Bottle/Formula Feeding When Away from Child

In my experience, supply drops quickly when you stop pumping at work.

What I did (2 babies): went from pumping 2X per workday to 1X per workday (midway through my day) at 10 months. At 12 months, stopped pumping at work and breastfed in the morning and after work. Baby #1 got frustrated with lack of supply and weaned almost immediately at 12 months. Baby #2 stuck with it for another 3 months - I think that my supply stayed a little bit better with baby #2 because he was still breastfeeding a lot at night at 12 months, and baby #1 was not. Then at 15 months, he decided that I was too much work for too little milk, and he'd rather have a bottle of formula. Either way, for me, quitting pumping was, in essence, a decision to wean within a short amount of time.

I was totally ok with this. But if you want to breastfeed longer term, then you should keep pumping twice per day.

Theoretically, your body should produce based on her needs - so you should be able to feed at night and in the am. In reality, you have to try to find out. I found myself in almost the exact situation when my daughter was 8.5 mos. I was able to feed her at night for a while - then SHE decided she'd had enough and lost interest. I guess I got lucky that way. I say try it, and see how it goes. Good luck!

What you are proposing is exactly what I did... gave up pumping at work around 10 months, and just bf mornings and nights. Worked fine.

However, there is no need for her to be getting water or, especially, juice. Juice is a huge contributer to the obesity epidemic in children. It literally is nothing but sugar water. Get rid of that, and she'll probably nurse more.

If you stop pumping at work, your milk supply will diminish. Your milk production is dependent on supply and demand (especially frequency of demand). Even if you are only getting a few ounces a session, you are still stimulating your body to make milk. It all depends on what your goal is. You are obviously comfortable giving her formula and solids. If you would like to be able to send your milk to daycare, then I suggest pumping while nursing (when you're sure to have a good let-down). Let her nurse one side while you pump the other. If she needs it, she can nurse the pumped side afterwards - she is more efficient at getting the milk out, so she'll be able to empty it completely. Otherwise, stick with what works for you... nine months of nursing is a tremendous accomplishment, so congrats to you, mama!

you probably could stop during the day, but your supply will diminish. also, just somthing to consider...I found if i was stressed or rushed right before i pumped that i got considerably less. i also found if i wasn't drinking enough water during the day at work that i got less. thirdly, i found that if after 10 minutes or so when i thought i was "empty", if i just massaged a bit and waited another minute or so that i had almost like a second letdown and got another 1-2 ounces out. so look at your situation at work and see if there are any triggers that may cause you to get less. but all in all i think you could stop, but depending on how your body adjusts to that lack of demand, you may have less in the evenings too.

Hi, K.:
Try not pumping and see what happens.
If she is drinking other liquids, she may be not
using as much milk as before. This will naturally
make your milk supply decrease.

Good luck.
D.

First there is no need to for water or juice. Juice is just sugar. I would try to stop that asap and she should be getting all her liquid nutrients through the formula and breastmilk till one.

Second you can absolutely only nurse in the evenings/nights. I did and still do this with my 18mo. He only nurses once a day now (and we're working away from that!) but nursing is a supply and demand situation. Your supply will be there when your LO demands it and her nursing will stimulate that. It may take a week or so for your body to adjust but it will.

Also, don't count what you are pumping as how much she is getting. Pumping is not as efficient as nursing so you won't get as much as your LO does. I would rarely get 1-2 oz but nursed exclusively until my boys were 9mo+

I think you SHOULD be fine. I started to wean my daughter at that age - personal choice, she was a snacker and I just didn't want to be at her beck and call anymore! Anyway, for about a month I still nursed her at bedtime/nighttime and morning, then we dropped the morning then night. She at so much food at that point, that she hardly ever finished bottles (which is kinda how she had been treating me :) and by 11mo was just on a sippy cup with formula - cold!

Congrats! Morning and night bf should be just fine. If you will bf morning and night for couple of days, your body will know what to do. If you decide on stopping/weaning stop with one feeding at of time. It took my about 2-3 wks to wean, it doesnt hurt but little bit discomfort. Enjoy your vacation!!!

I could have written your post two months ago. I had the same thing happen. It coincided with me getting my period back also. The answer is no, if you stop pumping, your supply will diminish further. My son got really fussy as my supply diminished even more when I stopped pumping at work and then would bite me rather than nurse at night and weekend. He will be a year at the end of August and I only nurse at night now when he is super sleepy, otherwise he bites me because he is frustrated by the low flow, lack of supply. If you cut back on juice/water, than maybe she will nurse more and up your production.

Good luck. C.

My daughter got formula, one or two bottles, at daycare starting at 4 months. I continued to pump, some, at work to keep myself comfortable and to keep my production up for weekends. I was not able to store my milk given my work situation. I nursed her in the morning, evening, and at night.

At 9 months, she was eating other foods, so I didn't worry too much about my milk volume, but it seemed to be adequate for her on weekends until she self-weaned at 11 months.

Yes, I think you can do the no pumping at work, supplement with formula while at daycare and nurse on demand and overnight while at home with daughter. Your milk supply isn't diminishing, just the capacity of what you can pump. What you pump is NOT what your breasts are producing. Pumping is a very inefficient way of getting milk out of the breast.

Around 9 months is another growth spurt, so make sure you give her free access to you while you are at home to stimulate your milk production for her next round of development... don't think you aren't producing enough, growth spurt cluster feeding is normal and expected behavior.

Between 9 months to 1 year, look for a temporary nursing strike also - you may want to google that and check out www.kellymom.com and www.drjacknewman.com