Pumping at Night - Minneapolis,MN

I had some trouble breastfeeding my daughter - she wouldn't latch on so I had to pump every feeding - I got really good at it. I did get up at night to pump because I could get almost 2 feedings so I'd be 2 feedings ahead of her. I didn't set an alarm or anything - I'd wake up because I was so full. I stopped pumping at night when she was eating a lot of solid food (8 months or so). It took my body a week or so to adjust but I sure appreciated getting a full night's sleep! Your supply won't decrease if you don't pump at night and if you don't need to 'bank' the milk, I know I'd go for the full night's sleep!

I had the same problem with my oldest daughter. Your body will adjust. If you pump at night then you will only prolong the problem. My advice is to pump as soon as you get up, just enough to take off the pressure. Don't worry if you start seeing less milk. Trust your body to produce the milk it needs to feed your baby. I had so much milk with my first that I was a little concerned about not being so engorged with my second, but she nursed almost exclusively until she turned one and she was even bigger than her sister.

I agree with the previous responses. When your son starts sleeping at night, that's a great time to get a good frozen milk bank if you need it. I think I pumped at night for a week, then I had a good enough stored supply for me. I then would only pump a couple of ounces - just until I was comfortable - if I woke up engorged. In time (maybe a week at the most) your body will adjust and you won't feel like that anymore. Also, pumping before bedtime was great after I didn't get up in the middle of the night to keep a good supply frozen.
Good for you that your son sleeps through the night!! :)

D.-

My little girl started sleeping thru' the night at 7 weeks old. I didn't pump during the night, and found my body adjusted to all of her changes just fine. However, I do work just on weekends, and found that I needed to add a pumping right before my bedtime each night (I artificially made a "feeding" time) so that I could work on getting enough extra for baby to take on the weekends. So perhaps you would want to pump right before bed for that sort of reason. Otherwise, you should be fine just getting a good night's rest!

T.

Boy do I miss those days of having an overabundance of milk! If you plan to go back to work, as I did, you should definitely stock up on milk and try to do a night pumping. If you don't need that stash, then be happy that you can sleep through the night. I didn't start waking to pump during the night until after I returned to work. Then I had to try to increase my supply.

It depends on if you'd like to build up a freezer stash to bottle feed with at all. If you would like to, then you could get up and pump and then just freeze that milk. Otherwise, there is really no need to pump in the middle of the night. Your body will adjust and it will have a different supply during the day, than it does at night.

Aren't our bodies amazing! And Yay to your little guy sleeping through the night!!

I ended up going back to work and am still Breastfeeding almost a year later. Once your baby starts sleeping through the night ENJOY IT!! Now you can finally get some rest. I wouldn't wake up just to pump as you'll just make the problem of engorgement worse. After a few nights, you'll be normal again. And don't worry if all of the sudden he wakes up one night - you'll still be able to nurse him. It always comes when I you it:)

If you think you'll need extra milk stored, pump in the morning after or before you feed him as there will be extra milk then. Mostly you should just trust that your body will produce as much as the baby needs naturally. Good Luck!