Pump/Bottle schedule with mid-day feed?

[@llli*elizabethr]

Does anyone here have experience with pumping and feeding baby bottle when they also get to see and feed the baby in the middle of the day? This is my 4th week back, second full week, and I'm still trying to figure out when I should be pumping and how much my baby "should" be eating while away from me. LO is almost 5 months.

Here is our schedule:

1st Feed: Sometime between 6 and 7am depending on when she wakes. Sometimes this is more of a dream feed and I don't think she gets a lot, but she nurses 2-4 times during the night too.

2nd Feed: Usually takes a bottle around 9:30. She has been taking only about 1.5-2 oz, but this is slowly getting to be more. One day she took 4 oz but some days she won't take any. I pump between 9 and 9:30am depending on when she ate in the morning.

3rd Feed: Baby comes to my work between 11:30 and 12. I have an hour lunch break, so I feed her when she arrives, than I eat my lunch and feed her again for about 10 minutes just before she leaves. Which means she has her second feed at either 12:20 or 12:50.

She almost never takes a bottle in the afternoon but if she does, it's a very small amount, usually less than 1oz. I arrive home between 4 and 5 depending on the day. And then we just demand feed all evening. I'm not keeping track of how much in the evening.

I'm having a hard time getting a second pump in during the day. I'm a teacher-librarian and most of my classes are at the end of the day, so my class times conflict with the time I "should" be pumping. If I don't pump, it's usually between 3-4 hours between when I last fed her and when I get home.

I'm still pumping way more than she is eating and unfortunately I'm having to throw a lot away as I don't have a proper freezer yet. Since she is eating in the middle of the day, is it OK that she is taking so little from the bottle? Should I try and get our nanny to feed her more? Especially in the afternoon. She really loves any bottles or cups that DH and I are drinking out of, so I think she would take more from a little cup if we tried, I'm just not sure if it is necessary. Also should I worry about not getting in that second pumping session in the afternoon?

Sorry for the long message! I'm trying to get all the info in I can think of as I don't have much time at home to get on the computer.

[@llli*auderey]

Hi mama, I think your schedule sounds pretty great, and if your baby is happy, and you're getting enough milk for her when you pump, there's no reason to over-think or over-stress. You don't necessarily have to pump at exactly the times she's getting bottles; just about the same number of times (and this is less important at this age when your supply is more established) and about the same time every day helps too. I don't see how it could hurt to have her take some milk in a cup in the afternoon. And beware that all this might change, especially around the 9 month pumping slump when you might have to figure out how to fit in another pump. But you've got a lot of time to enjoy between now and then. So nice to see THIS kind of problem!

[@llli*phi]

As long as she is making enough diapers, then she is getting enough milk. However, if you are tossing out milk, then I would try a cup just to attempt to use up some of the milk. My baby rejected bottles when he was around 8 months and transitioned beautifully to a sippy cup. Plenty of babies go to a cup much earlier than mine did. You can try an open cup too. Cups will often work for babies who don't care for bottles. It is worth a try anyway. It sounds like she's doing well without the expressed milk, but throwing out milk is truly distressing.

If you drive to work, then you can pump in the car on the way home.

[@llli*aprilsmagic]

Go buy a freezer. Or offer it on Human Milk 4 Human Babies. It makes me sad when moms toss milk

[@llli*elizabethr]

Thanks ladies. I too am glad that my "problem" is not so much a problem as an uncertainty. Thanks for three thought and advice.

Susan, I would go out and but a freezer today if I could, but there are a number of reasons I can't, not just money, although it is a small factor as prices are crazy high here in Brazil. I am trying to find out if I can donate, but again, it is not straight forward here. If I continue to produce more than needed, I would love to donate!