will eliminating night pumping ruin my supply?

[oregonchick]

Many of you already know that I exclusively pump and bottle feed. And many
of you know that my supply has been bountiful, to say the least. With over
9 gallons in the freezer, I feel that there is no reason to continue to
maximize how much I am pumping. What I'd really like to do is eliminate my
night feeding.

Here is my current schedule - pumping at 6:30am, 10am, 1:30pm, 5pm, 9pm,
2am. I get between 10 and 16 oz every time. I want to get rid of that 2am
feeding.
To shorten the time between the last and first pumpings, I was thinking
about changing my schedule to something like this: 5:30am, 10am, 2pm, 6pm,
10pm.

What happens to supply with a 7.5 hr lapse? I'm assuming that if I was
actually breastfeeding and the baby was sleepibg through the night, things
would somehow level out, right?

Betsy

[Donna Metler]

"oregonchick" > wrote in message
...
> Many of you already know that I exclusively pump and bottle feed. And
many
> of you know that my supply has been bountiful, to say the least. With
over
> 9 gallons in the freezer, I feel that there is no reason to continue to
> maximize how much I am pumping. What I'd really like to do is eliminate
my
> night feeding.
>
> Here is my current schedule - pumping at 6:30am, 10am, 1:30pm, 5pm, 9pm,
> 2am. I get between 10 and 16 oz every time. I want to get rid of that
2am
> feeding.
> To shorten the time between the last and first pumpings, I was thinking
> about changing my schedule to something like this: 5:30am, 10am, 2pm, 6pm,
> 10pm.
>
> What happens to supply with a 7.5 hr lapse? I'm assuming that if I was
> actually breastfeeding and the baby was sleepibg through the night, things
> would somehow level out, right?
>
A few comments-your baby is only a few weeks old, right? If so, you're
probably in the engorged stage where you can feed two babies. That
definitely drops down after a few months. And, if so, trust me, you don't
want to drop that overnight pumping-because you'll likely wake up soaked
and/or in severe pain. If the baby's not sleeping through the night without
a feeding, your body will expect you to feed the baby.

I'd suggest instead spreading out your pumpings slightly, and trying to keep
them aligned with when the baby eats (as far as number of hours between
pumpings, not necessarily time of day). In addition, you can also consider
reducing your pumping time. As the baby gets older, trust me, you'll end up
reducing your time pumping and pumping frequency because the baby won't let
you pump. My daughter now won't let me pump when she's awake at all-which
means, with a 13 month old, that I pump morning and night only-and for the
last couple of months, was really trying to keep supply up because I could
only manage at most 3-4 pumping cycles a day around her nap schedule). And,
if you're taking supplements, now's the time to drop them. I didn't need to
worry about taking extra supplements to build supply from 6 weeks to 10
months.

Regardless, make sure you rotate that milk in the freezer. I had gallons
stored, but by the time my supply started dropping at about 10-11 months,
most of it was too old to be used. I hadn't wanted to feed my daughter
frozen milk when I had fresh available, but the last month or so, she really
didn't get as much milk as she wanted and she absolutely wouldn't take
formula-which made me feel good in some ways, but not so good when I have a
baby crying and signing for MILK-and I'm trying to pump an extra ounce or
two while she's screaming because she's eaten everything I'd pumped up to
that point and still wants more. (Fortunately, she's willing to take cows
milk now that she's old enough to do so).






> Betsy
>
>

[Purple Gal]

I sometimes go that long at night. The only difference I see is an
increased amount in the morning. Also, my breasts are a little more sore
and engorged. However, I am not the milk farm you are :)

Adela

"oregonchick" > wrote in message
...
> Many of you already know that I exclusively pump and bottle feed. And
> many of you know that my supply has been bountiful, to say the least.
> With over 9 gallons in the freezer, I feel that there is no reason to
> continue to maximize how much I am pumping. What I'd really like to do is
> eliminate my night feeding.
>
> Here is my current schedule - pumping at 6:30am, 10am, 1:30pm, 5pm, 9pm,
> 2am. I get between 10 and 16 oz every time. I want to get rid of that
> 2am feeding.
> To shorten the time between the last and first pumpings, I was thinking
> about changing my schedule to something like this: 5:30am, 10am, 2pm, 6pm,
> 10pm.
>
> What happens to supply with a 7.5 hr lapse? I'm assuming that if I was
> actually breastfeeding and the baby was sleepibg through the night, things
> would somehow level out, right?
>
> Betsy
>

[[email protected]]

oregonchick > writes:
: Many of you already know that I exclusively pump and bottle feed. And many
: of you know that my supply has been bountiful, to say the least. With over
: 9 gallons in the freezer, I feel that there is no reason to continue to
: maximize how much I am pumping. What I'd really like to do is eliminate my
: night feeding.

: Here is my current schedule - pumping at 6:30am, 10am, 1:30pm, 5pm, 9pm,
: 2am. I get between 10 and 16 oz every time. I want to get rid of that 2am
: feeding.
: To shorten the time between the last and first pumpings, I was thinking
: about changing my schedule to something like this: 5:30am, 10am, 2pm, 6pm,
: 10pm.

: What happens to supply with a 7.5 hr lapse? I'm assuming that if I was
: actually breastfeeding and the baby was sleepibg through the night, things
: would somehow level out, right?

: Betsy

Yeah, well...

First, I assume you mean that you want to get rid of the 2 AM pumping
session, not the 2 AM feed. You don't want to get up at 2 AM and pump
even if your baby is asleep. Right? If your baby wakes up at @ AM and
wants to eat, you would feed a bottle of (already) pumped milk? Right?

Second, you say...

: What happens to supply with a 7.5 hr lapse? I'm assuming that if I was
: actually breastfeeding and the baby was sleepibg through the night, things
: would somehow level out, right?

IME (and most of the mothers/babies in our playgroup) babies don't sleep
through the night until well past 6 months almost as often past 1 year.
That said, there are a few that sleep through earlier, but those are the
exception.

Now, all that said, as prolific as your supply seems to be, it is
probably not going to damage your supply irreparably to cut out one
pumping a day, and you want to make it the 2 AM one. Go far it, and
if you find your supply is dwindling too fast, you can add it back in.

You probably won't have to.

Larry

[oregonchick]

> wrote in message ...
> oregonchick > writes:
> : Many of you already know that I exclusively pump and bottle feed. And
> many
> : of you know that my supply has been bountiful, to say the least. With
> over
> : 9 gallons in the freezer, I feel that there is no reason to continue to
> : maximize how much I am pumping. What I'd really like to do is eliminate
> my
> : night feeding.
>
> : Here is my current schedule - pumping at 6:30am, 10am, 1:30pm, 5pm, 9pm,
> : 2am. I get between 10 and 16 oz every time. I want to get rid of that
> 2am
> : feeding.
> : To shorten the time between the last and first pumpings, I was thinking
> : about changing my schedule to something like this: 5:30am, 10am, 2pm,
> 6pm,
> : 10pm.
>
> : What happens to supply with a 7.5 hr lapse? I'm assuming that if I was
> : actually breastfeeding and the baby was sleepibg through the night,
> things
> : would somehow level out, right?
>
> : Betsy
>
> Yeah, well...
>
> First, I assume you mean that you want to get rid of the 2 AM pumping
> session, not the 2 AM feed. You don't want to get up at 2 AM and pump
> even if your baby is asleep. Right? If your baby wakes up at @ AM and
> wants to eat, you would feed a bottle of (already) pumped milk? Right?

Right. I am feeding already pumped milk. If she wakes at 2am, I am
generally feeding milk that I pumped at 10pm. I don't know why I said
"feeding"...duh!

[Anne Rogers]

> IME (and most of the mothers/babies in our playgroup) babies don't sleep
> through the night until well past 6 months almost as often past 1 year.
> That said, there are a few that sleep through earlier, but those are the
> exception.

really? only consider exclusively breastfed babies here, I know many that
have slept though the night well before 6 months. Even Nathanael who has
mostly been a disaster sleeping did it at 4 and a bit months, though it
didn't last. Ada slept through at 8 weeks, I wonder are you thinking of co
sleeping babies? neither of ours slept through in our room, Nathanael slept
through the first night I wasn't there, the bottle that was ready and
waiting never got used, Ada slept through the 2nd night she wasn't in our
room.

Cheers

Anne

[KC]

Anne Rogers wrote:
> > IME (and most of the mothers/babies in our playgroup) babies don't sleep
> > through the night until well past 6 months almost as often past 1 year.
> > That said, there are a few that sleep through earlier, but those are the
> > exception.
>
> really? only consider exclusively breastfed babies here, I know many that
> have slept though the night well before 6 months. Even Nathanael who has
> mostly been a disaster sleeping did it at 4 and a bit months, though it
> didn't last. Ada slept through at 8 weeks, I wonder are you thinking of co
> sleeping babies? neither of ours slept through in our room, Nathanael slept
> through the first night I wasn't there, the bottle that was ready and
> waiting never got used, Ada slept through the 2nd night she wasn't in our
> room.
>


My third baby slept through the night for quite a while at around 6
weeks to 6 months, and then she started waking several times a night
again. But I think she was able to sleep 7 or 8 hours straight at that
time because my supply was good enough to allow that since she was my
3rd baby and I was taking galactagogues since we had had a slow start
to my supply. So, I think oregonchick can probably give up the 2 am
feeding, and only add it back if she finds her supply drastically
dropping since she has such a good supply. She's a lucky girl.

KC