Sleeping through the night & nursing ?'s

[ap mom]

Does sleeping through the night negatively impact supply? Is there anything I need to do to keep mine up now that my baby no longer wakes at night?

[Shy0717]

I'm curious about this as well. My almost 3 month old sleeps a good 6 hr stretch followed by 2 3-hour stretches. However he only nurses on one side at a time, thus not stimulating one side for 8-9 hours. I pump almost every other day (3 times per shift) when I work at night but when I'm home I don't. Wondering if I should be pumping every night.

[e(Lisa)beth]

Yes! After a few weeks of my DD STTN (8+ hrs), I had to start setting my alarm for 3:30 am to pump because my supply had started to drop. It seems to be helping.

[ap mom]

Anyone else?

[larzanna]

I didn't find that it did. MY DS only woke once a night from 6 weeks to 4 months old. (after that we seem to be going downhill but thats another thread)
I only nurse on one side at a time as well. It did not seem to be a problem for me since he nursed so often during the day. My boobs just knew that they didn't need as much milk during the night after a few weeks, but that they did need it during the day.
smart boobs.

[Lil'Momma]

I have to agree with Larzanna. At about three months old, my dd started going down at 9pm and waking up once to eat at 3-4am. She will eat on both sides, but only half-heartedly. My supply seems to be fine during the day, just not as full throughout the night. She's five month old now and still does the same thing.

[LuluMama8]

My LO started sleeping 8-9 hrs straight at about 6-7 weeks (I know, I am soooo lucky). At first it was rather ironic because I woke up 1-2 times per night with super engorged painful boobs and I didn't know if I should wake her to breastfeed or pump or what. I asked a breastfeeding medicine specialist (I had lots of infection issues early on) and she said that supply would not be affected, not to wake the baby, and just pump or express enough milk (1/2 to 1 oz) to be comfortable if necessary until my breasts figured out the new schedule. And they did! I'm still VERY full in the morning, but it doesn't wake me up at night, I don't leak like crazy like I used to overnight, and my supply during the day is great (although my baby nurses very frequently during the day to make up for the night). So I think you can be thankful and not do anything special.

[MaddieMay]

My LO started sleeping 6-8 hours a night at pretty consistently around 6 weeks, once in awhile waking up once.

What we do is DH gives the LO a bottle around 9:30ish at night (give or take an hour on each side). We introduced the bottle thinking I might go back to work, but then I decided not to and since LO adjusted well to it and we haven't had problems, we just sort of kept it up as part of his bedtime routine. I pump right before we go to bed around 10:30 or 11pm. If for some reason DH isn't home, I nurse him. LO usually wakes around 4:30-5:30 and feeds from one side (I'm REALLY full then, so one side satisfies him) before going back to sleep. I then pump from the other side to store.

For me, it was important to keep pumping as I wanted to build a freezer stash for my peace of mind, so I wanted to keep my supply up. It may be a lot of extra work, but I figured I can always donate it.