EPers and Schedule

jamieandlori · June 2012

My son is 11 weeks old and I have been EPing since birth. I currently pump 6-7 times a day (mostly 7) for 25-35 minutes per session. I do not pump during the night (7-8 hours), but will pump 60 minutes my first morning session. I currently get 30-33 ounces per day. The pumping is really starting to get me down. I am trying to figure out if there is a more realistic pumping schedule I could follow. So...what do all of you EPers do? Do you have any tips to help keep up with the pumping long term? I already store parts in fridge, pump on couch where I can surf net or watch tv and pump in car when we're out (which I hate.) I really want to keep this up long term for my son, but I feel like right now this is just not doable. Thanks in advance.

Ms5586 · June 2012

Make small goals. It is HARD. When you hate it, say "I'm going to make it through this week", and keep going.

Do you get additional letdowns throughout your sessions? Those are LONG sessions. I pump for 15 minutes, and when I started pumping, I could only stand it for 10-12 minutes. I pumped 20 minutes, max, at any point.

At 2 months, I dropped the overnight pump session (like you already have). Can you drop back that 60 minute pump session? I really think that's way too long to pump for, I haven't heard anyone here pump for that long. At 3 months, I dropped down to 5x a day, wakeup, 2x at work, when I got home from work, and right before bed. The next month I dropped to 4x a day.

I have a pretty good supply, so I was able to drop sessions without having any major issues. He's 9 months, and I'm just now using my freezer stash.

I would really recommend you try to drop some time off of those sessions, it might save your sanity. Make sure you a drinking a ton of water all day every day, and maybe drink oatmeal in the mornings to help keep your supply up.

mrs_j_may_08 · June 2012

My LO is 9 weeks, and I have been EPing for about the last month. I am in the same boat, feeling like I am always attached to the darn pump. It is so tough. I found this article on kellymom to be encouraging and helpful

https://kellymom.com/bf/pumpingmoms/pumping/exclusive-pumping/

60 minutes is a LONG session. I think I read somewhere that 20-25 min is the max you should ever pump at once. I stop at 20 unless the milk is really flowing (like during my early morning session).

I am looking forward to that 3 month mark for when my supply is more regulated and I can experiment with dropping more pump sessions (currently doing 7/day). My supply is pretty good, I am hoping to keep it that way. I just wanted you to know you're not alone in your misery! Keep it up mama.

jamieandlori · June 2012

Ms5586:
Make small goals. It is HARD. When you hate it, say "I'm going to make it through this week", and keep going.

Do you get additional letdowns throughout your sessions? Those are LONG sessions. I pump for 15 minutes, and when I started pumping, I could only stand it for 10-12 minutes. I pumped 20 minutes, max, at any point.

At 2 months, I dropped the overnight pump session (like you already have). Can you drop back that 60 minute pump session? I really think that's way too long to pump for, I haven't heard anyone here pump for that long. At 3 months, I dropped down to 5x a day, wakeup, 2x at work, when I got home from work, and right before bed. The next month I dropped to 4x a day.

I have a pretty good supply, so I was able to drop sessions without having any major issues. He's 9 months, and I'm just now using my freezer stash.

I would really recommend you try to drop some time off of those sessions, it might save your sanity. Make sure you a drinking a ton of water all day every day, and maybe drink oatmeal in the mornings to help keep your supply up.

I first started out with 10-15 minute sessions, but I always had milk still coming out when I would stop. I don't always have let downs during a session, so I use my pump to simulate them. I will simulate a let down at start, 8 minutes and 15 minutes. In the morning I wake up engorged and I will see milk come out during the whole 60 minute pump session, even if it is just a trickle. I get the bulk of my milk in the am (usually 10-11 ounces...almost 14 once or twice.) I have noticed a bit of an increase in my supply since pumping longer sessions, as well.

I would love to pump 4 times per day! How much do you usually pump per day with 4 sessions? I'm not sure how my supply is compared to others, but I do take fenugreek 3x3, eat oatmeal every morning and drink tons of water.

Ms5586 · June 2012

jamieandlori:
Ms5586:

I first started out with 10-15 minute sessions, but I always had milk still coming out when I would stop. I don't always have let downs during a session, so I use my pump to simulate them. I will simulate a let down at start, 8 minutes and 15 minutes. In the morning I wake up engorged and I will see milk come out during the whole 60 minute pump session, even if it is just a trickle. I get the bulk of my milk in the am (usually 10-11 ounces...almost 14 once or twice.) I have noticed a bit of an increase in my supply since pumping longer sessions, as well.

I would love to pump 4 times per day! How much do you usually pump per day with 4 sessions? I'm not sure how my supply is compared to others, but I do take fenugreek 3x3, eat oatmeal every morning and drink tons of water.

I'm down to 3 sessions now. I couldn't take pumping 2x at work any longer with my workload.

I typically pump about 7-8 and 4-5 ounces in the morning session, 6-and-4 in the afternoon, and 4-4 in the evening. At my majority (I think I had an oversupply, which was great for my freezer stash!), my morning pump was about 14 ounces in the morning, and 10 total each session throughout the day.

People will say "pump until the milk stops", but the pump is sending your body the signal to produce more, so it will never completely stop while pumping (like you said, even just a trickle). I would maybe experiement with shortening your sessions (ESPECIALLY that morning one - no wonder you're so done with pumping, I can't even imagine pumping for an hour). If it makes your supply drop too much, you can always pump it back up. I typically stop pumping once I hit my 15 minute time limit and it's pump-drop of milk-pump-pump-drop-pump-pump-drop of milk (does that make sense?)

I'm just now at the point where I don't keep up with him each day. Which is fine, there's a reason I bought a deep freezer for my milk!

Ms5586 · June 2012

jamieandlori:
Ms5586:

I first started out with 10-15 minute sessions, but I always had milk still coming out when I would stop. I don't always have let downs during a session, so I use my pump to simulate them. I will simulate a let down at start, 8 minutes and 15 minutes. In the morning I wake up engorged and I will see milk come out during the whole 60 minute pump session, even if it is just a trickle. I get the bulk of my milk in the am (usually 10-11 ounces...almost 14 once or twice.) I have noticed a bit of an increase in my supply since pumping longer sessions, as well.

I would love to pump 4 times per day! How much do you usually pump per day with 4 sessions? I'm not sure how my supply is compared to others, but I do take fenugreek 3x3, eat oatmeal every morning and drink tons of water.

Bump burp

easjer05 · June 2012

Smaller, more frequent sessions are better for your supply than long sessions. I;m wincing ate the idea of an hour long pump. I never go for more than 30 minutes, and then only if I have gone for too long between pumps.

I get an average of 35 ounces per day, with 7-8 pumps per day.

I have a tendency to cluster pump in the evenings. At home with her, I have trouble pumping every 3 hours (I'm pumping now and she's fussing, sigh), so I usually end up with 4 pump sessions between 5 and 11. I still pump overnight and will until I am certain that my supply is steady after 12 weeks.

I wonder if you did a 20 minute pump when you woke up and another 20 minute session 2 hours later if you might not find the same output with less aggravation than a 60 minute session.

I too had trouble with the advice to pump until 2-5 minutes after your milk stops flowing since I have something almost the entire time. So eventually, I went with the advice that 15 - 20 minutes was sufficient, unless there is a special circumstance. GL to you. Whatever you do you have done an amazing job so far, to have exclusively pumped for 11 weeks!

One thing to consider - your son will be starting solids relatively soon and milk requirements will decrease. It may help to keep thta in mind as well if you want to continue.

Ms5586 · June 2012

easjer05:

One thing to consider - your son will be starting solids relatively soon and milk requirements will decrease. It may help to keep thta in mind as well if you want to continue.

If your son likes solids. Not all babies dive for them. My son refuses purees, so he is still milk (I would say 90% of his food for the day) with some table food.

I just don't want you to think that's the assumption for all babies.

easjer05 · June 2012

Ms5586:
easjer05:

One thing to consider - your son will be starting solids relatively soon and milk requirements will decrease. It may help to keep thta in mind as well if you want to continue.

If your son likes solids. Not all babies dive for them. My son refuses purees, so he is still milk (I would say 90% of his food for the day) with some table food.

I just don't want you to think that's the assumption for all babies.

Good point. We're nowhere near solids yet, so I'm glad you said something!

StacyJYay · June 2012

You can increase the speed by which the milk comes out by squeezing your breasts (really hard) while you pump. I squeeze them the entire time I'm pumping -- not letting up... If I do this, I can pump -- until the milk totally stops -- in 10 minutes. I BF-ed for the first 6 months and have EP-ed for the past month or so. When I switched from BF to EP, I was doing 7-8 pumps per day. Now, I do 5 pumps. (I've also been on Domperidone since LO was 1 month old.)

Firefly9 · June 2012

I'm just starting to wean from EPing for year. My schedule was pumping every 4 hours for 20 minutes a pump, except over night. During the night, I pumped when it was my turn to be up with him; I'd pump and feed (he layed on my lap or on the Boppy next to me). As he slept longer, on DH's night, I didn't pump at night, on my night, I did. At 9 or so months, I quit pumping over night all together. It was do-able. I definitely watched TV or played on the computer, or something, to help with it!

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