Double pumping while nursing from a single side

[@llli*annesmith]

Hi,

I'm a FTM to a 4 month old daughter and I'm having trouble letting down while pumping and it takes forever for me to pump the required amount for my LO.

My daughter always nursed from one side every three hours. So I started pumping only one side at a time. I pump twice a day for two of her missed feeds. I feed her at around 9:30 leave for work and then pump at around 12:30 and then at 3. Each time i pump only one side ( the side I would have nursed her with). I get about 3 oz each time and it seems to be enough for her. But it takes forever!! Sometimes as much as 40 minutes.

However, today I did double pump. I nursed her on the left side at 9:30 before leaving for work and then at 12:30 I double pumped for 9 minutes getting about 3 oz total from both breasts and then I stopped. I will double pump again to get another feeding at 3.

Do you think I'm doing it right? Is this what you would have done? So essentially, I've drained my right breast only half way at the 12:30 pumping session. Had I pumped single side I would have tried to get a full 3 oz out of my right one. Would my body start thinking that it needs to produce only 1.5 oz during the day instead of the three?

Now when I get back home Im not sure which breast to give her! Can somebody please help me with scheduling this.

Thanks,

Anne

[@llli*mommal]

A lot of moms who nurse on just one breast per feeding find that they need to pump both breasts when at work. The pump doesn't empty the breast as well as the baby- as you've discovered, because it's been hard to generate a letdown using the pump. I don't think you need to overthink the amounts you're getting. If your body adjusts your supply so that you make less per breast, you'll just transition to using both breasts at every feeding, which would probably happen eventually anyway.

[@llli*auderey]

definitely double pump. you might even want to pump longer than 9 mins and store that extra, because pumping enough generally gets harder, esp as baby hits 8-9-10 months.

[@llli*stonesmom]

keep nursing on demand as usual, and double pump each time while at work until your breasts feel empty, usually around 15min for me. Like the other ladies said, you can freeze the extra to start a stash and eventually your body will adjust.

If you only pump until you reach a desired amount then you risk engorgment or even mastitis by not completely emptying your breasts--You can also try doing breast compressions because that will help empty

I went through the exact same thing, but I just kept to my schedule (nursed on demand and double-pumped 3x a day for 15min each time) and I never changed that routine and eventually it all evened out. I stopped getting engorged and baby had more than enough to eat!

Good luck mama we are here for you!

Xoxo

[@llli*annesmith]

Hi Ladies,

Thanks for your replies.

So while you double pump, and get more milk than your LO needs, do you pump on the weekends as well or nursing on demand is enough? how much more milk do you get than what your LO needs?

Anne

[@llli*auderey]

depends on your goals, your needs, and how much freezer space you have

some moms need a big freezer stash, like if they need to plan for work travel, so they need to get ahead a bunch. for others, it's just psychological comfort. for others, they want to taper their pumping sooner, or they know pumping will get harder and want to make it a whole year, so they stockpile for themselves. for awhile, when i got extra, i donated. as i mentioned above, for most people, supply regulates and it becomes harder and harder to pump as time goes by, plus pumping just gets old for most people, and the 10 month slump is infamous around here. (indeed - my join date here coincides exactly with my 10 month slump ...) so how much extra you get now is not really any indication of how much extra you'll get longterm.

i definitely would not pump on the weekends as well if i were getting enough, or extra, during my regular work pumps. how much extra people get is highly variable depending on supply, health, time of day, and everything else that affects supply. i probably wouldn't go crazy with the stockpiling though ... milk takes up a lot of freezer space, and pumping takes a lot of time and energy. for awhile i became obsessed with counting the oz i was making every day and what i had in the freezer. hopefully next time around i can be a little more chill about it all

happy pumping and nursing!

eta: if you're really producing a ton of milk now - which it sounds like maybe you are - then you might feel the need to pump to relieve engorgement on weekends. eventually your supply will even out so that that is not necessary, but maybe not for several months. that might be one reason to take it a little easy on the stockpiling during the week, so that you don't have to pump on the weekends.

[@llli*mamalump]

Looks like you've gotten some good advice. I just wanted to add that when I read this title, my first thought was, "Does she have 3 boobs?"

[@llli*annesmith]

LOL @mamalump. Now that I read back the title that's the only way I can interpret it