Feeding pumped milk

Re: Feeding pumped milk

• Peanutz21 member

  November 2014

  how old is your LO?

  
  

  when i first brought LO to day care at 3 months i was setting aside 4 ounce bottles.  sometimes she would eat the whole thing, sometimes only 3 ounces. 

  
  

  i felt a lot that i would also never be able to pump as much as she was eating at times (a lot due to my own insanity) so i ended up throwing in extra pump sessions (at most 2) to make myself feel better. 

  
  

  for a while i was also jacking up on the flaxseed, brewers yeast - baking it into things to boost supply. make sure you stay hydrated - thats one of the greatest challenges i've encountered since going back to work. 

  
  

  TTC#2
  

  

  Our little IVF miracle born 5/7/2014

  

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• mommatotwo2 member

  November 2014 edited November 2014

  That depends on a few things. A 3 oz bottle is probably enough for baby if she's had a nursing or bottle within 2 or 3 hours and will likely be hungry for another within that same time frame. General rule is an ounce per hour but that varies. Does baby sttn now? If so, working that 12 hour shift may change that some. Chances are she is currently cluster feeding in the evening, to ramp up for a larger chunk of sleep overnight. When you're away, your caregiver may want to give smaller more frequent bottles prior to bedtime, maybe two ounce bottles every 90 minutes for a few hours before bed.
  
  You will want to pump at least 3, but best would be 4 times during your twelve hour work shift. You will get much more milk pumping without nursing baby fulltime than you will pumping for supplement. An extra bonus is that many women find motn pumping to yield extra ounces. Depending on how long you sleep during the day after a shift, you may want to wake and pump once or better, nurse baby if she's at your house, to maintain your daytime supply for when you're with baby, but you want to balance that with getting enough rest because that too is important to supply.
  
  Also, work with your caregivers to ensure they aren't feeding baby too soon after you've nursed or too close to when you will be able to nurse up in returning home/waking up. It's a lot of trial and error figuring out what works best. I wouldn't worry about trying to boost your supply just yet, unless you've had previous indicators of low supply.
  
  Sorry, that was a lot of information, hope it made sense! I've not had a baby while working night, but did work them for 3 years.

  

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• surpriseaddition member

  November 2014

  I BF, but am also watching my friend's 2 month old baby after she went back to work. I was initially giving her a 3oz bottle every 3 hours, but she would fuss like crazy after it. I used the pacifier a lot because I think some of it was the loss of the actual sucking motion. After 2 weeks of that, I tried a 3 1/2 oz bottle and I couldn't believe the difference (my friend had managed to get some extra milk the one day so I added it to the 3 oz bottles). Being a BF mom myself, I know that BM is so precious, but I couldn't believe the complete difference a 1/2 an ounce could make. I still use the paci quite a bit, because I know she just loves to suck, and her mom says she normally nurses for 45 minutes each feed. I am doing the paced bottle feeds over 20 minutes, but it still isn't really enough for her. So, the moral is, maybe consider just a 1/2 ounce change, and also make sure your caregiver is offering the pacifier to allow LO to get enough sucking action. Good luck going back to work.  Don't worry about your supply until you need to...most moms (including myself) get the exact amount needed (no less and no more).

  
  **DD1 - 7/9/98**

  **DS - 11/9/00**

  **DD2 - 4/30/13**
  

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• jenn43 member

  November 2014

  In terms of the nursing to sleep part of your question- I also nurse LO last thing before I put him down, but DH does bedtime one night a week when I work late.  He does the same bedtime routine (bath, lotion massage, pajamas), then does a bottle instead. LO figured it out pretty quickly, and has no problem going down without nursing.  So it may take a few days, but your baby will figure out that she doesn't get to nurse when someone else does the bedtime routine.

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• mommatotwo2 member

  November 2014

  @casey78‌ your LO dancing with your DH before bed is so sweet.

  

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• heathera1979 member

  November 2014

  Thanks for the advice/encouragement and also for the reassurance that LO and DH will be able to make it without me;)

   

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