Pumping Twice A Day

My guys stopped nursing at 8 and 9 months old, and since then I have been pumping only. My supply is dropping and dropping, but I still get enough for the boys to each get a bottle a day. Right now I pump 3-5 times a day. However, at 1-2 of the pumps I get like 1-2 ounces.
This is the typical pattern on a 4 pump day (which is most common):

7-9 AM pump 5 ounces
12noon pump 1-2 ounces
7PM pump 3 ounces
10PM pump 2 ounces

If I drop down to 2 pumpings a day one in the AM and one late at night--do you think my supply will drop even further or do you think I be able to get at least 4-5 ounces per pumping. I'm starting to feel like the midday and late night pumpings are a waste of time.

 

Rachel,

Those silly boys! They need an intervention from LLL! :lol:

Anyway, I dropped down to 2 pumps/day around 11 months. I did not notice much of a decrease in my supply at all. Maybe 2 less ounces, total. My biggest supply drop came when I went from pumping 4xday to 3xday.

At my 2xday pump I was pumping like this:

9:00 a.m. 6oz

9:00 p.m. 6oz

It felt SO good to drop those mid-day pumps. They really take up a lot of time and make it very difficult to go out to the park, shopping, the zoo, etc.

Good luck and good for you for continuing to pump despite your boys deciding they no longer wanted to nurse. :clapping: Pumping is definitely a labor of love. And you won't believe how good it will feel when you are done! You'll be so proud of yourself and also so relieved to never have to use the pump again!

 

Your first two and your last two pumping sessions are close together. Whereas theres a 7 hour gap between morning and night pumping.
You could always try to drop down to 2 pumps say between 7-9am and then again between 7-9pm and see how you do. Even if your supply does diminish a tad you can add another session back again.
Pumping is A LOT of work and I know you are determined to do it have you thought about taking Reglan at this stage to help with the pumping output??

 

you need to pump more frequently to empty your breasts more often. This plus enough sleep, water, and food will increase your production. I drink 4quarts a day and pump every 4 hours. Water is very crucial to my personal milk supply as well as pumping until I'm empty. I nurse one baby, so I'm pumping for the other one. i pump for about 1/2 hour but that's because thats how long it takes to empty my breast. In the morning it can be 1 hour because I'm so full... (usually due to drinking more at night than I do in the morning - water makes me nauseated in the a.m.).

i notice my milk supply goes down to 3 or so ounces in 4 hours when I'm not getting that water in. I have a quart water bottle full near me at all times, and another one or more full on the counter for me to grab. I drink as often as I go to relieve myself AND pump. sometimes when I am extremely tired. Personally, pumping every 4 hours and doing all of this, I don't think i can produce any more and that's ok because mine are 16 months old and need to eat more other food anyways.

I HTH you!!

 

QUOTE(Bernice @ Apr 25 2009, 07:53 PM) [snapback]1288394[/snapback]
you need to pump more frequently to empty your breasts more often. This plus enough sleep, water, and food will increase your production. I drink 4quarts a day and pump every 4 hours. Water is very crucial to my personal milk supply as well as pumping until I'm empty. I nurse one baby, so I'm pumping for the other one. i pump for about 1/2 hour but that's because thats how long it takes to empty my breast. In the morning it can be 1 hour because I'm so full... (usually due to drinking more at night than I do in the morning - water makes me nauseated in the a.m.).

i notice my milk supply goes down to 3 or so ounces in 4 hours when I'm not getting that water in. I have a quart water bottle full near me at all times, and another one or more full on the counter for me to grab. I drink as often as I go to relieve myself AND pump. sometimes when I am extremely tired. Personally, pumping every 4 hours and doing all of this, I don't think i can produce any more and that's ok because mine are 16 months old and need to eat more other food anyways.

I HTH you!!



I think Rachel is asking about dropping sessions and what to expect as far as a supply dip when going from 3 sessions to 2 sessions, not necessarily about adding sessions and increasing her supply by adding sessions. (Please correct me if I'm wrong, Rachel!).

 

First off, good for you for pumping after your boys decided to be stubborn. I know first hand how hard it is to pump exclusively as I pumped for 8.5mos when the twins were born. If I were you, I would drop one of the middle ones to start with and just pump at 7-9ish, 2ish, and 10. If you don't want the supply to drop though, you might have to spend more time at each of those pumps. When I finally went to only pumping 3 times a day, it was for 45-60 minutes at a time. You have done an awesome job providing breast milk for your sons. If the only way to keep your sanity when it comes to thoughts of the pump is to try and go to the 2 sessions a day (I HATED my pump by the time I was done), then give it a try, as one of the pps stated you could always add the extra sessions back in if you had to.

 

I suppose it just depends on the women. As soon as I start just pumping without breastfeeding my milk supply always goes down. I could pump hourly and take fenugreek, but it doesn't change anything. For the first little while I could get what they needed, then over time is would always start to decrease. That's happened with three of my little ones. I hope though you'll be able to figure out something to help boost your supply. I felt like I tried everything, but pumping alone was never as productive.

Great job getting them to 9 months and beyond!!!

 

I've been doing this for 16 months, it's exhausting but I feel it has it's benefits. (i'm not trying to brag or anything, i'm just stating a fact, and to be honest I overproduced regardless of how many babies I'm feeding - it is a curse as much as its a benefit)

here's an example of my pumping schedule
12am 6oz
8am 10oz
12pm 6oz
4pm 6oz
8pm 6oz

I notice I can go for longer between and not feel painfully full if I haven't dranken enough, but my supply always goes down. I thought you were worried about your supply going down, which is why I mentioned pumping a bit more often. But you also want to decrease your pumping episodes (I so understand as pumping & feeding takes double the time it would just to nurse). I believe that if you eat and drink enough through out the day, you may end up being able to drop a pump or two, but it will take you longer to empty your breasts sufficiently enough to keep your milk supply up.



i know it's hard, I don't always stick to my 4 hour schedule (it usually starts when I get up and it's light out, to just before going to bed, especially if it's been more than 1hr since I last pumped) but the baby I pump for I'm having a hard time getting her to eat table foods and she's very attached to her breastmilk. So if I don't pump, she doesn't have food she wants to eat. Its a bit overwhelming at times when I'm trying to get her to eat more at the table and she absolutely refuses to (even if I refuse her normal portion of milk) or she doesn't want to eat more than just 1/2 or less of her serving sizes. she refuses to take any milk replacements, formula, etc.



try a normal day where you eat well and get plenty of fluids. Take note of how many ounces total you pump in a 24 hour period. By doing so you can find out how much milk you produce in an hour. (for instance, I pump 1.5oz/hr during the day and about 2oz/hr when i'm asleep) You can always try to drop the ones you want and see through charting if you will drop in your supply as well. If so, you can bring them back and encourage your supply to go back up. that is, if you are into all that stuff like I am (i like lists and charts, I can't help it! I'm very organized)

Charting it will help if you decide to return to that pumping schedule by encouraging you to see that your milk supply IS going back up, even if it's little by little. I had to chart for them whe they were in the NICU and back then it was 1/2oz every 5 days, but that's when the prolactin is at it's strongest, you know? So i'm not sure what it'd be after 6 months.

 

How are you doing Rachel? Did you give it a try?

 

How long do you pump per session? I found that I would have multiple letdowns if I pumped for longer amounts of time....so you may be able to do that in the morning and evening sessions, and just eliminate the middle ones altogether.

From about 4 months to 10 months, I pumped in the morning before they woke up, during afternoon nap, and at night after they went to bed. Before 4 months, I was pumping every three or four hours....but I found that my production stayed the same when I went to three pumpings, as long as I increased the amount of time of each of those sessions. Unfortunately that meant about an hour for each of those...thank goodness for the hands-free bra and the laptop, and Twinstuff.

Toward the very end, I dropped the afternoon one, and my production did go down a bit. You'll just have to try it out and see what happens.

Hang in there! Pumping is so very hard.

 

too late to go back and edit, but i realize I put 12am and 8, i forgot to put that this varies. 8 being the most extreme length I've gone, and in no way on a regular basis. usually if I pump at 12, I do again at 5, very seldomly 8 as that'd be pushing it. Like last night I pumped at 11:30-12am and again at 5am. I've got some issues: a lump in the breast I pump and a higher chance of getting mastitis in that breast when I go too long in between.

oh like it matters. I just thought if anyone was reading, I'd like to clarify it and be more accurate. My baby won't eat anything else hardly so it depends on if she needs the food or not. ok. i'm done.

 

QUOTE(girls! @ Apr 26 2009, 12:56 PM) [snapback]1288882[/snapback]
How are you doing Rachel? Did you give it a try?


Yeah, but I'm not sure yet because I got aunt flow, so my supply dropped anyways. I'll need a couple days to see if it really makes a difference. I'm gonna leave the pump and not take it to work today--hope I don't regret that.

QUOTE(Becca34 @ Apr 26 2009, 01:18 PM) [snapback]1288895[/snapback]
How long do you pump per session? I found that I would have multiple letdowns if I pumped for longer amounts of time....so you may be able to do that in the morning and evening sessions, and just eliminate the middle ones altogether.

Hang in there! Pumping is so very hard.

I usually pump 30 minutes. I'd say it's about 3 letdowns.

I'm having a very hard time in the afternoon working pumping into my schedule--hence the huge afternoon gap. My work schedule this semester is not conducive to a good pumping schedule. I seriously thought about pumping in the car on the way home, but my drive is just way to crowded and dangerous to do it (that's NYC for ya).

 

Good luck, Rachel. I hope you are able to figure out something that works! You're doing an amazing job :Clap: - and you are so close to the 12-month point - just do what works best for you and your family!!

 

Good luck with your decision! Maybe the act of leaving the pump home will be mentally freeing enough to help you relax and pump more when you need to! I'm so impressed with all of you who pump so much - you should be really proud of yourself! Let us know how it works out for you!

 

Let us know how that goes/went (leaving the pump). Sorry about AF

 

QUOTE(sullivanre @ Apr 27 2009, 07:48 AM) [snapback]1289663[/snapback]
I seriously thought about pumping in the car on the way home, but my drive is just way to crowded and dangerous to do it (that's NYC for ya).


I remember being stuck on the BQE trying to leave the city on a Friday evening...we saw a woman pulled over on the side of the road and standing outside her car, in a power suit and heels, talking on her cell phone, with a little kid sitting on a potty next to her.

(Sorry, totally OT, but I thought it might make you laugh.)

I've pumped in the car before, but it's awkward and cumbersome -- can't imagine trying to do it while actually driving, much less in NYC traffic.

 

QUOTE(Becca34 @ Apr 28 2009, 12:15 AM) [snapback]1291148[/snapback]
I remember being stuck on the BQE trying to leave the city on a Friday evening...we saw a woman pulled over on the side of the road and standing outside her car, in a power suit and heels, talking on her cell phone, with a little kid sitting on a potty next to her.

(Sorry, totally OT, but I thought it might make you laugh.)

I've pumped in the car before, but it's awkward and cumbersome -- can't imagine trying to do it while actually driving, much less in NYC traffic.

LOL @ the potty. I'm driving on I95 to the Cross Island Parkway and then the Long Island Expressway--I have to have one of the worlds most disgusting commutes.

 

Sounds like it may be too much for your drive, but I did pump on the way to and from work. I would have quit pumping much sooner if I hadn't been able to use that time. I hooked everything up at an empty restaurant parking lot by daycare and covered up good with a nursing cover and then stopped at a gas station that had a big side lot when I was done (about 30 minutes later where I got off the highway). The only problem was if I had to change bottles which could happen in the mornings I just used the big gerber clearview bottles to minimize that chance. Good luck with whatever you decide.