BF and STTN

DS is close to STTN - he goes from 9pm to 3am or 4am, when I wake up to feed him. I think soon he will be going till 5am and maybe all night, which is great (he is 9 weeks). What do I do about pumping/feeding if he STTN 8-10 hours? Would you still wake up and pump even though he sleeps, or sleep all night and hope your supply doesnt diminish? I have barely enough milk as it is and I get a lot of milk in the middle of the night since I pump after he feeds.

BF and STTN

If you want to build up a freezer stash, I would keep pumping during the night. Otherwise, enjoy the sleep! Your breasts will only make milk when they are needed to. So they won't produce as much during the night if your baby (or the pump) doesn't demand it at that time.

Re: BF and STTN

When she would sleep long stretches, I would sleep. I never got up to pump; I needed sleep!!! I would pump in the morning or at night before I went to bed. Your supply will go based on your child. You'll make enough and it adjusts itself.

I would maybe only consider getting up and pumping if I was working and needed to freeze bm, but even then, I think I'd sleep and just pump in the day. Enjoy the sleep, mama!

Re: BF and STTN

When dd was 9 weeks she started sleeping a little longer too. Since I was still on leave I decided took suck it up and still pump. I'm glad I did because I have great freezer stash from it. Now I wake up at 530am both a pretty full. I pump one and leave the other to nurse dd before she goes to daycare.

Re: BF and STTN

When ds sleptlonger sessions ( which was rare until like 4 months), i would get up at least once during the night ( around 1 or 2 in the morning). I never let more than 5 hours pass during the night. By the time i went back to work, I had about 400 ounces of breastmilk in my freezer stash.

Re: BF and STTN

I was faced with this "problem" early on. I would feed DD, put her to bed& then pump both boobs to empty them before the long sleep. Then in the morning I would feed DD & then pump the boob she didn't drink from/drank from the least. I woke up maybe 2 nights to pump & realized as neurotic as I was about my supply/freezer stash, sleep was wayyyyyyyyy more important lol

Another way I established an awesome supply was to keep a manual pump handybz& after feeding DD throughout th day I would pump an ounce or 2 from each boob while DD was sleeping, in swing, etc. I helped me not only establish a great supply but build up mybfrozen stash! ( so much so that I was able to recently donate 50 5oz bags of frozen BM I knew I wouldn't use! & still kept 10 for my freezer)

Re: BF and STTN

If you don't want to pump, don't. Your supply will regulate itself. If you want to build a freezer stash then pump. I am too lazy to pump and will have my share of it once I go back to work in January. My son has been sleeping from 9pm-3 or 4am and waking up to feed for a while and my supply regulated itself. I just feed him often before he goes down for the night.

Re: BF and STTN

When DS was doing the same thing, I would pump before I went to bed. So if he fell asleep around 9, I would pump at 11 before I went to sleep. But I needed the freezer supply before going back to work.

I didn't screw myself up by pumping overnight. I had to some days because I worked overnights and slept during the day. Never threw off my supply for days off.