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I initially pumped every 4 hours and would pump in the middle of the night also. I did this for the 1st 2 months. My nipples started getting sore from so much pumping and I developed Mastitis because I was trying to empty them. Don't make this mistake. Everyone told me "make sure you empty the breast". I learned later, that doesn't mean suck it dry. It just means pump a reasonable amount of time on it. If you overpump it will cause problems like mastitis. I started suplimenting with just a few bottles a day. Then, I was pumping 4 times a day. I did this until she was 5 months old. I then tried to drop down to 3 times a day, but my milk supply started weaning. I also think you can't overfeed a baby and my baby's doc. agrees. A baby cries when it needs something. Some babies just need more food than others. Just do the best you can and what feels right to you. Good Luck!

Here are my thoughts, having pumped as my only means of giving my son breast milk for 10.5 months now - 1) If you can afford to, buy a lot of pumping stuff, so you don't have to wash as often. Most of it can be done in the dishwasher. Early on my husband was washing it all by hand and that takes forever. Now, we wash the shields and bottles in the dishwasher. We have two little cages that they sell at Target that we put the little yellow things that go onto the shields, the bottle lids, the rings, and the nipples into. And then we wash the white pieces in the sterilizing bags. Doing it that way is a lot easier. 2) It is very hard to find time to pump when you are alone with him. I always made sure I pumped when I woke up over night b/c with my baby I could wake up, feed him, and then put him back down, he'd go to sleep and I could pump. If your baby is a pretty good sleeper at night, you could probably do that too. The best way for me to get as many pumpings in as possible was to pump as many times as possible overnight, since it's so hard during the day when he is awake. Now that he's older and on a schedule, on the weekends (during the week I pumped at work), until recently I would try to get up at 7:45, pump, get him up at 8, then pump towards the end of his morning nap (11:30), then pump during his afternoon nap (4:00), then pump after he went to bed (he goes down at 8:30). Doing that I got much, much less milk than early on, when I pumped 6-7 times a day. If you pump 3-5 times a day, my guess is that you will not get nearly enough. But, you can supplement with formula (which is what I've done for the last several months, once I went to 4 times a day), and know that he's still getting a lot of the benefit of breastmilk. 3) Early on, I probably pumped around 11 pm, then around 3 am, then around 6 am, then as much as possible during the day - but usually probably 3 times. If he gets to the point where he takes a good nap during the day you can do more. I would just do it as often as you can and if somedays you can't get as many, so be it. 4) My baby was always super hungry. I think by the time my baby was the age of yours he ate more than that at a sitting. He did not eat 8 times a day, I don't think - I think it was just 7. But I know I had calculated that he had around 40 oz a day. So, I don't know if the nurses are right or not, but my baby just liked to eat that much. He's very big - 31 inches and 26 pounds at 9 months - so maybe that's why. But I was never willing to sit and listen to him scream in misery just because the experts say that the average baby drinks 19-30 oz or whatever it is. I say if he's hungry, feed him. 5) I generally pump 15 minutes, but also have always gone ahead and kept on pumping if there was still a lot of milk remaining. Hope some of that's helpful! Good luck, and remember that if you can't get enough milk, you can always supplement with formula. Any breast milk you give him is probably helpful!

The LC at the hospial also recommended xxxxxx and we have been using that since. Our son's now 9 weeks old and we still have problem with latching on. I intend to purchase the freestyle and pump half the time to give my breasts a break.  I am also afraid that my milk supply will be decreased - usually get about 4 to 8oz (both breasts) each time I pump. Supply is usually the highest in the morning. 

 Your baby is only 7 weeks old - He needs an average of 2 - 2.5oz per pound per day, hence he needs at least 22oz/day. It does sounds like he is getting too much - how do you know every cry is for milk?

My pediatrician said to not worry about the recommended ounces per day at my son's 4-month check up on the 30th of Jan. My son weighed 7lb 2.6oz at birth & was 14lb 14oz at 4 mos.  Regulat weight gain is the key, here. ~1/3 to 2/3 of an ounce per day weight gain is the average they look for early on. But all babies eat a little differently. My son only takes 2-3 ounces every 3 hours from the bottle while I'm at work, so there's no telling what he actually takes within 24 hours, but we could guess. You can always go in for Nurse Weight Checks, which the Dr office usually doesn't charge for!

March:

2) Now that he's older and on a schedule, on the weekends (during the week I pumped at work), until recently I would try to get up at 7:45, pump, get him up at 8, then pump towards the end of his morning nap (11:30), then pump during his afternoon nap (4:00), then pump after he went to bed (he goes down at 8:30). Doing that I got much, much less milk than early on, when I pumped 6-7 times a day. If you pump 3-5 times a day, my guess is that you will not get nearly enough. But, you can supplement with formula (which is what I've done for the last several months, once I went to 4 times a day), and know that he's still getting a lot of the benefit of breastmilk. 3) Early on, I probably pumped around 11 pm, then around 3 am, then around 6 am, then as much as possible during the day - but usually probably 3 times. If he gets to the point where he takes a good nap during the day you can do more. I would just do it as often as you can and if somedays you can't get as many, so be it.

 

 

 Hey March

Thanks for your reply and encouragement.  Was it hard to change the pumping times from 6-7 times down to 4?  I read that once you drop a feed, the supply can start to go down.  I guess it didn't happen to you.  And you said, you used to pump more overnight and then now u pump during the day, how did you switch?  Did you have a lot of engorgement pain??  

I'm now pumping around 4-5 times a day around the clock, meaning 4-6 hours inbetween each.  I didn't know that I could go on a full night without pumping because if I don't pump within 6 hours, i get a lot of pain.  But most friends who breastfed/pumped before told me that once the milk supply is established, the night feed won't be necessary.  If this works, then I would pump 4 times overnight, so I don't have to struggle with taking care of him and finding time to pump.  haha  

The super hungry part seems to have gone away.  He's now drinking around 100ml (over 3 oz) rather than 120ml (around 4oz) each feed and 7 times instead of 8.  I guess it was a growth spurt which lasted for 5 weeks!!!  (There were super hungry days like drinking 10 times a day of 120ml!!  His weight gain is nicely along the growth curve of WHO, though. 

At some point probably in a month's time, I would like to drop to only pump two times.  Like you said, any breast milk is beneficial!  But really worried about milk supply gone!  Any thoughts on that?

 yeah thanks!  I also took the view that when baby cries so hard to have food, he knows he wants it.  He didn't throw up or anything like that and growing nicely!  But he decided a week ago that he needs a bit less and one time fewer :D  still gaining weight but a bit less :) it's all good 

 Hi Meggan.  When you're pumping 4 times, do you remember what were the times?  You said your milk started weaning when you dropped to 3 times, does it mean that it just went less and less and stopped?  (I'm sorry because I'm not a native speaker of English, sometimes I don't quite understand.)  I'm considering dropping to 3 times also but a bit hesitant because I worry that milk will just stop :(

I pumped around 8:00am, 12:00am, 4:00pm, and 8:00pm. When I went to 3 times a day, each day I made less and less milk. I finally stopped because i was making so little it wasn't worth it. Good Luck!

Oh no... that's my fear.  I guess I will just stay on 4 times as long as I can then.  It's nice to be able to have set times.  I still can't do that.  Usually whenever I'm about to pump (even planning to be an hour before my son would wake up), then bang, he wakes up crying.  He's 9 weeks now, still too young I guess to expect him to have a schedule.    Meggan, thanks!

Hi,

Changing from 6-7 times to 4 wasn't bad, but I did it very gradually - I kept just not getting in quite enough, so I might do 6 one day, then 5, then 7, then 5, then 4, etc.  He was about 4-5 months old when I consciously decided to start doing 4 times a day rather than just trying to get in as many as possible.  I had a lot of problems with getting engorged or painful in the first few months, but that seemed to go away as I got more used to doing it. So I gradually started going longer at night as he slept longer - when he slept 6 hours, I would sleep 6 hours - and I didn't end up with any problems. I did it basically the way that you probably do it when you actually breastfeed - by the time he slept 8 hours, I slept 8 hours. So it was gradual.  I did decide at some point that I was just too tired to do it in the middle of the night, so I would only do it one of the two times he woke up - he probably woke up at 1 am and 5 am or something, and I would skip it at 1 and then pump at 5.

 My milk suppply has always gone WAY down when I cut back on pumping. Early on I made a ridiculous amount of milk - probably 60 oz a day or more.  I usually got at least 12-14 oz per pumping.  When I started cutting back on pumping and only did it 4 times a day, I started getting more like 10-12 oz per pumping (and never more than that, but sometimes less).  So, more like 40 oz a day.  After a few months of that - and a few random days where I would only get 3 times a day of pumping - it started really falling off again, probably down to about 20 oz a day.  When I cut back to 2 times a day a month or so ago, it fell to probably 10 oz a day.  And now that I've done 1 time the last couple days, I am down to more like 6 oz.  So, if you cut back to 2 I would expect to really have your amount of milk fall, a lot.  You may find that as he gets a little older, he gets into a more set schedule with naps, and it becomes easier to pump more during the day - as I said, once my son was 5 months, he settled into a predictable schedule that allowed me to pump once before I got him up in the morning, once during his morning nap, once during his afternoon nap, and once after he went to bed.  So that's a lot easier than in the early days when you're never sure when he's going to sleep or for how long.

I exclusively pump on a schedule simular to the one you (Meggan) mentioned....in the morning before my toddler & 6 wk old wake up then around lunch time then aound 4pm then before I go to bed. 4 times a day & avg about 4 oz per pumping (both breast) except the 1st morning pump is about 8 oz. I supplement through the night with 4 oz of formula. I worried about her not getting enough breastmilk and of course feeling guilty for not having her feed directly from the breast for the closeness. I worry I'm not pumping enough times to stimulate my milk supply for her growing appitite but after reading these helpful posts I feel confident she's ok. She gets breastmilk all day & only one 4oz bottle at 4am. She is 6 wks old & weighs 12lbs. so her weight gain should put my mind at ease I guess. Thanks to everyone's helpful posts I felt like a "black sheep" for exclusively pumping now I don't feel alone :)  

 My son is now 11 weeks.  I've drifted to pumping (around the clock) 3-5 times depending on the day but averaging 4 in 24-hour period because I just need more sleep and sometimes I just can't fit in a session during the day.  I get around 24oz average if I can get 4 pumps in.  I got pretty much the same when I was pumping 7-8 times.  Probably because I still pump during the night.  I found that what gives me more milk is when I go on longer before pumping.  So 6 hours gap gives me much more milk than 2 x 3-hour's.

In the early days, I pumped around 6 times a day.  I got the same milk if i pumped every 2 hours or 3 hours which didn't make sense to me and if I pumped every 4 hours, then I got double the milk!  That's why I didn't pump every 3 hours coz that seemed to be the most ineffective.  I also didn't know at that point that I could drop night pumpings when the supply's established.

There were a couple of nights because my son didn't wake up for feed, so I ended up going for 8 hours without pumping (boy I enjoyed the sleep) and I got much more milk but sorely engorged.  However, it seems very doable :P  I'm very tempted to just pump every 8 hours.  Again, i seem to get much more in proportion if i pump after 8 hours than after 7!!!!  I have to pump at least 25-30 mins, though.  

I initially thought that I would breastfeed him till 6 months.  It turned out that I have to exclusively pump, hopefully to 6 months.  It's just so tough to do.  Now I've almost reached the 3 month mark but feel that I don't have energy or time to do anything else.  Probably will set the goal to 4 months.  

Another issue, when you feed your child, when do you know to increase a feed and drop the number of feeds?  

   Just do what is right for you. Some people will say oh just give up and go to formula. I heard this so many times when I got mastitis in both breasts. Then others make you feel guilty about not breastfeeding long enough or resorting to pumping. It's just like when your pregnant people always comment on how your too big or too small. Just do what feels right for you and don't listen to other people. As far as when to drop a feeding and when to increase the amount. The baby will let you know when they want more. If I know it's about time for my baby to start eating more, then I'll put extra in the bottle each time just to see if she'll eat it. She's never really dropped a feeding. They just start to space out over a period of time.  Instead of eating every 2 hours, she slowly moved to 3 then 31/2 then 4. Now at 8 months, I just feed her on demand. Sometimes she eats every 2 hours, while sometimes she goes 4-5 hours. As she has gone through growth spurts too somedays she will 8 oz. every 3 hours plus baby food, then days like today I'm lucky if she'll eat more than 3 oz. at a time and a few bites a food. It's held true until this point- she lets me know what she needs and she just does things like dropping feedings, learning skills, etc... on her own. I try and try to teach her, but it doesn't work until she's ready.

Meggan, 

 You're absolutely right.  A few days ago, we made it to 4 month mark!  Having returned from a 2-week vacation with 2 - 11 hour flights and 7time zones!  My LO let us know when he wanted more food and sleep.  He transitioned himself to eat every 3 hours to 4 hours during our holiday!  He's now having problems settling to sleep but I think it's not due to jetlag.  It's more to do with that he's now doing more and getting stimulated more.  

 Due to the travel, my supply dropped way down and I was able to get it back up.  Now being back, and stress and lots of emotional stuff, my supply dropped again.  But I'm not going to give up.  Any bit of MM is better than none.  I have 50 bags in the freezer for when there's absolutely no supply.  It's hard work but LO is so healthy.  It's all worth it.  If I can do one more month, plus the freezer stash, we will make it to the 6 month mark for sure :D

 Thanks for all your encouragement and help!