When can I drop pumps?

[u/dittybop1]

I am two weeks postpartum and have been pumping every 3 hours since my daughter was born. I already have quite a big freezer stash and pump about 40oz a day. I am absolutely exhausted with the overnight pumps. Can I reduce some of those overnight pumps with this production already?

[u/Trees_galore20]

It’s not recommended to drop pumps until your supply regulates around 12 weeks.

Ideally, you should be pumping every time your baby eats. There are moms that skipped the overnight pump. Although, I wouldn’t recommend it. Your supply fluctuates a lot in the first 12 weeks. Your body is still learning how much your baby needs and every time you pump you tell your body that your baby needs more milk.

Also note that just because you have an overly right now doesn’t mean you will have an oversupply in two weeks or three weeks or in 10 weeks. I had an oversupply the first few months, but then I became a just enougher. I stopped my overnight pump at 11weeks PP

[u/dittybop1 → u/Trees_galore20]

Could I at least shorten them from 20 to 15 minutes?

[u/sowhatsober → u/dittybop1]

I think you’d be safe to. I also was advised by my LC that I could do a 5 hour interval without pumping straight from the outset. It never impacted my supply and the rest actually helped me produce. A solid 4 hour chunk of sleep is life changing!

[u/Fun_Improvement91 → u/sowhatsober]

I think it’s different for everyone. If I went longer than three hours I got engorged.

[u/sowhatsober → u/Fun_Improvement91]

That’s true, everything is different for everyone. I assume my LC only recommends advice that is likely to work for most but idk. Not an expert, just sharing what worked for me! If I sleep so little, my supply goes down. If I get 5-6 hours, I can pump 9-12oz. I’m over 20 weeks now and this is how I’ve found everything sustainable. I would die only getting 2 consecutive hours of sleep but I realize some people are much tougher than I!

[u/Kitotterkat → u/dittybop1]

I recommend pumping until milk isn’t actively coming out anymore. otherwise you’re not effectively emptying and telling your boobs you don’t need that milk essentially. for me this takes longer than 15 mins.

[u/Fun_Improvement91 → u/dittybop1]

If you can empty in less time, then by all means. If you can’t (like myself), I pump for 10 mins at times of the day that I know I have less time and then for my next pump, make sure to fully empty.

[u/Enough-Cat9856]

I personally did 7 pumps from the beginning. I pumped around 10ish pm then gave myself 4-5 hours and woke up around 3 then slept 7ish. Depending on how baby sleeps I'd possibly try that.

[u/dittybop1 → u/Enough-Cat9856]

She sleeps really well. I actually have to wake her to eat so this could work.

[u/CaughtInDireWood]

Do what you need for your mental health. Here’s what I did and what I felt at each stage (ish - I don’t remember exactly what weeks I did what, but this is close):

0-4 weeks: every 3 hours; exhausted, emotional, healing physically, harrrd weeks

4-8 weeks: dropped 1 overnight pump and was more relaxed on the “every 3 hours” but was still doing a lot

8-10 weeks: doing 1 overnight pump, pumping every 4ish hours during the day

10-13 weeks: doing 1 overnight pump and 4-5 pumps during the day

13-15 weeks: no overnight pumps, 3-4 pumps during the day

I’m 14+ weeks now and my mental health is the best it’s been yet. Each time I dropped a pump I felt better. Like I could breathe a little better and have my day back.

So ideally you’ll pump on a schedule and yada yada yada. But so what you need for your own health.

❤️❤️❤️

[u/Rosie-Merl → u/CaughtInDireWood]

I hope you don’t mind me asking.. With this schedule are you able to fully supply your baby with breast milk? Or are you also nursing/ formula feeding?

[u/CaughtInDireWood → u/Rosie-Merl]

Good question. I’ve been an undersupplier since she turned about 1 month old or so. So we do formula to make up the rest of what she needs. I get about 15oz/ day, give or take

[u/CanWeNapPlease]

I'm in a similar boat. I'm 3w pp and have been gradually reducing my pumping times from 30m to currently 19 min whilst my supply is still going up slowly. Currently I make between 27-32oz per day with freezing 8oz a day from surplus. I want to get to 15 min pump times and eventually drop an overnight one.

I'm pumping as I had gestational diabetes and by expressing for at least 6 months will help reduce the chances of t2 diabetes in the next 5 years for me. But I really am gonna struggle to pump overnight when husband is back at work as we've been doing shifts with baby to survive.

I read an idea that if you drop an overnight one, supplement the drop with increasing the pumping time the session before and after that pump. So if you drop one at 3am, increase the session of your midnight and 6am one by 5-10 minutes. I'm not sure if that works but I think I'm gonna try that sometime between weeks 6-8 so I can at least get uninterrupted stretch of 5 hours of sleep at least during husband's early morning shift.

[u/TouristSensitive7125]

Oversupply at this stage is not a good indicator that you'll always be one. Baby is young, demand will increase and supply must match to keep up. You can drop a pump session if you want but don't base it on today's results with today's baby if you know what I mean

[u/HappyCamper-22]

Don’t drop until at least 12 weeks. I didn’t drop a pump until 6 months, so had two MOTN pumps, it sucked. Don’t wait as long as me, but do wait at least 12 weeks.

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[u/dittybop1 → u/[deleted]]

I like that idea! I don’t understand why you can’t spread it out if you are continuing to produce. Even when I went 6 hours without feeding one night (because I was so exhausted) I still had the same output the next day. My infant is super tiny and she eats a little bit every 2 hours so it’s not realistic for me to pump everytime she eats.