Not too often pumping questions

[sharr610]

Hi there!
I am currently nursing a well satisfied and healthily gaining 6 week year old. After months of pumping and supply issues with my now 3 yo(we had to supplement for him to gain), this is just making me so happy .

I am a SAHM this go round, so not only do I not need to pump for supply reasons, but I don't need to for daily feedings either. But, I would like to have a freezer stash on hand. I talked to my midwife and she mentioned just doing a daily pumping session each morning.

I am paranoid about messing with what is a perfect supply at this point, so I do have questions about this...

How committed do I have to be to the daily thing?
Can I skip busy mornings?
Does sticking to the same time each day matter?
If it becomes a PITA, can I stop cold turkey without affecting the rest of my supply?

I wouldn't mind sticking with it for a bit and donating to another mama, but the storage bags are so expensive! Please clue me into an alternative...I'm feeling all new mama dumb these days .

TIA!

[Llyra]

I think you'll get more milk if you pump every day, and if you pump regularly at the same time each day. You may get very little at first, because right now you're producing just exactly what baby is demanding. And if you make a routine out of pumping, your supply will increase to meet that new demand.

But there's no reason you have to be married to the routine. It won't matter if you skip a day, or pump a few hours later on a particular day, or whatever. You might get slightly less milk, but like you said, you not needing the milk urgently right now anyway. If it's only once a day, and you're only pumping a few ounces a day, even stopping abruptly probably wouldn't matter much-- you might feel a big fuller that time of day, but baby would probably be happy to help with that.

I do think a small freezer stash is a nice idea. I wound up having to have a minor day surgery when my twins were a few months old, and I had to miss a feed, and it was really handy to have some milk put away. Plus, I used it for stuff like when DD1 got pinkeye or stomach flu.