Wake up in the middle of the night to pump??

Re: Wake up in the middle of the night to pump??

• SmrBrd2012 member

  March 2016

  jellybean8080 said:

  Hello all! I haven't found an answer to this question anywhere,  so I'll go ahead and just ask it. My daughter is 3 1/2 months (ebf) and she is sleeping longer stretches at night now. For the past week I've actually been waking her up after 8 hours of sleeping so that she can nurse. I know it sounds crazy to wake her up, but I'm engorged by that point, and afraid that if I pump and then she wakes up shortly after, I won't have enough for her. I also don't want to ignore the engorgement because I'm back to work now and don't want my supply to drop.  What do you guys do at night when this happens? Should I maybe pump and then feed her from a bottle if she wakes up shortly after? How often do you ladies pump during the night? 

  Yes, just do that! Or you can just pump earlier in the night. Maybe 4 hours after she is sleeping, since she usually sleeps 8+ hours, or you could do it right before you go to bed, if it's been a few hours since she went down.
  

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• marijaa333 member

  March 2016

  I hand express (which works for me better than pumping now, although I started out pumping) but I leave a tiny bit in there in case LO wakes shortly after I'm done hand expressing. 

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• jellybean8080 member

  March 2016

  Okay,  thanks. I haven't had much success with her taking a bottle from me,  so I might try to pump somewhere in between,  and maybe leave some...thanks ladies. 

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• Nickioch member

  March 2016

  I think it's better to fully pump/nurse vs "leaving some" as that can attribute to mastitis, and also the emptying of the milk is part of the supply and demand cycle. I would pump and try the bottle, if she's hungry she will eventually learn to take it. I've definitely pumped thinking mine was going to sleep and hello, he wakes up haha. I once had one boob pumping while I nursed him on the other then gave him that bottle lol do what we gotta do!! Good luck

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• delujm0 member

  March 2016

  DD always only took one side per nursing session, so when this happened I would fully pump whichever side hurt more and then feed her from the other when she got up.  Until I went back to work I would always pump one side at a time so I'd always have the other side ready for a feed.
  
  If you know she'll sleep 8 hours, I'd get up and pump at the 4 hour mark, if she tends to take both sides at each feed.  And I'd try to start weaning that pump...I stopped pumping when DD was sleeping around 4 months because I had a decent freezer stash started at that point and was still pumping a large surplus daily at work. The sleep was well worth it!

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• sharonholck28 member

  March 2016

  I usually wake up maybe about a half hour to hour before she wakes cause of engorgement. I usually entirely pump one side and then pump for comfort on the other side. That milk I use towards my stash and then I go rest until she wakes and let her empty the boob I left for her. 
  
  Or if I wake a lot earlier then her I'll pump it all and then give her an oz in a bottle when she wakes and then let her at a boob. 

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• MamaRoni member

  March 2016

  Also depends too what time she goes down... let's say u feedand put her down at like  9 and the finish doing chores.. a bath.... etc but by 11u are ready for bed
  No reason not to pump then. It won't hurt a thing 
  .....

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• jgonzalez20 member

  March 2016

  I'm having the same problem! My lo (8 weeks) gradually sleeping longer stretches through the night and I am as well. For example tonight we both went down at 10 and at 3 am she was still sound asleep. I woke myself because of engorgment and put her on the boob to alleviate! I feel bad waking her, should I just let her sleep?? I've heard such conflicting stories, never wake a sleeping baby, or breast feed babies must eat every 3-4 ours etc.
  
  also if i let her sleep, wil my supply drop of If I don't pump? 

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• delujm0 member

  March 2016

  jgonzalez20 said:

  I'm having the same problem! My lo (8 weeks) gradually sleeping longer stretches through the night and I am as well. For example tonight we both went down at 10 and at 3 am she was still sound asleep. I woke myself because of engorgment and put her on the boob to alleviate! I feel bad waking her, should I just let her sleep?? I've heard such conflicting stories, never wake a sleeping baby, or breast feed babies must eat every 3-4 ours etc.
  
  also if i let her sleep, wil my supply drop of If I don't pump? 

  
  If you don't remove milk, your body will eventually stop making it at that time.  However, if you are making enough milk during the day, and you're not trying to start a freezer stash, there is no reason to wake up and remove milk while your baby is asleep.  you want your body to make milk when the baby needs it.  if the baby is regularly sleeping through that time, she doesn't need to eat during that time, therefore you don't need to make milk during that time either.

   

  If you have a shortfall and have to supplement during the day, it would be wise to pump while she sleeps to build a stash - your body naturally makes more milk overnight and in the early morning than it does the rest of the day.  but if you have no supply concerns there's no reason not to sleep.  Get up and pump just enough to get comfortable again, and then go back to sleep, and your body will adjust accordingly.

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• kaym6 member

  March 2016

  I feed and put baby to bed then before I go to bed at least an hour later I will pump before I go to bed usually around 9/10. I have naturally been waking up around 1/2 when I will pump again and then feed baby whenever he wakes up which is usually around 6/7. I have been told I don't need to pump overnight for the reasons PP listed. If my baby isn't awake during that time to eat it doesn't matter if I have milk but since I'm waking up naturally I just pump and then go back to bed. It's helping me have a pretty good freezer stash! I don't plan on doing this forever obviously but since my baby is still only 10 weeks I would rather keep my supply up and have some extra. 

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