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November 2011 Moms
Natty13umppo
member
EBF and STTN -- supply issues?
Natty13umppo
member
So DD has been STTN pretty consistently for a while now. I EBF and nurse her to sleep. She's been sleeping 10-11.5 hrs.
The first few times, I was, of course, pretty full when I woke up. After realizing this was a pattern (her STTN), I started pumping right before bed to empty and that helped.
Then stuff got busy and I stopped pumping right before bed. Of course, went back to waking up very full. But now...still haven't resumed pumping and I'm waking up and am NOT feeling full.
So I've read that once baby starts STTN, the production will regulate itself. But, I know technically, STTN is considered only 6-8 hrs. Am I hurting my supply by going longer than that (10-12 hrs) without pumping? Does anyone else have experience going that long? Should I return to pumping right before bed? (FWIW, during the day she eats about 6 times.)
And re: pumping - she basically refuses a bottle. So pumping would be mostly to preserve supply. I do have a freezer stash but this lack of bottle taking makes me think it will go to waste 
But that's a whole 'nother thread...
This discussion has been closed.
Re: EBF and STTN -- supply issues?
DD is EBF and very rarely feeds at night since she was about 2 months old. Now, she is usually going 11-12 hours without eating (7:30-7:30ish). When she first dropped the night feedings, I woke up so engorged that she only nursed from one side. So, I pumped the other side. I've kept that up for the last couple months and my supply has been just fine. I pump while she nurses first thing every morning and typically get about 5 oz just from one side. Doing this seems to make me continue waking up "full", although not engorged to the point it's painful.
I really should pump before I go to bed, but I'm usually too tired. Plus, I work during the day, and I get so sick of pumping that I can't stand the thought of adding another pumping session to my day.
I'm in a similar situation. DS goes from 6:30 - 6:30 on the weekdays and sometimes longer on the weekends without eating or me pumping and my supply is fine. I use to wake up very engourged and was leaking all over the place (to the point where I was sleeping next to nursing pads that I would have to stuff in my sleep shirt in the middle of the night) but within the past month I wake up full but not painfully so. In the mornings I usually pump about 4 oz off of one side before I wake DS for the day and he nurses off the other. The extra 4 oz I will either use if I don't pump enough at work to replinishes DS' daycare bottles or it goes into the freezer stash. I have a HUGE freezer stash because of this and I don't even know when I will get around to using it but I digress. I don't think that you will hurt your supply if you go the whole night without pumping, it should just regulate to when you and LO need it for the day.