Pumping Questions with a Nine Month Old

I agree with Karen. Try it and see what works best for you. I pumped milk till my son was 11 months and then started the transition from breastmilk to whole milk (I know it was before he was 1 but it was a good time b/c I was off for winter vacation and wanted to make sure he would take the different milk before he went back to the sitter)

Also at nine months your child is probably eating baby food so they may not want as much milk which is normal. If you have not gone for your 9 month doctors visit you can always ask the doctor how much the baby should be drinking (that is what I always do too b/c I'm a first time mom too)

Good luck and stay with it.

The only way to really tell is to try it out. My daughter is 11 months old and I recently switched from 2 to 1 pumps during the work day. She has started to back off on how much she drinks at daycare, though, and even on the weekends how much she nurses. I always get more if I pump 2x than 1x but in my case the 6-7 oz that i get w/ one pump is plenty for her while we're apart. (FWIW I get more like 10 oz if I pump twice).

Hi Vicki,
Good for you for being committed to pumping. I did it for 14 months with my first son.

Its really all about supply and demand. If you cut out your mid-day pump and you are still producing enough to supply your son with enough milk, then by all means cut out that session.

I'd try it out and see how you do. If your supply seems to go down, there are a number of things that you can do do bring it back up, namely, adding that mid day session back in.

It sounds like you've got a pretty good supply, so I bet that you will be ok by cutting out that 1 session.

B.

when you cut down your pumping, your body will reduce the amount of milk it produces. It's all about supply and demand. If you want more milk, you may have to squeeze in another pumping session. It may take 3 or more days before you see an increase.

Also, remember to drink plenty of water.

If you decrease your pumping you milk supply will likely continue to drop. Call a La Leche League Leader and/or a lactation consultant and run through your circumstance (With more detail) to get any tips, tricks, and better advice customized for you. There aren't a lot fo details to review here. The odds are that if you drop from 3 pumping sessions at 10ounces then dropping to 2 pumping sessions will also drop your ounces. Waiting till you "fill up" is a myth and actually decreases supply.

V.,

Keep up the good work but you may need to increase your pumping. I was pumping 5-6x a day when I came back to work (that was for the entire day) to keep my supply up. Also, have you been getting enough protein. I was told by the lactation consultant to make sure I had protein with every meal, which can be a variety of things (dairy, nuts, meat). I prefer the meat route but that is just me. Also, oatmeal has helpful properties as well.

Another thing to consider is taking baby pounds off. I was gun hoe about it and was advised to stick to cardio and limit upper body weight lifting since you need some fat stores for milk.

Good luck and I hope this helps.