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Do I have to nurse overnight to keep my supply?

StephBrim24StephBrim24 member
in Breastfeeding
So LO is 6 months and he ended up creating a bad habit of needing to nurse to get back to sleep every 1 to 2 hours. So I've been working on sleep training because he wasn't able to self-soothe and was miserable since he wake up crying for me constantly. Anyway, I'd love a full night's sleep AND I feel like sleep training is tough since sometimes he'll cry and I'll feed him (to keep supply up) and other times I'll deny him. So he has to be confused since I'm not consistent. Can I get him to sleep 8 hours or so and not pump or will I lose my supply? My lactation consultant said I have to drain the breasts 8 times every 24 hours or my supply will go down. So I'd have to pump 2-3 times overnight. Is this right??
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Re: Do I have to nurse overnight to keep my supply?

  • cieslakmicieslakmi member
    Just speaking from my own experience, I never had a supply issue when DS was sleeping through the night. We had an amazing 2 months where he slept through the night (9-6 maybe?), and my supply was just fine during the day. He then started waking up during the night again, and my supply adjusted to where i had no problems feeding during the night and throughout the day. If this babe started sleeping through the night again, I would definitely NOT get up in the middle of the night to pump! I say enjoy the sleep!!!
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  • lilies&orchidslilies&orchids member
    I never pumped when my baby STTN and did not have any supply issues. I didn't sleep train, he was a pretty good sleeper and my body adjusted during the day and the nights when he needed to nurse. My supply was fine until we weaned at 13 months.
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  • TeacherVickyTeacherVicky member
    Both my kids stopped nursing overnight at 6m and I never had any supply issues. DS's nights were 10-11h and DD's nights are 12h long. 
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  • jennygirlmtjennygirlmt member
    My two didn't stop nursing at night until 15 months each because it took absolutely brutal measures on my part.  That said, IF he sleeps at night, you do not need to pump. You want your body to adjust to what he needs. If you stay consistent and follow the outline from someone above (ie nurse every 5 hours, or whatever you choose), then your body should acclimate to that. Once he starts sleeping more, then you'll just drop those feedings. As a SAHM mom I've only pumped a handful of times (they wouldn't take bottles, otherwise I would have done it more) and just follow their lead. DD1 weaned at 22 months and DD2 is still going strong (too strong :-) ).
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  • StephBrim24StephBrim24 member
    @theresat858 Thank for such a specific response. That helped me so much with how to get started with sleep training. Night one was awful and after an hour and a half of crying (me going in to comfort every few minutes), I gave up and nursed him. Then last night we moved him out of our room since he could sense us and last night was much better. Max crying time was 14 minutes and he didn't need to eat until 3:30. Thank you, everyone, for the input. I'm now pumping before I go to bed, feeding when he wakes after midnight, feeding again after 3 hours and then when he wakes up. Hoping he keeps getting better.

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