Urge I hate pumping

[c1403]

Ok, so a little about us. I have two DD the youngest is nearly 5 moths and breastfed (dd1 was FF). Most days I EBF DD2 but I do work twice a week for 6 hours each day and OH feeds her expressed BM.

Now as my days at work are only short (I get to come home early, very flexible etc) I just can't seem to pump very much, DD drank 10oz on Mondy (all I had in freezer) and I am only pumping 2-3 oz at work. I come home and feed her if she needs me. I try and get another pump in but most of the time I dont. My supply is ok as I feed her exclusively every day apart from the two I work.

Should I try and pump daily and just aim for small amounts like 2oz so I build up my supply for when I work. I am due to work tomorrow but we only have 5 oz so going to have to find time to pump again and get another 5 before tomorrow.

I don't want to but was thinking about mixing breast and formula just for those working days. Has anyone done this? I could probably get one bottle of EBM and one FF. I really hate pumping at homeas I'd rather nurse or spend time with my little ones. Takes me 30mins to get those few ounces.

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[ButterCup17]

A few months ago I was going away for a weekend and needed to leave enough bm for the whole time I was gone. So about a month before that I started pumping every night before u went to bed so i could start a good freezer supply. It was a pain in the butt but I wouldn't have been able to get it any other time

 

[mara16jade]

Before I went to work, I was EBF. I would pump for 5-10mins after I fed my LO. And slowly but surely I developed a small freezer stash.

I'll put the part below in a spoiler so I don't overwhelm your journal. But I think you should pump more often otherwise you're supply will go down. I just went through a rather drastic supply drop due to what I can only imagine was severe stress. And I'm working on building it back up again with Fenugreek, oats, lactation cookies and Mother's Milk tea (which should arrive tomorrow). Best of luck!!

Spoiler

Now that I'm back at work this is what I do:

Get up at 6:30am
Feed LO at 7-7:30am
Pump at work at 8:45am
Pump again at 10am
Meet up for lunch and nurse baby at 12:30pm
Pump at 3:30pm
Home by 5:30pm
Nurse baby at ~6:30pm
EBF for the rest of the night.

I WAS on this schedule and it was just too hectic:

Get up at 6:30am
Feed LO at 7-7:30am
Pump at 10am
Meet up for lunch and nurse baby at 12:30pm
Pump at 2pm
Pump at 4pm
Home by 5:30pm
Nurse baby at ~6:30pm
EBF for the rest of the night.

Then was on this schedule and I wasn't getting enough milk to bring home:

Get up at 6:30am
Feed LO at 7-7:30am
Pump at 10am
Meet up for lunch and nurse baby at 12:30pm
Pump at 3pm
Home by 5:30pm
Nurse baby at ~6:30pm
EBF for the rest of the night.

So the first schedule worked the best for me. I think its because my milk supply is typically higher in the morning, and LO doesn't drain me completely first thing at 7-7:30am. So by 8:45am I can pump (usually) 4-6oz. Then I'll pump for 10mins or less at 10am so I have enough time to fill back up to meet for lunch at 12:30pm. If we can't meet (because I'm stuck in meetings or I'm visiting other job sites) then I'll pump (usually in my car, ugh) at 12:30pm.

 

[c1403]

Thanks for that schedule. I pumped last night before bed and got 2oz, so I am leaving 9oz at home today for feeds.
We only have yo do this twice a week but this is how it works at the moment
6-7am Wake Up and nurse
9-9.30 Nurse again before leaving
11am - she will have a bottle and I may or may not pump
2pm - another bottle, I will generally get a pump in about this time
4pm-I am back home and will nurse rest of the day/night

Thing is, my job is very flexible so the quicker I get my work done the sooner I can be home, so I generally only pump once so that i can get home by 3pm. I guess really need to pump twice to replace the feeds I have missed. The afternoon pump I get 4-5oz but other times I get 2oz. I don't feel fuller at any particular time.

 

[mara16jade]

I would really suggest to pump at the 11am time period. Going ~5 hours without pumping/nursing in the middle of the day will hurt your supply.

 

[kajastarlight]

With DS2 I had to have a big supply so I could feed him and pump enought at work (full time) AND pump enough for when he stayed the night visitation with his Dad. I would feed him on one side and pump the other, then switch him to the one I was just pumping and pump the one he was just eating from. After about a week of doing this I could pump 8 oz while feeding him with each feeding at home and then double pump 16oz in 15 min at work! (At night time after 7ish I just fed him when he wated to eat - we co-slept even and I didn't worry about the pump at all)

 

[mara16jade]

Holy crap kajastarlight!! LOL You are a milk machine!!

 

[Dawnyybus]

I hate pumping, it feels like such a chore, but I've started pumping at the same time as feeding and I can usually get 100ml each side... It really improved my supply when it started to go abit xxxxx

 

[c1403]

My supply seems stable as I feed on demand most days except the two I work.
I've started pumping every morning now as LO slept through so I was very full and managed to get two ounces each morning (three mornings so far). Obviously she may start to wake in the night again, I know for sure I don't want to wake up in the middle of the night to pump!. I can't really feed and pump at the same time as I find pumping annoying with all the wires, plus DD can be quite a wriggler.
Thanks for advice and tips ladies
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