Pumping at Night

Let him sleep, but you should still get up and pump. I used to pump at night for 6 months, once I stopped getting up at night the milk supply went down ...

HI, in my experience of breatfeeding the less I pumped and the longer time that went between pumping the less milk i made. If anything pump right before you go to sleep and as soon as you wake up. I was able to breatfeed for 1 year. Good Luck!!!!

R.:

I don't think that you need to pump at night unless youa re uncomfortable.

If you would like assistance getting him back to the breast please call.

P., RLC, IBCLC
Breastfeeding and Parenting Solutions
www.breastfeedingandparentingsolutions.com

i got up and pumped to keep up my supply

congratulations on your son! and also for pumping. if you still want to try to breastfeed, try laying down to feed him (side-lie nursing). i hv friends that had this prob and remedied it by doing this. later, the baby is bigger and can handle the over-active letdown that you have.
as for the night-time pumping -- I think it's up to you. my Lact. cons. recommends doing the pumping at night. your largest amt of production is between 1-5am. if you wake up, it's best to pump. if you don't wake up, then don't get up. if you feel your supply is quite good and you can pump a lot, then i'm sure you won't have issues w/ supply dropping off.
if you're interested, come to the weekly support group that i run for breastfeeding moms. it's mondays 10:30-11:30 at Wheatland Salem Church, 95th/Book (entrance 3, room 125 just inside the door). we talk about EVERYTHING and my lact. cons. often is there to answer questions, too.
Congrats again!

My son starting sleeping through the night at 2 weeks and I did not get up and pump at night. I did have to be to work at 6am though, so I was up at 430 and got ready and then fed him at 5 before I left for work. I hope this helps. I did not lose any milk supply either. I still got about 6 ozs of milk out of each breast both times during the day that I pumped at work and it only took 10 min each time. I had the medela double pump in style. Which one are you using?

S. Bailey CLD
Aurora
www.tendermomentsdoula.com

Gosh no...do not wake him up. This is a great phase he is going through, learning to sleep through the night and understanding the difference b/w day and night. Let the little guy sleep, if he was hungry, he would let you know.However, if he is not gaining weight appropriately, ask your pediatrician for his/her opinion. Enjoy your rest!

I have the same problem with milk supply but I would strongly recommend trying to go back to breastfeeding. As they mature they can handle the flow better. My DD would choke and spit out milk all the time but we stuck with it and now she is a champ, when I have a let down and its powerful you can hear her guzzling away but now she has no problem controling it. I would try and lay back or recline while your feeding him so that gravity can help and then just stick with it. Its a little bit harder but so rewarding in the end when they getting all breastmilk from you.

If you do go back to breastfeeding then I would pump at night if you are uncomfortable but just enough to relieve the pressure, otherwise your body will continue to think that your baby is eating through the night and its a never ending cycle of pumping at night. If you continue to bottlefeed then I would say to pump during the night since the pump is not as efficent as baby is and that way you can make sure that your supply stays up. Good luck I know its tough but it will get easier!!!

You will be fine pumping at night. You will produce enough milk during the day there is nothing to worry about there. Your body will keep continuing to produce the milk so it will be there and availalble for your little one. I pumped for my oldest boy when he was a baby during the night and breast fed during the day. So go ahead and pump at night and you will be fine the next day. D.

In my opinion, don't get up to pump at night if you are not uncomfortable. It will only tell your body to be ready to feed at that time and make you MORE uncomfortable overnight. I agree that if you want to get an extra pump in, do it right after your baby settles down for that 7-9 hour sleep (congrats to him and you for that milestone) and then get to sleep yourself!!! By the morning, you should be ready for a nice long feed.

Sleep!

I did exclusive pumping for 4 months and never got up during the night to pump. I was making enough to fill his bottles for the day AND bank an extra 8-16 ounces. I started pumping at 6:30 and did my last pumping around 10:00, enough for 7 pumping sessions a day.

I also drank lots of water and ate a bowl of oatmeal every day to try to stay hydrated and encourage my supply. I stopped EPing at the 4th month because the schedule was entirely too strenuous and stressful, and my son needed a healthy mommy.

HI R.,
Breastfeeding works such that demand drives supply. So if you are not producing enough during the day to fill his bottles, then I would guess that nighttime pumping may be necessary --

but actually, I was drawn to your post because I had a very similar situation to yours with too much milk being produced and a coughing/choking issue for my little girl. It was very difficult for a few months! There are a few things I did to make it easier:
1. Pump a little bit before you feed him to take the "force" out of the experience
2. Pump as little as possible when he is not around to reduce your supply
3. Position your son in a quasi-sitting/upright position so the milk is not flowing downward into his throat

We went through this for about the first 4 months, things really got better after that and I dont squirt at all anymore. Good luck!

Hi R.,

My son is just over 5 months, and has been sleeping like a champ through the night since about 10 weeks, too. I still get up to pump but that's because he was eating soooo much during the day that I had to keep up. I am uncomfortable by about 2AM and it wakes me up. At this point, I have a large stock in the freezer for him.

With my first son, my milk dried up at about 6 months and I didn't want that to happen again. So, I did some things differently this time. Not only do I pump at night, but I also still encourage nursing as much as I can. It's enjoyable for both of us and it keeps my supply going. I didn't nurse my first son after about 8 weeks.

Congrats on your baby.

T.

i nursed my daughter and i weaned her at one year (she is 15 mos now). i had overactive letdown and oversupply on both sides. it took awhile to get my flow matched up with what she could take but i did do it. websites that are extremely helpful: kellymom.com, lalecheleague.org. also, you can call the northwestern memorial hospital breastfeeding helpline. it is staffed by lacatation consultants. you don't need to have had your baby at the hospital. the line is###-###-####. also, if you are interested in having a lacation come in person to watch your breastfeeding your baby and give advice, i have one to recommend, jane o'connor of lactation associates, ###-###-####. my daughter also had to go on zantac at 4 mos for 2 months as once i got the breastfeeding under control, she was still having projectile spitup. good luck!

hi R.,

I also had the same problem -- one breast was faster flowing and my daughter would choke/cough. When she started sleeping through the night (at ll weeks), I didn't pump at night. For the first week after she was sleeping through the night, at the first feeding, she would only nurse on one side (either the fast of slow breast) and go back to sleep in about an hour. Then I bumped whichever side she didn't drink. My daughter is now 14 weeks old and in the morning, she will now take both breasts. I have a stash of frozen breastmilk and we use it when I'm at work. So if you need to stock up your milk supply, I would go pump. Otherwise, if you are not unconfortable, then don't worry about it. Good luck.

L.

I pumped for a year for my triplets and yes, even when they were sleeping through the night, I would get up and pump. The reason being is that the less you pump, the less you produce. What I did was time it so that my last pump session was between midnight and 1am - then I would sleep about 6 hours and then start my pump schedule again.

I am currently breastfeeding my second child (the first time we went 10 months). I am currently pumping through the night to build my backup supply. My OB recommended having 2 weeks worth in the freezer (in case you need an antibiotic that isn't safe during breastfeeding. Also a great help if your supply starts to drop off.)
You also want to consider your job. Mine is VERY stressful and long hours. I don't keep up my supply well due to those factors, so the night pumping helps me out. If it's not wearing you out to get up, go ahead and pump to get ahead and see what happens when you go back to work. If your supply is okay at that point, you're fine. You could also stop now and reinstitute the night pumping if you see that you're falling short during the work hours. Your body will adjust back to it.

Good Luck!

Have you tried going back to breastfeeding? He's old enough to regulate how fast the milk comes out now and it would take the work out of pumping for you. Also, laying back so that gravity is pulling the milk toward your body instead of directly in to his mouth can help.

I would be worried about production as well. That's very early to sleep through the night (congrats on that!!!) and many times your body hasn't even regulated what it produces at this point so if you take that pumping out, it could make a difference. However, if you do pump right before bed and right when you get up, that will help. Maybe add a pump time during the day?

Good Luck!

If you're actually ONLY feeding him breastmilk, and you feed on demand, you won't need to pump at night. Aside from wanting to "get away" for a few hours, if you're not working, why are you pumping? The only reason I ask is that pumping is not really as effective at draining your breasts as just nursing your baby (and if you ask me, not nearly as nice for mom either). IMHO, if you're with him, you might as well nurse him. If you're away from him then by all means, pump to replace the missed feeding. But either way, in my experience as long as you breastfeed your baby when he's hungry your milk will figure itself out. YOu may find that you're extra full in the mornings but as long as you nurse him right before he goes to sleep for the long stretch and right when he wakes up I don't think it will impact your supply much. This was my experience, in any case. I still breastfeed my 20-month old son, so I guess I did an ok job :)

Dear R.,
Do you think you could nurse him on the side that produces less milk and continue to pump the other?
If you are wanting to produce enough milk for when you return to work then yes, I think you should pump at night.
There are no guarantees that his present sleep pattern will continue anyway so it is better to be safe than sorry.

R. A-
I am not a lactation consultant but I have breastfed two children past the age of one, so I speak more from my own experiences. I don't think that you should worry about not producing enough during the day. Your body will produce as much milk as your baby needs. It's one of the miracles of breastfeeding. I do have one qustion...do you breastfeed him on the other side at all? I would try that for a little while if it is comfortable for you. As far as pumping in the middle of the night, I would try doing that if it doesn't drive you crazy. You could build up a nice supply of bottles before you go back to work.

Good luck and trust your own instincts.
S.

You don't want to go more than 10 hours without nursing. It will affect your milk production.

Hope that helps!
L.

you can if you want and store it for when you go back to work, but if you don't feel uncomfortable, then you could skip it. it might affect your supply but probably won't. personally, I got up a little in the middle of the night but then found that i was exhausted and decided that being rested was pretty important.