Post by stephanielouise on Feb 20, 2015 16:55:43 GMT -5
Just getting the hang of the new boards here, usually lurk over on jan15 but hoping you guys can help me here! My LO is 3 weeks and eating about 21 oz a day. I've been pumping everytime he eats but now I have so much over supply. I have over 500oz frozen already. Just need advice on if I should drop a pump, even though I know my supply isn't established until 12 weeks. Just becoming a hassle to try to find places to stash all the milk!
stephanielouise hello from a fellow Jan15'er! I have a big oversupply as well. LO is 6 weeks today and I have at least 800 oz frozen and have to buy a deep freezer this week to store it.
I didn't do much to try to lower my supply until last week, I dropped to pumping every 3 hrs or 8 times a day. It didn't decrease my supply so I dropped to 7 pumps this week, still making over 55 oz/day.
I would give it a little more time to see if it levels out before trying to decrease supply. Just dropping a pump or two may make you feel a little less tied to the pump.
Post by grumpycat88 on Feb 21, 2015 21:05:03 GMT -5
I've also seen it recommended to pump less time at each session. There are a variety of ways that you can actually donate your extra milk if you don't think you'll be using in the 6mo regular freezer/12 mo deep freezer time period. Human Milk for Babies and Eats on Feets are two organizations that you can look into!
I understand why you are hesitant to drop some pumps so soon, but when you get to 12 weeks or whenever you feel comfortable, you want to gradually get yourself down to about 5 or 6 pumps a day while is more manageable in the long term. I also agree with PP that you should pump for less time and not completely empty, and IMO you should start this right away. 80 oz a day is really overkill. You are likely really affecting your foremilk- hindmilk balance, and as a result your LO could be drinking too much low fat foremilk and not enough high fat hindmilk.
I would cut to 6 pumps a day, but not below that for some time.
With this baby, by the time he was 1 month old, I had 700 ounces in the freezer. Then at 12 weeks, my production suddenly cut in half and I went from freezing about 30 ounces a day to freezing about 30 ounces a week. Now, 7 months out, I'm pretty Goldilocks with my supply - not too little, not too much, but just right. I've been getting a little out of the freezer here and there and it's been about a month since I've put any in.
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