growth spurt and pumping

Saritaota614 · October 2014

I believe my LO is in a growth spurt right now, right in the middle of the work week.
How exactly does that work? All her past ones were either while I was still on leave or over the weekend.
Will my body catch up over the weekend? Am I screwed?
I'm new to all this business.
Do i need to pump more often at work to keep up? I don't even get what her normal amount is while I'm there as we speak.

flcl · October 2014

I agree that growth spurts are "easier" to handle when I was home with LO. I'm not sure if this is the best strategy but now that I'm working, I try to keep my pumping sessions consistent at work and just feed on demand when LO and I are back together. It's pretty obvious that he's going through a growth spurt since he goes from nursing every 2-2.5 hrs to every hour. I don't send more milk since I usually provide a couple of extra ounces already. Do you have enough in your stash for LO? If not, you may want to think about adding another pumping session in your day. (If you don't have enough time at work, you can try before going to bed?) Have you looked at any other strategies to up your supply? kellymom.com has some good suggestions. GL... I totally get how frustrating watching how slowly those pumped ounces add up.

Saritaota614 · October 2014

I do have stash. Around 90 oz. I was just wondering about how my supply would increase to her demands bc im not there during the day for her to increase it.
Sadly I found out that this means she will be up at all hours of the night to eat. Haha.
Oh well, it's what she needs.

mommatotwo2 · October 2014

I worked full time from twelve weeks on and didn't send extra bottles or anything during what may have been growth spurts. I did not sleep train and allowed reverse cycling. This meant evenings were spent cluster feeding on the couch and motn wakeups would increase. Often, after days of increased frequency, I'd see an increase in pumping output but it'd be temporary.

crash916 · October 2014

I agree with PP about allowing more time to cluster feed and more MOTN feedings. Growth spurts are rough once you are back at work, but when you and LO are together it should be enough to up your supply.
I never did extra pumps but it was hard enough squeezing in 3 sessions per day!

Lara0802 · October 2014

I think the 4 month growth spurt is the worst for us pumping moms. And honestly, with #1, this is what got me. I gave up nursing completely at 4 1/2 months and pumped exclusively until she was 1. With #2, I just did the same thing. He's 4 1/2 months and to ease my stress, I'm stopping nursing and just pumping exclusively again. I have almost 400 oz in the freezer, so I'll be fine. I pump and come up about 4-5 oz short each day, but should be fine.

Bravo to those moms who can figure it out, but no matter what I do, my supply never goes higher than what it is now. (I drink lots of water, eat oatmeal, take fenugreek, pump often, massage, etc). The only reason I have as much as I do in the freezer is because I pumped after every morning feed since LO was born, since I was usually able to get another feeding out, and I'd freeze it. By the time I went back to work, I had about 300 oz or so, and then was able to keep up with his demand, pumping exactly what he needed while I was at work, until about 2 weeks ago.

Good luck!

growth spurt and pumping

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