EPers: New ? about output

[birch113]

My MOTN pump and first morning pump tend to be my biggest, and then I see a decrease throughout the day. I'm curious, what is your output like throughout the day? Do you consistently pump roughly the same amount at each pump, or see a decrease like I do?

[nbateman5]

Big output at the beginning and steady throughout. My 430am pump that I wake for is always around 8-9oz but normal pumps are 4-7oz throughout the day for me

[malmomma]

When I was EPing, I would get my biggest output around 3 or 4 am and it would definitely decrease throughout the day

[birch113]

Feb 14, 2015 19:56:28 GMT -5 Miss Killjoy said:

It's well documented that your biggest output is in the early morning because that's when your hormone levels are highest (around 1-6 a.m. if I recall correctly). Your prolactin levels decrease throughout the day, causing your supply to "decrease" (really just be harder to get out... we all know you're never truly empty!) as the day goes on.

Thank you! I am still hoping to get LO back to the boob, and I worry how that would impact my supply. Like, if he only takes 3-4 oz when I normally pump 7, or he needs 4 oz when I normally pump 2, how does it all work out? Sorry if it seems like a dump question.

[pdxlaurens]

Mine follows the same pattern. Super high (for me) just before dawn then down a bit all morning and early afternoon with a bit of fluctuation then lowest mid to late evening. It sucks cause Max eats the most in the evening so every day I think I'm getting ahead enough to freeze some and then he catches up and occasionally even surpasses me and I have to add in formula. My body is not in tune with his needs in that sense.

[pdxlaurens]

Feb 15, 2015 0:00:13 GMT -5 Miss Killjoy said:

Feb 14, 2015 23:10:39 GMT -5 pdxlaurens said:

Mine follows the same pattern. Super high (for me) just before dawn then down a bit all morning and early afternoon with a bit of fluctuation then lowest mid to late evening. It sucks cause Max eats the most in the evening so every day I think I'm getting ahead enough to freeze some and then he catches up and occasionally even surpasses me and I have to add in formula. My body is not in tune with his needs in that sense.

You're EPing, right? Are you only getting enough each day for a full day's feedings, or are you getting more than that? I'm consistently ahead of LO and freezing some, too, but that's because she went a day without eating much (post growth spurt nap frenzy) so I jumped ahead. Now that I'm comfortably ahead of her, I feel safe to freeze a few ounces each day. I usually only freeze stuff from the evening though because I want to make sure I don't freeze everything and then have her be super hungry one day.

Make sure you are drinking LOTS. I always have a drink of some kind next to me - water, juice, milk - and it's made a world of difference for my supply. I have a drink even when I'm not feeling thirsty. Days when I don't do this, it's harder to get my usual amount pumping the next day.

ya, I'm EPing and barely meet a days needs. So far today I've gotten about 20 oz and will pump once or twice more and likely get 2 or 3 oz per session which I'll feed overnight. when I first started pumping I was trying to drink a full glass of water during every pumping session and I think I need to start doing that again -kind of force myself to remember to drink water because I forget.

[birch113]

Feb 14, 2015 23:10:39 GMT -5 pdxlaurens said:

Mine follows the same pattern. Super high (for me) just before dawn then down a bit all morning and early afternoon with a bit of fluctuation then lowest mid to late evening. It sucks cause Max eats the most in the evening so every day I think I'm getting ahead enough to freeze some and then he catches up and occasionally even surpasses me and I have to add in formula. My body is not in tune with his needs in that sense.

I'm right there with you. By the end of the day, each pumping session goes to the very next feeding, so if I can't pump on time (ex: LO is too fussy) I'm short. Tonight I did not pump during dinner, and LO was ready to feed right after. I almost had enough, but he was still hungry and I had to give 1oz formula to top him off. Major mommy guilt, but I wanted to enjoy one single meal all day without pumping! If I could just get to 30 oz / day, I'd be golden.