Seeking Information/Advice on Nursing at Night Only

It might work, you'll just have to try if this is what you really want to do.

My understanding is that breast milk only keeps for three months unless you have a deep freezer (in which case it does keep for six months), so if you want her drinking pumped milk until she is a year, that means you would need to keep pumping at least until she is nine months old.

If you stop pumping now, you might end up being really engorged during the day and then see your milk supply drop off completely with only one feeding every 24 hours. I do know that women who are cutting out one feeding session at a time (in an effort to wean gently) sometimes see their milk supply die out completely before they were expecting it to, while others are able to drop gradually down to a single feeding without having that happen.

Good luck figuring out what to do!

Can you arrange to pump out, say in the car? You could find some things to for your daughter to do in her seat for that time, or sing songs? I exclusively pumped for my son, and my pump had a car adapter I used when we went to a wedding and other outings.

I know nothing about combining pumping and nursing, but to wean from the pump is probably easier than from a baby. Pick on pump time, and shorten it by a few minutes every few days until it's gone. Then shuffle the remaining pumps so they're still spread evenly.

And I hear you on the oversupply - I had a full chest freezer of breastmilk, pun fully intended!

C.,
Everytime I decreased the frequency that I fed/pumped, my body adapted quickly to it. I just nursed at night for quite a while also. It is amazing how the body changes! Make the changes you need to for you and your whole family and feel good about it! good luck and God Bless. K.

Congrats for pumping so long! That is fantastic!

Do you want to stop pumping totally, or maybe cut it back to a few convienent times a day? Also...could you just nurse your daughter during the day instead of pumping? From your message it sounds like you will be home, so if you could nurse her it and cut back the feedings, it would gradually wean her. I wouldn't give up the night nursing just yet. She will do that on her own. And by the time she does that, she won't need that middle of the night feed so no bottle!

If you do want to stop it all during the day, do it gradually, or your breasts will get quite sore and engorged. It seems as though you produce an ample amount of milk, so drop one pumping session once a week or every 4 days or so. That way your body will get used to the decreased need and it won't be painful.

Good luck! I am an exclusively breastfeeding mother who nurses well after a year (I go about 2 years) and I give you kudos for pumping as long as you have. Don't feel guilty. Breastfeeding is best, but unfortunately most mothers don't even make it to that 6 month mark. CONGRATS!

I pumped until my daughter was ~ 9 or 10 months old (I, too, had a freezer full of breastmilk!). Starting around the 8th month, I slowly started eliminating a pump time from my day.

At first I pumped 4 times a day and nursed at night (way faster than heating a bottle in those wee hours and I found I could snooze until she was done :). Then after a week I pumped 3 times a day and continued at night; the next week pumping twice a day and nursing at night; etc. until I was no longer pumping during the day and only nursing at night.

I switched to bottle only (no more night-time nursing) at almost 10 months and by 11 months she was no longer eating during the night (I only waited that long to wean her from the night time feeding as she's very tiny - 10th percentile). I switched to bottle during the night as it was easier to slowly reduce the quantity of milk she got during the night to help wean (ie: I reduced her intake from 5 oz to 2 oz to nothing over a couple of weeks so she no longer needed food during the night).

My body adjusted nicely to the slow wean and after a month of not pumping or nursing, my breasts finally went back to the way they were prior to breastfeeding (it took a month for them to stop all production). I used the same process for both my kids and the result was the same both times.

I totally see your point of not wanting to be a slave to the pump but your breast milk changes over time and it will be nutritionally different as your daughter grows and develops. That being said I am mostly jealous b/c I had intended on breastfeeding exclusively but had to switch to 1/2 and 1/2 with formula b/c of boobs that were on some sort of strike or were not fooled by the pump versus babe switch I tried to pull at work.
Just so you know there is a way to donate any excess milk in your freezer to either milk banks in this country but especially in Africa. AIDS is passed from mother to baby through breast milk and their water supply is so poor that formula is not an option.

Google Africa,breast milk, and donation and you will find an organization or two to assist you. Just an idea.

SO I'm sorry if this sounds preachy instead of advice but just want to through that idea out there. You could also wittle down the amount of times you pump and try to retrain/wean your pump to more convenient times or fewer times.

Good Luck, Nat

I'm not sure what your feelings are on the middle of the night feeding. Around 6 months is typically a good time to start introducing solid foods (you didn't mention that), so the cereals, veggies and fruits will start to be part of her caloric intake. Many children begin to sleep through the night at this point. She will still need the recommended allowance of breastmilk or formula, but she'll be able to get it in her daytime hours and not need the night feeding. With that being said, I think that I would see if she drops that feeding...and then maybe start cutting back your daytime pumping. For your own comfort, do it gradually...like drop one pumping for 3-4 days, then drop another one...etc.

However, you don't sound like you are ready to drop the night feeding. Do you enjoy that close time with your baby? I know I did. If that's part of it, then I'm not sure what to say other than gradual dropping of daytime pumping. Good luck.

As you can tell by the number of varied responses you have already received, boobs can do any number of things successfully! It sounded like you want to continue at night, but stop pumping during the day. You can do anything you want :) It will work!

Also, it sounds like you have a good supply, more than she needs in one day? You could probably pump in the morning before you go and then when you get home if you wanted to continue to have the fresh supply. When I was at home with my first son, he nursed non-stop. When I was at work, I was only able to pump 3 times. My breasts adjusted to the strange routine w/o too much hassle.

Good luck & remember-"Mother (you) knows best!" ;)

My only information is that breastmilk, although it stays "good" for a long time in the freezer, it is not the same nutritional value at every age. For example, the milk you pumped out for her when she was 3 mo. old, is not the same as what you pump out for her now, at 6 mo. If you are giving her the "old" milk, she is not getting the right combo of nutrients for her body now. You may not have milk in there for this amount of time, but my advice would be to make sure you are using the milk on rotational basis.

That said, I went from nursing full- time, to only last feeding at night and first thing in the morning at about 9 mo. My girlie transitioned very well. I think at 6 mo, I would start cutting out the midnite feeding. Give her a few min each time before you go in, she may self-soothe. Good Luck, and good job at nursing so long!!!

C.,
I have a 25 month old girl who is breastfeeding. We weaned her off midnight feedings when she was maybe 8 or 9 months months and had no problem with milk supply. I don't know if this is a common occurrence. In the last 9 months, however, she has been wanting a feeding a night I think due to some transition we are in. I think this is what you were looking for in terms of an answer. I can't tell you about pumping bc. I'm not sure why you are pumping. Is it bc. you work outside the home and you are trying to keep supply? Or you don't like to breastfeed in public? I couldn't tell from your words. Anyway, I hope that helps. I recommend contacting the LaLecheLeague. There are groups throughout Boston & the surrounding towns. http://www.llli.org/ Here's the link to find one near you. They will offer lots of support.
K.

The only thing I can suggest is that skipping pumping once in awhile during outings w/ your girls won't have a huge affect on things other then you getting uncomfortable and leaking because if stop pumping all together I don't think you'll be able to keep up w/ the night nursing plus breastmilk can only be stored for 3 months in a freezer so 3 months from now you will have to give her formula unless you continue pumping.

I nursed my kids til they were two. I hated pumping SO much that I occasionally got blocked ducts when I refused to pump when I was away from them. I learned the lesson, but hated pumping SO much that sometimes I made that choice. So what I have to say to you is that I think you are a goddess of some kind to have been so dedicated to breastfeeding that you have a freezer full of milk for your child. YOu should feel amazing. I think you might be able to continue "nursing" even if your milk supply went way down. I don't know if your child is night nursing for the food or for the comfort. If you just cut out one pumping a day for a while, I would guess that you would be able to maintain some milk supply. When you wean, you cut back one feeding at a time. You make less and less milk, but you still make some. SO it would stand to reason that you could still nurse once a day for a long time. Even without pumping. Good luck!

Hi there. I too nursed my dau through 6 months and then only did a night 'feeding', but eventually though (a few months)my milk supply dried up, because only feeding her at night lowered my production until it dried up. [I had to stop because I had to start taking blood pressure medication and it would be in the breast milk, so that is how I slowed and stopped mt production.]And, unless your baby 'milks' you really quickly, if she's only nursing for 5 minutes at night, I'm not sure she's really eating versus just nursing for the comfort and closeness with you.
Also, you don't want to be judged, but you simply won't have the milk available if you only nurse at night and aren't pumping, that's just the way the body works. Sorry if this isn't what you hoped to hear.