Overnight/early morning nursing dilemma

[isabel]

I am weaning off the pump at work. DS used to wake up once a night to feed, usually around 5am. I leave for work at 6:30am. I felt like this was the perfect timing to nurse him and empty my breasts before going all day without nursing/pumping. Lately, he's been waking up between 2 and 4 to eat. I want to be able to nurse him when he wakes up in the morning on the weekend. I do not want to pump on the way to work anymore. My solution to this has been to feed him when he wakes between 2 and 4 and then get him up to eat at 6. This way, I am only going about 12 hours without nursing/pumping, as opposed to 14-16.

I'm probably doing this wrong, aren't I? He does usually go back to sleep pretty quickly, but this morning he was just laying in his crib zoned out with his eyes open. I don't want to mess up his sleep for my own benefit.

Tell me what to do. I'm not ready to give up on him nursing entirely, but it is hard with my schedule to do a standard waking up feed before work since he isn't up when I leave. FWIW, weaning off the pump has gone really well. My left side is still getting a little full toward the end of the day, but nothing unbearable. I can tell my supply is already dropping. I can come back and answer questions. I don't know if this really makes that much sense.

[Deleted]

LOL, he doesn't feel bad about screwing up your sleep. He can make it up at a nap. Let go of the mom guilt. I'd just keep doing what works for you.

[glitzy07]

When I was dropping pumping with C, I was still nursing morning and night and any MOTN wakeups. Admittedly, some days I was a little more engorged after extra sessions, but my body mostly figured it out.

I'd nurse him when he wakes, but not wake him specifically to nurse before you leave. If you need to relieve pressure later because of it, pump just enough for comfort.

I noticed I was always a little fuller on Mondays after a weekend where I would allow him to nurse before naps, but never uncomfortably so. Hope the same is true for you!

[isabel]

Jan 12, 2016 9:43:15 GMT -5 @tokenhoser said:

LOL, he doesn't feel bad about screwing up your sleep. He can make it up at a nap. Let go of the mom guilt. I'd just keep doing what works for you.

Haha this made me laugh. Thank you.

[isabel]

Jan 12, 2016 9:44:58 GMT -5 glitzy07 said:

When I was dropping pumping with C, I was still nursing morning and night and any MOTN wakeups. Admittedly, some days I was a little more engorged after extra sessions, but my body mostly figured it out.

I'd nurse him when he wakes, but not wake him specifically to nurse before you leave. If you need to relieve pressure later because of it, pump just enough for comfort.

I noticed I was always a little fuller on Mondays after a weekend where I would allow him to nurse before naps, but never uncomfortably so. Hope the same is true for you!

On weekends, did you only nurse before nap? Otherwise you gave formula/frozen milk during the time you would usually be at work? I've been trying to figure out this part of it too and that's basically what I've been doing.

[Deleted]

My baby was a bit older when I went back (about 10.5 months), but I just nursed when ever we were together and she wanted to nurse. And then I went to work when I went to work. I probably had a bit more engorgement, but I never had any health issues with nursing, so I just did whatever. There was no plan beyond "I want to keep nursing and pumping is too hard."

It worked out for me. I hope it works out for you, too.

[curbsideprophet]

If you feed him between 2-4 I would not wake him up at 6. You body will adjust.

[curbsideprophet]

Jan 12, 2016 9:50:06 GMT -5 isabel said:

Jan 12, 2016 9:44:58 GMT -5 glitzy07 said:

When I was dropping pumping with C, I was still nursing morning and night and any MOTN wakeups. Admittedly, some days I was a little more engorged after extra sessions, but my body mostly figured it out.

I'd nurse him when he wakes, but not wake him specifically to nurse before you leave. If you need to relieve pressure later because of it, pump just enough for comfort.

I noticed I was always a little fuller on Mondays after a weekend where I would allow him to nurse before naps, but never uncomfortably so. Hope the same is true for you!

On weekends, did you only nurse before nap? Otherwise you gave formula/frozen milk during the time you would usually be at work? I've been trying to figure out this part of it too and that's basically what I've been doing.

It is fine to nurse more on weekends.

[glitzy07]

Jan 12, 2016 9:50:06 GMT -5 isabel said:

Jan 12, 2016 9:44:58 GMT -5 glitzy07 said:

When I was dropping pumping with C, I was still nursing morning and night and any MOTN wakeups. Admittedly, some days I was a little more engorged after extra sessions, but my body mostly figured it out.

I'd nurse him when he wakes, but not wake him specifically to nurse before you leave. If you need to relieve pressure later because of it, pump just enough for comfort.

I noticed I was always a little fuller on Mondays after a weekend where I would allow him to nurse before naps, but never uncomfortably so. Hope the same is true for you!

On weekends, did you only nurse before nap? Otherwise you gave formula/frozen milk during the time you would usually be at work? I've been trying to figure out this part of it too and that's basically what I've been doing.

No, we were breastfeeding for all. I pumped when away (for work or otherwise) and he drank pumped milk. But I hated pumping by the end and it was so much easier to just let him nurse before nap on the weekend. Monday was the only day I really felt fuller from doing so.

[pinotgrig]

Jan 12, 2016 9:54:06 GMT -5 curbsideprophet said:

If you feed him between 2-4 I would not wake him up at 6. You body will adjust.

This is what I would do. If you need to pump for a few minutes to relieve engorgement, I would. But I wouldn't wake him just to feed. Maybe knowing you would only have to do it (pump) for a few will make it more palatable?