I know I usually do Wordless Wendesday, but since I didn't get the lovely pictures of Gabby covered in Avocado (See next week) You are getting a Wordy Wednesday post. It's also something that has been on my mind the past few days and I want to get people's opinions/advice and what they have done. So all you BTDT (Been There Done That) Mom's I need you to come out of the woodwork and stop lurking. Especially those that are working moms and have pumped for any period of time.
If you are regular followers you know that Cuddlebug has been exclusively on breast milk since the day she was born. We had our troubles in the beginning but I stuck it out and now here we are almost 10 months later and while I LOVE LOVE LOVE to nurse my little Cuddlebug I HATE HATE HATE pumping. Yep there I said it. I hate pumping and I want to quit. I know she only has 2 more months until she is a year, so I am trying to make it to then to quit. I have to go home tonight and tally up all the milk I have in the fridge and see how much that is and how long that will last me.
So I was talking to some of the mom's here at work and they asked me how much and how often is she eating and nursing. Here is our schedule:
6:30 to 7:00am is wakeup and eat time for the day. It's the only time I nurse her before going to work
8:30 or 9:00 - Pump #1
9:00 - Gabby eats anywhere from 4 to 8oz of BM depending on how hungry she is
10:00 - Snack time -she usually gets toast, avocado, cereal, puffs, or whatever puree is open for the day, or if I send some leftovers from the meal the night before.
12:00 - Gabby eats another 4 to 8oz.
12:30 - Pump #2
3:00 - Gabby usually eats about 4 to 5oz
3:00 - Pump #3
5:00 - Gabby nurses from me and then has dinner with us. Same as lunch, whatever are having.
6:30 - Nurses a bit and then goes down for sleep.
This next part varies widely. I think the past couple of days she has been nursing for comfort and I have been letting her because honestly sometimes it's just easier....
10:30- usually wakes up and needs a diaper change and sometimes I feed her, really depends on the mood. I know I need to be more consistent and I am thinking of trying to stop this feeding.
1:00 or 2:30 - wake up, change diaper feed again.
4:00- Wake up, change diaper feed again.
and we are back to the 7am feeding again. That being said I am usually pumping about 12 to 15oz a day, sometimes up to 17, but I havent' had that in a long time. as you can see Gabby can eat from 12 to 20oz a day sometimes...so obviously there are days when I can keep up and days when I can't. Also I am usually giving her frozen stuff which has to be used within 24 hours, so if we don't use it up at daycare then I have to throw it, which is like throwing away gold.
I took for granted in the beginning that I had an over supply and I am now kicking myself for not pumping more and saving more, but I can't change that. I also am so sick of pumping that I don't like to pump on the weekends or anything when she is with me.
So here comes my dilemma. Do I cut down her bottles. it's suggested by a few people that she is eating way too much at daycare. So I was thinking of slowly cutting down the amount that I bring to daycare to get down to 12oz during the day, instead of the 17. Then I can cut down my pumpings to two times a day which wouldn't be nearly as bad and I could probably manage at that rate for another 2 to 4 or 6 months. at that point she can be transitioned to Almond or cows milk and more solids and would be drinking less. Then my goal would be to cut out my pumpings and just nurse at night and in the mornings. until she is 18 months, loses interest or I lose my milk supply.
What have others done?
If you are regular followers you know that Cuddlebug has been exclusively on breast milk since the day she was born. We had our troubles in the beginning but I stuck it out and now here we are almost 10 months later and while I LOVE LOVE LOVE to nurse my little Cuddlebug I HATE HATE HATE pumping. Yep there I said it. I hate pumping and I want to quit. I know she only has 2 more months until she is a year, so I am trying to make it to then to quit. I have to go home tonight and tally up all the milk I have in the fridge and see how much that is and how long that will last me.
So I was talking to some of the mom's here at work and they asked me how much and how often is she eating and nursing. Here is our schedule:
6:30 to 7:00am is wakeup and eat time for the day. It's the only time I nurse her before going to work
8:30 or 9:00 - Pump #1
9:00 - Gabby eats anywhere from 4 to 8oz of BM depending on how hungry she is
10:00 - Snack time -she usually gets toast, avocado, cereal, puffs, or whatever puree is open for the day, or if I send some leftovers from the meal the night before.
12:00 - Gabby eats another 4 to 8oz.
12:30 - Pump #2
3:00 - Gabby usually eats about 4 to 5oz
3:00 - Pump #3
5:00 - Gabby nurses from me and then has dinner with us. Same as lunch, whatever are having.
6:30 - Nurses a bit and then goes down for sleep.
This next part varies widely. I think the past couple of days she has been nursing for comfort and I have been letting her because honestly sometimes it's just easier....
10:30- usually wakes up and needs a diaper change and sometimes I feed her, really depends on the mood. I know I need to be more consistent and I am thinking of trying to stop this feeding.
1:00 or 2:30 - wake up, change diaper feed again.
4:00- Wake up, change diaper feed again.
and we are back to the 7am feeding again. That being said I am usually pumping about 12 to 15oz a day, sometimes up to 17, but I havent' had that in a long time. as you can see Gabby can eat from 12 to 20oz a day sometimes...so obviously there are days when I can keep up and days when I can't. Also I am usually giving her frozen stuff which has to be used within 24 hours, so if we don't use it up at daycare then I have to throw it, which is like throwing away gold.
I took for granted in the beginning that I had an over supply and I am now kicking myself for not pumping more and saving more, but I can't change that. I also am so sick of pumping that I don't like to pump on the weekends or anything when she is with me.
So here comes my dilemma. Do I cut down her bottles. it's suggested by a few people that she is eating way too much at daycare. So I was thinking of slowly cutting down the amount that I bring to daycare to get down to 12oz during the day, instead of the 17. Then I can cut down my pumpings to two times a day which wouldn't be nearly as bad and I could probably manage at that rate for another 2 to 4 or 6 months. at that point she can be transitioned to Almond or cows milk and more solids and would be drinking less. Then my goal would be to cut out my pumpings and just nurse at night and in the mornings. until she is 18 months, loses interest or I lose my milk supply.
What have others done?
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3 comments:
I wouldn't cut back on what you send, but maybe change your bottling methods or talk to her teachers about how they feed her. Do they force her to finish her bottles? Or do they let her have what she wants then put it back in the fridge (okay if it's within an hour)? Also, I'd consider making 4 ounce instead of 8-oz bottles if you aren't already; that way you won't lose as much milk if she doesn't drink it all and they forget to put the bottle back in the fridge.
Monkey has anywhere from 8 to 16 ounces of milk a day at daycare. It's completely variable, so we just make sure we label the bottles with the day they were pumped and ask the daycare workers to always use the oldest first. We only replace the bottles that Monkey drinks that day (we provide them with 2 4-oz bottles and 1 8-oz), letting them keep the remaining bottles overnight. We take home any leftover bottles at the end of the week.
Also, I cut down my pumping from 3 to 2 sessions a day a few months ago. Some days I pump as much as 18 ounces; others I barely get 10. I recently cut out weekend pumping completely. Monkey's inconsistency helps me squeeze through the low output days, and we use the frozen milk to take care of growth spurts combined with low output periods.
I think MDO gave you great advice. I would find out what they're doing at daycare - if they're making her finish the bottles or if she really wants that much. Then, make your decisions from there.
I am going to talk to them again but when I talked to them today I asked her and she said they give her the bottles and then when she pushes it away they wait awhile and give her more. Today she drank an entire 7oz bottle at 9am. and then another 6oz at 12 and another 3 at 3:50. I packed 2 5.5oz bottles + 1 7oz bottle.
So I will talk to them again and if tell them if she pushes it away to not feed her again until she is really hungry. Tomorrow I am going to see if I can pump the same amount in two sessions and go from there, if I could cut it down to 2 sessions I know I wouldn't hate it so much.
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