimes I can't. Also my supply is greatly affected by stress....and I've got a lot going on right now, so my supply is wacky.
If you are comfortable with the amount you are producing, then I think you are fine to drop a pumping session or only pump when you are replacing feedings. You have to do what is right for you....no one can fault you for that!