Can I Drop The Night Pump And Still Be Able To Breastfeed?

[Anonymous]

I have an 8 week old and he has been sleeping 11pm-7am for the last week. I combo feed and was getting up at 3/4am when he woke up to breastfeed and pump. I have been getting up to pump at that time but wonder if I can skip it? I know supply is regulated at this point and I don’t want to deal with clogs, but a nice 8 hour stretch of sleep would be amazing at this point. I’m not concerned about losing some supply because I do have a small freezer stash and I supplement with formula. How long can I go at this age without feeding/pumping without totally losing my supply?

[Anonymous]

My supply went down a lot when I stopped pumping at night (I was exclusively pumping). I know it is not supposed to happen but I got the most milk overnight. Maybe it would be different if you were nursing too.

[Anonymous]

It depends. How much and how often do you nurse or pump? How much do you get at that pump?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It depends. How much and how often do you nurse or pump? How much do you get at that pump?

OP here. He eats every 2-3 hours during the day. Average is 7-8 times a day. I nurse and offer a bottle after morning feed, night feed, and dream feed. He eats 28-32oz/day. I pump 4-8oz at 3/4am and get my most milk at that pump. I make an average of 32oz and have a small freezer stash from earlier weeks when he ate less and I was able to freeze more.

[Anonymous]

I would at least try to sleep if you can. The engorgement might be too much.

[Anonymous]

If your biggest pump is the night pump I think you would be at risk of losing supply.

[Anonymous]

I would sleep. I exclusively breastfeed so I’m not sure if it’s different with combo feeding but I like sleep to much to get up unless my kids need to eat and haven’t had supply issues at all. I currently also have an eight week old but he’s not doing more than 4-5 hours a stretch yet. Kinda jealous of your eight. 😆

[Anonymous]

I have a 12 week old who sleeps from roughly 11-7 (sometimes later). I do NOT get up in the middle of the night to pump and have not had supply issues. Engorgement was bad for the first week or so but my body adjusted; a few times I woke him up at 6am ish to feed when I was too uncomfortable. I use the hakaa during morning feeds to collect some milk, but we only give 1 bottle a day (the dinnertime one).

[Anonymous]

I slept when my kid slept. It’s person-dependent, but it didn’t affect my supply at all. Irrespective of supply, if your baby is sleeping, I’d let yourself sleep. So important for your well-being and you can always supplement if you have an unexpected drop.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If your biggest pump is the night pump I think you would be at risk of losing supply.

+1 That's my thought, as well.

[Anonymous]

You won’t lose everything, but if your biggest pump is your overnight pump, you’ll probably lose some of your supply. Easy to supplement with formula.

[Anonymous]

My sons both started sleeping an 8hr stretch around 2 months, as well. I let myself sleep and I was able to keep EBF. I would feed at 7am and then pump after.

[Anonymous]

You won't lose your supply. It might decrease to match the baby's needs. Are you struggling with sleep deprivation and stress because of the pumping? Then give yourself a break.

[Anonymous]

First child I pretty much killed myself with night pumping and / or nursing. Second child was bigger and slept sooner and I didn’t pump at night - just nursed. I supplemented her as needed once she went to daycare (around 4 months) but was able to nurse the full amount of time I wanted to.

[Anonymous]

I never woke up to pump, and my supply was fine. I was pretty full in the morning, so I usually had enough to feed the baby and then pump in the morning.