WWYD - night pumping? sorry - long

Jen4033 · March 2014

Hi Ladies - DS2 is now almost 3 mo. Over the last couple weeks, he has been sleeping just a little bit longer at night. Right now he is sleeping well from about 8-9pm til 2:30-3:30am. He nurses (sometimes only a little before falling back to sleep) at that 2:30-3:30 time & then goes back down til I wake him at 5:30 to nurse before leaving for day care.

I pump 3 times (about 9am, 12pm & 3pm) at work. These are about the same times he has a 4oz bottle at day care. I typically get about 20oz from these 3 pumpings so I'm getting plenty for his next day at day care & freeze the extra. He's typically tired after day care & often isn't hungry when I pick him up. He nurses on my left breast starting about 7pm & then we go in to go to bed & nurse to sleep with the right breast around 8pm.

So... my quesiton is... do you think I should add a pumping session at around 12-1am?

My concern is once the night stretch gets even longer, it will impact my supply. However, if I don't need to wake in the night it would be awesome. I did a middle of the night session with my first son. He was STTN by about 4mo old & being my first time, I started pumping before bed & in the middle of the night to avoid engorgement at first & later needed it to complete the milk needed for day care. (DS1 was a HUGE eater in comparision to DS2). Now that I know better about how my body works with this stuff, I'm trying to determine if I can just skip that this time & let me body adjust to not making so much at night. But also don't want that to impact how much I make during the day. I wish I could add a 4th pumping session at work, but it isn't an option. 5-6 pumpings/nursings a day concerns me, but I have no idea what my "magic number" might really be.

I'm also torn because it would be great to add that night milk to my freezer stash. I got mastitis with my first son which greatly affected my supply. When I dropped the night pumping & introduced solids & cereal around 6mo, AF came back & supply dropped more. I had to greatly rely on that freezer stash to help me finish out months 8-12 of nursing.

Sorry for rambling. Your thoughts are appreciated. I am trying to be complete as I can with where we are at now & what I know from experience.

jllmb79 · March 2014

What about trying to pump after you nurse him in the am? instead of getting up in the middle of the night.

vvvvvfee · March 2014

i myself would not have been eager to get up and pump in the middle of the night, especially if you're already getting extra from your pumps during the day. but then, my kid didn't sleep for a long stretch without nursing until he was close to 1.

however-- i don't think you said how your LO was sleeping. is he not waking during the night to nurse at all? if that's the case maybe you want to pump to avoid engorgement or mastitis. or maybe it would be easier to just rouse your LO a little to nurse briefly?

Jen4033 · March 2014

@jllmb79 - my morning routine is already pretty jam packed since I also have a 2 yr old who is not a morning person. I've noticed the slight engorgement seems to come on around that 2:30 time. So that's why I was thinking middle of the night to avoid the engorgement.

@vvvvvfee - He sleeps from about 8-9pm through til the 2:30-3:30 mark right now. He nurses at that time & then again at 5:30 when I wake him for the day. He is a strong sleeper & no matter what I try (including a diaper change) he falls quickly back to sleep unless it is a time he wakes on his own. I had same issue with his older brother. There was no waking that kid! LOL

I guess what I am most concerned of is the engorgement & supply impact. I know after a few nights, that will fade as my body adjusts. It is already not as bad now that he has been doing this for almost a whole week now. I'm scared that not only will my supply adjust to make less at night, but it will also make less overall from my other pumpings. I'm thinking this is just one of those things I cannot predict & be proactiv about. Maybe it would all work out fine for us if I don't start night pumping, but adding the pumping session might be the "better safe than sorry" route for my supply. (?)

Jen4033 · March 2014

shell041783 said:

Your supply will adjust as he needs it. I would take the sleep unless you are concerned about stash (but it doesn't seem like that with having the extra each day).

This is how I was hoping things would work without issue. Since I work FT though, I was worried I wouldn't have that time to work on increasing my production by nursing more often if things went south with my supply.

My first was always a big eater taking 4 5oz bottles each day at day care from when he started til he started cereals. DS2 currently is eating 3 4oz bottles each day, & I send 4 4oz bottles just in case for now. Do you think I should expect him to start possibly eating more ounces between now & 6mo old?

Can you tell I am one of those "what if?" people? LOL

vvvvvfee · March 2014

i would take the sleep. your LO may not always sleep for such a long stretch at once. if you're replacing each missed feeding with a pump, then i think you can be confident about your supply. if you're nursing on demand when you're with your LO, then he'll feed more often if needed, which will boost your supply.

an EBF baby's total intake remains basically constant (approximately 25 oz/day). my DS at first took 3, 4-oz bottles at daycare. when he was a little older, he started taking 3, 4 1/2-oz bottles. i don't think you have to worry about suddenly needing a lot more BM- maybe your LOs bottles would increase by half an ounce or an ounce, but the composition of your BM changes to meet your baby's needs, so total intake remains relatively constant until they start on solids, when it starts to decrease gradually.

Jen4033 · March 2014

vvvvvfee said:

i would take the sleep. your LO may not always sleep for such a long stretch at once. if you're replacing each missed feeding with a pump, then i think you can be confident about your supply. if you're nursing on demand when you're with your LO, then he'll feed more often if needed, which will boost your supply.

an EBF baby's total intake remains basically constant (approximately 25 oz/day). my DS at first took 3, 4-oz bottles at daycare. when he was a little older, he started taking 3, 4 1/2-oz bottles. i don't think you have to worry about suddenly needing a lot more BM- maybe your LOs bottles would increase by half an ounce or an ounce, but the composition of your BM changes to meet your baby's needs, so total intake remains relatively constant until they start on solids, when it starts to decrease gradually.

Thanks @vvvvvfee - this was most helpful info. I hope to go back to nursing on demand for day time on weekends very soon. We had a rough time getting him to take the bottle so for the last couple weeks it has been pump & bottle only during the hours he would be at day care. We are just finishing week 1 of day care & he has only given her a hard time a time or 2 so I think we are close to being in the clear. I was concerned if I go back to nursing on demand on the weekend, he'll regress with his bottle-taking. It took so long for him to learn it!

vvvvvfee · March 2014

i don't think you have to worry about regressing with regards to the bottle-- if he's at daycare and he's hungry, he'll take it.

it's always tough for a nursing mom to try to give baby a bottle (or someone else to give it when mom is around), because baby will generally prefer it direct from the source.

Want a personalized experience?

WWYD - night pumping? sorry - long

Re: WWYD - night pumping? sorry - long

Choose Another Board

Search Boards