My 2 1/2 month old exclusively breast-fed daughter recently started sleeping through the night from about 10 pm to about 8 am. This is great for us as I've been pining for a full night of sleep since she was born. The first night, I kept waiting for her to wake up for her 4 am feed, so I didn't pump when I felt too full, and ended up with a case of mastitis the next day. The antibiotics are working well and I'm on the mend from the mastitis. Three days later it seems that she is consistently skipping that 4 am feed, but I have had to pump at 11 pm before I go to bed, and then set my alarm for 4 am to get up to pump so that I don't get too full. So, basically, I want my breasts to produce enough milk for her, but only between about 5 am and 9 pm, rather than around the clock! I watch her sleeping peacefully while I pump, and I want to do the same! Does anyone have any suggestions for me? Is it possible to get my boobs to adjust to her new schedule?
Eventually your body will adjust. I found that I had to pump at night for about 2 weeks - just enough to relieve the pressure - not to fully drain. This avoided the infection and help my body adjust to my daughter's schedule.
Your body will adjust but it will take a few days. What I would do/have done is go to bed and wake up when you wake and do a partial pumping. If you do a full pumping that signals your body that baby still needs that feeding. That helps keep you from getting engorged and uncomfortable but sends your body the signals that you don't really need that feeding. Gradually pump less and less till you don't have to pump at night. It might take a week or so for your body to adjust but it will I promise! That's the beauty of breastfeeding.
It is totally possible to get your boobs on the same schedule. In my experiennce it just takes a couple days. When you pump, just pump enough so that you are not engorged or firm. If you are emptying your supply you are telling your body to keep producing. Pump just enough to release the pressure. After a couple days it should work itself out.
I hope this works for you.
Agree with the other moms. My suggestion would have been the 11pm and 6am pumping sessions, but it appears you're already on top of that.
Your body will adjust - it may just be an uncomfortable few days.
Good luck.
My boys pediatrician always tells me that you produce milk based on the demand over the last 5 days. If you are pumping at 11 and 4 every day then that is telling your body that you still need the milk. What I would do is just pump the bear minimum that you can to keep yourself from getting engorged, and then hopefully it should become less and less until you don't need to pump anymore and then you should just end up not producing so much at those times. I'm so sorry!!! That is the worst! Especially at night!!
When my 6 month old started sleeping better, that happened to me. I would take a hot shower or bath to help get the milk out without having to pump. I don't know if you want to get up and shower at those times, but maybe that would work faster to get your body on the new schedule.
Good luck!!
My son was a great sleeper. From the beginning he would go to bed at 8, nurse at 12 and then sleep until 6, eat and go back to sleep until 9:30.
I would nurse him at 12 (wasn't a full feed) and then my husband would cuddle him while I pumped myself dry. I would leave that bottle on the headboard for his 6 AM feed. When he would wake up, I would give him that bottle while I pumped a bit for relief (I couldn't nurse him first thing in the morning because he would gag from the let down).
Your body will adjust. Breastmilk is supply and demand. Your body will supply as much as is demanded and as often as its needed.
I'll be interested to see the other answers but my experience is that unless you want your milk supply to drop, you need to pump at least every 3-4 hours during the night. If you start going through the night without pumping, you will not keep producing milk at the rate you are currently doing. At some point, that is going to be exactly what you want, but with a 2 1/2 month old baby, I don't think that is what you want to do. I'm sorry to say you won't be getting a full night's sleep for quite a while yet. I'm guessing that you will get some answers that say that all will be fine if you stop pumping in the middle of the night but if it were me, I would not want to take that chance. Once your supply drops, it is a HUGE amount of work to get it back up again.
I think that you are doing the right thing with the pumping. Just be aware that most babies go through a growth spurt at about 6 months and start waking during the night again and need to be fed.
Express only to comfort, not to "empty" the full let-down of milk to avoid overstimulation and decrease this chronic engorgement.
Decreasing or increasing milk supply takes 24 to 48 hours, so give yourself and your body some time while you keep comfortable. Remember, too, that a growth spurt is just around the corner, so shortly after you allow your body to tailor supply to her current needs, Baby will want to have a "milk day" and nurse often to stimulate additional supply to meet her growing needs--don't let it frustrate you since babies' eating and sleeping patterns are always adjusting. As soon as you kick this mastitis and chronic engorgement, you'll be on track for letting her set the pace for your supply and even its timing. In the meantime, consider avoiding any artificial nipples so all the stimulation your breasts receive is from her, and she is not wasting energy sucking without getting nutrition.
Your prolactin hormone levels are naturally high very early in the morning, so it is common to have lots of milk then.
Be sure to watch your baby's stool and urine output to be sure she is getting enough--you're looking for 5-6 heavy paper diapers every 24 hours at this age.
Consider learning hand-expression techniques which are less labor-intensive than using the pump for expressing just to comfort. You can find information on hand expression at www.llli.org.
Contacting your local La Leche League Leader can also save your sanity with breastfeeding questions. All their services are completely free and medically accurate, and they offer telephone help and meetings with other nursing moms.
Consider also Googling "ecological breastfeeding," to familiarize yourself with what all this lovely sleeping will do to your fertility. Such a long stretch without Baby at the breast will likely bring back ovulation and your period sooner.
Congrats on being such a proactive mom! You'll both reap the benefits of your breastfeeding relationship for the rest of your lives!
Your boobs will eventually adjust. You may have to pump for a while, but only pump enough to take the pressure off - don't empty them completely. Once the body clock gets the message, it will get better, but these things take a bit of time. However, as long as you still have mastitis, you have to keep that milk flowing. Sleep is, unfortunately, a second priority until the inflammation goes down.
Lucky for you that she is sleeping, took us a year to get to that point. With breastfeeding, don't pump dry, as said it will tell your body you need to keep producing that milk. So, just pump to comfort and slowly reduce the amount of time you pump, over the course of a week or two and your body will respond and stop producing so much milk at those times. Your body is in tune with your baby and will produce milk on demand as it is needed, its really neat that way.
