Question QUESTION: My baby is 11 weeks old now and had to go through a lot for the first 8 weeks to keep up my milk supply and feeding him every 2 hours around the clock because he was smaller baby. Long story short, now I have been nursing every 3 hours during the day and 4 to 5 hours at night. The doctor said I can go to 6 hours if he sleeps that long. I had been waking him up at 5 hours because I don't want my milk supply to go down. Question is can I go longer at night if he sleeps longer and will my milk supply be fine?
ANSWER: yes, your milk supply will be perfectly fine if he goes longer at night or during the day. He will always get what he needs at this point. If he skips an hour or two here and there, he will just get more milk the next time. wether he eats 6 times a day or 12 times a day, he will get what he needs :)
Hope that helped!
Ruth KRaft
www.honoringwomen.com
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QUESTION: Thank you. So when I start going back to work, how often do I need to pump. I am really scared to pump b/c I had to pump in between feeding to increase my milk supply and I did not have good luck with it at all and a few times I pumped to replace a feeding and still only got about 1 and 1/2 ounces total. Things actually got better when I stopped pumping and nursed 100%.
Answer The baby will always be able to pull out more milk from you than the pump. Pumps are artificial where babies are real and made to perfectly nurse. However, Because you seem to not be able to pump much, ( it might be your breastpump not your breasts, if you have a medela or ameda egnell pump , you should be good, unless the valves are weak. you might replace those if the suck feels weak and see if that makes a difference. ) if you have another brand, you might consider replacing it with a more effiecient one. There is a new brand out there called hygeia which thus far has great reviews, longer warranty and more green than other pumps.
SO, as far as pumping when you go back to work, I would pump before you go, and every 3 hours while you are gone , thats usually twice a day .. maybe three times, then feed the baby immidiatly when you come home. if he doesnt get enough pumped milk during the day, he will nurse more at night to make up for it, so you dont have to worry about him gaining etc... he WILL get enough. he just might nurse a little more at night.
