Longer periods between nursing/pumping sessions?

July 31, 2009 1:07 PM

Breastfeeding filter: I'm breastfeeding a 5 month old, and pumping at work full time. Is it ok to sometimes go 4-5 hours, maybe 6 without pumping or nursing?

I try to pump 3 times during my workday, but sometimes stuff happens, and I can only do it twice. I also try not to pump past 3:30 so I'm ready to nurse around 6 when we get home. This means sometimes, I realize its 3:30 or 4:00 and I havn't pumped since noon or 1:00, so I skip it so I'm ready for baby when we get home. Baby still usually gets up once or twice in the night to nurse but once or twice has slept 6 hours straight. I have about a 1 week supply of pumped milk in the freezer. (oh, and YANMLC) Thanks in advance!

posted by hollyanderbody to Health & Fitness (9 answers total)

In my experience doing this occasionally was not a problem, but it was uncomfortable. I have heard from other people that waiting that long gave them plugged ducts, which can lead to mastitis, which can really suck. But I pumped for 9 months and this didn't happen to me. What did happen was the distinct sensation that my chest might explode in a milky mist (embarrassing!)
posted by chesty_a_arthur at 1:16 PM on July 31, 2009 [1 favorite]

IANAM(other), but as long as your supply is adequate and you're not concerned about leakage or pain due to being engorged, I'd say do what works for you. I'd guess by about five months in, your supply has probably regulated itself pretty well. Everyone's breasts work a little differently, so as long as you're not experiencing difficulties, there's probably no real reason to worry.
posted by chiababe at 1:41 PM on July 31, 2009 [1 favorite]

Agreed - if supply is not an issue, it's probably no big deal. That said, frequency of nursing/pumping has been shown a better way to maintain supply than length of time feeding/pumping. Also, babies go through growth spurts and 6 months is a typical one. So you may find yourself with a cranky, hungry baby on your hands for a few days, or a baby who's waking more at night, reverse cycling. Break open the freezer stash to meet his/her demand if needed and note how much baby eats since you may have to up pumping time to catch up. Or if you're beginning to incorporate solid foods, increase those during the day.
posted by cocoagirl at 1:51 PM on July 31, 2009

If your supply is good, don't worry about it. I pumped for a few weeks when I went back to work after my first child, then decided I hated pumping. I ended up quitting pumping at work and giving her formula at the babysitter's and still made enough milk to feed her after work, all night long and all weekend (no formula on the weekends) until the baby was 16 months old. If you want to send breastmilk to the babysitter, you obviously have to pump more than I did, but I didn't have any supply or mastitis problems with not pumping. (Now, if she wasn't hungry when I got home, it felt like I was going to explode and I had to pump then. But other than that, I adjusted.)
posted by artychoke at 1:57 PM on July 31, 2009

Your body will tell you, probably pretty quickly, if this is a bad idea. Either you'll have discomfort (engorgement, clogged ducts), or your supply will be affected adversely, but these are both temporary conditions that can be reversed without a ton of effort in most cases. And it's totally possible that your body will adjust pretty smoothly to this new schedule without any problems.

By the way, you may already use this as a resource, but if not, Kellymom has great information on pumping.
posted by padraigin at 2:18 PM on July 31, 2009

As long as you're comfortable, it's fine. I found that after 4 hours, if I thought about my baby, I'd leak, which is not so much fun at work, but never had any other trouble.
posted by theora55 at 3:05 PM on July 31, 2009

When my baby was this age, I pumped twice a day at work (actually twice a day is all I ever pumped and I went back to work when she was 7 weeks old). I usually nursed at ~6:30 AM, pumped at 10:00, again around 2 or 3:00, then nursed again around 6:00 pm. With my work schedule at the time, I couldn't pump three times and still get in lunch (and lunch was important!). Twice a day worked fine for me.

I never had a supply stocked up in the freezer, though. A couple of times I had to send her to day care with formula (which she refused to drink).

Everyone else here is right - you'll know if this is working for you, and everybody is different.
posted by jeoc at 4:17 PM on July 31, 2009

What everyone else said.

Also, pumping at 4 to feed baby at 6, at least in my bfing, was fine. I didn't want baby eating too much at 6pm, as I wanted him to REALLY eat at 8 to go down for bed.
posted by k8t at 7:21 PM on July 31, 2009

You could just pump a half-session in the late afternoon if engorgement is a problem or if you find that going that long seems to reduce your supply.
posted by lakeroon at 7:39 PM on July 31, 2009