Talk to me about pumping.

[MamaMaui24]

I once read to pump one hour after your first morning feed of the day - that's when your supply is at it's peak. (who knows if it's really true, but it worked ok for me.)

While on ML, I pumped one hour after his first morning feed when we got up for the day - whatever time that happened to be. So if he nursed at 5 am then we slept in til 8 am, I would nurse at 5 am (right), nurse 8 am (left), 9 am pump (both). I'd get ~ 7 ounces and freeze it all. At the time I wasn't giving him any bottles so I was freezing everything I pumped. In this scenario, the 8 am feed wasn't the first of the day, but I wasn't going to get up early just to pump.

I don't usually see a trend with times and how much I get. It varies. Although yesterday and today my 12:30 pump has been the highest (with engorgement and leaking! not ideal.)

Now at work my schedule is (roughly):

5:30 am nurse
6:30 am pump at home
9:30 am pump at work
12:30 pm pump at work
3:30 pm pump at work
6:30 pm nurse
9 pm nurse

[curbsideprophet]

I did not get on any type of pumping schedule until I went back to work. I would not stress about it too much right now and would just focus on feeding on demand. It might take a little trial and error to figure out what works best for you, but I think it is hard to replicate a work schedule while still on leave if you feed on demand.

I typically work 7 - 4:30. I feed DD between 5:30 and 6:30. I pump at 10 and 2. I then feed DD around 5:15 after we get home. She then has one more feeding right before bed. Depending on when she wakes up, I just feed her in the middle of the night.

Are you pumping during the 2/3 am feed?