How many times do you have to pump to get a day's worth of milk?

[rhiOrion]

Everyone keeps telling me how normal it is to have trouble getting milk with the pump. But they must somehow do it, right?

I was pumping 4 times per day, plus nursing her at lunch, and only *barely* getting enough. And it was with great effort that I got that much.

I've stopped going to nurse her at lunch (I was waking her up every time)... and today I've pumped twice for 15 minutes, and three 10 minute spurts over lunch. I've gotten 10 ounces. I'm going to go pump again in a few minutes and hopefully get at least 2 more ounces... but I'm worried 12 ounces won't be enough. She was taking 9 ounces plus nursing.

argh!

So...how long do you have to pump and how often?

[akind1]

A good rule of thumb is an ounce per hour you are away, DS is 7 months old, and takes between 8 and 10 ounces while I am gone. I pump twice a day as he takes 2 3.5 - 4.5 oz bottles while I am gone. I get between 10-14 oz total per day when I pump.

It is really easy to over feed with a bottle. The other nursing mamas I work with do about the same, even though their LOs are different ages than mine (one is 4 months old, the other was nursing, weaned at 9 months)

I think you are getting plenty. If you feel you need to produce more, kellymom is a great resource for any questions -

[rhiOrion]

Oh, that's good to know! I felt like 12 ounces in a day (9.5 hours plus however long before and after work it is when she eats) wasn't very much.

[Hannah'sMommy]

Could you fit a pumping in the morning before heading to work? Early morning is usually one of the highest production times, then pump 3x at work. It sounds like you're right in there with most women. Some women are just able to pump more than 1 ounce per hour, but not everyone.

[rhiOrion]

I usually pump pretty soon after getting to work. But if I pump at home I have to set up the pump and take it back down and such (not that it takes THAT long to do...but I'd rather avoid having to get up any earlier)

[akind1]

I leave my pump at work and just bring the horns and bottles and insulated bag to keep it in to work every day. I even go ahead and attach bottles to horns so that when I go to pump, I just have to hook up the hoses and plug it in. Every minute you can save helps!

I recently spent about $30 to get a manual pump to keep at home, this has been a great help to add to the stash too! (FWIW it is a Lanisoh one, it got great reviews, and doesn't have a lot of part)

[kanga1622]

Right now I pump 3 times a day for 20 minutes each and go home to nurse over lunch. DS generally takes two 3 oz bottles while I'm gone and I usually get right at 3 oz each pumping session. Every couple weeks he'll take an extra bottle one day but otherwise he seems to have settled into a fairly predictable pattern on when he's hungry.

I added in an extra pumping session when I first get to work even though he never takes a bottle at that time. I pump at this time on any days off and weekends as well. This way I'm currently adding about 5-7 extra bottles a week into the freezer stash.

[lunarlady]

I normally pumped four times a day during the week, plus once or twice a day on the weekend. The amount I could pump during the week usually about equalled the amount she was eating, but the weekend sessions helped cover for the days that she was extra hungry or I didn't produce quite enough for whatever reason.

Make sure they are not throwing out any of your milk! Send it in smaller amount if you need to. Many centers will not "hold" warmed milk for a later reason, and pour that liquid gold down the drain.

My DD ramped up to 12 oz. a day by around 4 months, and stayed at that level until about 10 months. I sent it in four 3 oz. bottles.

[rhiOrion]

I send 4 3-oz bottles, as well. The most she's ever eaten is 9 oz plus breastfeeding at lunch. Yesterday she ate 9 oz and I didn't feed her at lunch.

I don't think they're generally wasting any. The first couple of days they did, when she was still figuring out the bottle. But now every day it says "bottle- 3 ounces- all" for every bottle she eats on her daily sheet.

[Ellien C]

I do 3 4-oz bottles, which DH seems to think is the bare minimum needed for my 4 mo. I think DH would like more milk. I don't nurse over lunch. It's kind of a struggle to pump that much in the day, but the way I figure it is that baby will eat enough over a 24-hour period and less in the day means more at night. (Can you tell this is my second?). I should take more of my own advice and not worry quite so much about the milk.

[mambera]

Originally Posted by rhiOrion

Everyone keeps telling me how normal it is to have trouble getting milk with the pump. But they must somehow do it, right?

Not me, I supplemented.
I used to get EXACTLY an oz per hr (pumping between 3 and 6 x/day) and DD used to drink more like 1.5 oz/hr.

[jennybear]

Honestly, it really depends on what's going on. Generally, I pump 2-3 times/day for 8-10 minutes each and get anywhere from 3-8 oz per session (more in the morning, less in the afternoon).

I seem to be meeting DD's eating needs almost exactly. FWIW, she's 6.5 months and eats a decent amount of solids for her age as well.

[CI Mama]

I used to pump 3 times a day at work: when I first arrived, at lunch, and about an hour before I left to go home. I would usually get 8-10 ounces from those 3 sessions.

Then one day I had to skip the morning pumping, so I only pumped twice, and I found that I generated just as much milk. So I switched to pumping at lunch & at the end of the day, and I still got about 8-10 ounces. That was great! Less pumping, same amount of milk.

I was never good at pumping at home because I was always nursing or exhausted, though I would try to pump a little bit on weekends to get a head start on the week. But usually I couldn't pump quite enough to keep up with DD, and so we'd supplement with a little formula.

Luckily, DD was ready to start solids pretty early, and so we didn't have to give her a lot of formula. And now she's a full-blown toddler who eats all kinds of things, so I don't have to pump at all! But she still likes to nurse with mama.

[provocativa]

you can also check your flange size. proper fitting gets out more milk. i have large breasts and it made a difference- i had to special order mine. another thing you can do is eat more fat and take a choline + inositol supplement, or a lecithin supplement, to help get that extra fat into your milk supply.

[Quinalla]

I am only pumping 2x a day now as she is getting solids too so she would rather wait for more milk from me, but before solids I pumped 3x a day for ~25 minutes to get 15oz total. For me, 15 minutes just wasn't enough, my breasts are kind of slow getting everything out even using breast compression. Worth trying increasing your time or doing your 15 min, then break for 5, then back on for 5-10 to try and get another letdown.

[marinak1977]

I have a reverse cycler that barely eats at daycare and he's there for less than 8 hours usually. So we nurse like crazy at night and I pump once or twice a day and get about 6-10 ounces bet pumping. I do not have supply issues though and respond well to the pump

[bella99]

When I was pumping at work, my scheduled looked like this:

7:30-8: Nurse
10:00: pump
12:30-1: Nurse her during lunch
3:30-4: Pump
5:30-6: Nurse at home
7:30-8: Nurse for bedtime
10:30: Pump
1-2: Nurse
5-6: Nurse

And then do it all over again. I made plenty of milk and responded well to the pump and got around 15-16 ounces a day with the 3 pumping sessions. I would always pump when she was due for a feeding (except for the session I did before I went to bed) I would send her with 2, 4 oz bottles, and of course the nursing session during lunch. Her daycare had extra frozen milk in case they needed it. She was on that scheduled until about 9 months, where she went up to one 5 oz bottle and one 4 oz bottle.

I think I was lucky in that my boobs seemed to like the pump.

[stephbrownthinks]

Originally Posted by Hannah'sMommy

Could you fit a pumping in the morning before heading to work? Early morning is usually one of the highest production times, then pump 3x at work. It sounds like you're right in there with most women. Some women are just able to pump more than 1 ounce per hour, but not everyone.

Yes this!

I just started pumping on my way to work and am getting an extra 4-5.5 oz. I nurse and then leave for work at 6:30 to 6:45 and hadn't been pumping again until around 9:30 or 10.

This week I randomly decided to try pumping WHILE driving. I have a Medela Pump in Style. A hands free pumping bra (or a cheap bra w/ holes for the horns) would make this easier, but I've just been putting the pump on and then refastening my nursing tank which holds it into place. Does that make any sense? I only have a 10 minute drive so I didn't think I would get much but seriously, 4 to 5.5 ounces extra!

I pump basically until I turn into the parking lot. I just pull over a little before, cap the bottles and put them back in the cooler, and wipe the pump horns down then rinse them later. The first day it took me a little longer to be able to let down while driving, but since then my boobs have learned the new routine. Anyways, maybe its worth a try?

[texmati]

I just wanted to suggest a link (google standford hands on pumping). It helped me get my production up a lot. Also, we tried hard to stick to an ounce an hour, but it did mean quite a bit of reverse cycling. I'm not sure i'd do the same for my second baby.

[Rosehip]

I pumped 3x/day. I nursed the baby immediately before leaving, and was gone for ~ 11 hours. I had my caregivers time bottles and really work to soothe soothe the baby other ways than just plugging the bottle in. I would let them know that I was on my way home so that they wouldn't feed the baby 20 minutes before I got home. I never produced a whole heck of a lot pumping.

I would allow for ~12 oz while I was gone. I know that to a lot people use to formula fed babies who are sleeping through the night, that's a shockingly low amount. But, if it's true that according to kellymom.com, the average breastfed baby takes in ~25 oz/day, I wasn't going to have my babies get the majority of that via bottles. That would have been a recipe for breastfeeding failure for me - I wouldn't be able to pump that much, I'd have to start with formula, the babies wouldn't have an appetite to nurse in the evening, my supply would dwindle, you get the picture. With a few exceptions, once baby, caregiver & I hit our stride, it worked swimmingly. Once they started on solids, it was even less of an issue, because I knew if they were hungry/thirsty, they could always have additional solids and water and get unlimited milk when I was home.

My DS actually totally refused expressed milk starting when he was 9 months old so I got to stop pumping! Of course, it meant I was up. all. night. nursing, but at least I got to ditch the pump