I have an 8 month old son. I breastfeed him in the mornings before I leave for work, and then when I get home from work, and top him off right before bed. I pump once during my work day. While he's at daycare during my work day, he gets fed 2-3 bottles of milk or formula. If I cut out that mid-day pump, will that affect my milk supply? I was also looking for advice/hindsight from mom's in terms of any regrets of weaning to soon? How quickly does milk supply decrease once you start cutting out breastfeeding or pumping sessions?
J.,
Cutting a pumping session out will definitely affect your milk supply. Your baby regulates how much he drinks but as far as pumping goes, if your not stimulating the breast production, it will slow down.
Molly
Yes. I tried the same thing last week and now I'm having trouble getting enough pumped to get her through the next day at day care (I had previously been freezing several ounces a week.) It took my breasts about a day and a half to slow down. Now I'm trying to get my production back up and it's a serious pain.
Your supply well go down. But you should still make enough milk for when you are breast feeding him. It took me about 2-3 days for my milk to adjust when i cut out a feeding. My son weened himslef at 8 months so sorry i don't have any adivce for you there.
A.
I remember that when I cut out one of my pumping sessions at work, it did affect my milk supply. It's all about supply and demand, and if there's less demand, there will be less supply. But - if you are still breastfeeding in the morning and at night, you will continue to produce enough for those feedings. It may take two or three days for your milk supply to adjust to your new schedule.
I think with regard to your question about when to wean, it's really such a personal choice. People will try to guilt you into breastfeeding for years, but the bottom line is, if you enjoy it, you should continue as much as you're able. If you are not really enjoying it, there is certainly no shame in weaning your baby. The point is to feed your baby, and if you are happier using formula, your baby will do just fine. Both of my babies weaned themselves when we started solids, which I had not expected. I was a little sad, but honestly they did great on formula too.
Best of luck!
I cut out the midday pumping when my daughter was roughly 8 months. It does mean the supply will go down, but I nursed her in the morning and at night until she was 1. At that point, I was really only producing on one side and it seemed we were both done. But, had the interest been there on our part, I'm sure we could have gone longer. I just sent her to daycare with formula. I felt a little guilty for a while, but it made my life so much better to cut it out. I don't know your situation, but I had to pump in a closet.
Hi J.!
I am so glad your are still nursing your baby. If you stop pumping at work your milk production will decrease for that time of the day. Because breast feeding is supply & demand if you carve out time after getting home to pump you can still keep the milk production up & have milk to give the provider in the day time. If you pump for 5 minutes after no more milk is coming out it will help to increase your supply. The recomended time to nurse is at least a year to give your baby extra immunity. Breast fed babies get less ear infections & colds. When I was working (as L&D RN) & pumping it was difficult to relax or get enough to time to pump at work too.
