Should I try to increase?

[@llli*ky.momma12]

My DS will be a year old on the 31st and I plan to continue BF until he self weans. He nurses when it's time to nap (2xday), at bedtime and NUMEROUS times throughout the night, even if only for a few minutes. He wil sometimes nurse when he wakes in the morning as well. Since nursing is the only way he will go to sleep, our nursing session are still usually as long as they were when he was pretty young.

He's getting enough milk when he nurses; he's gaining weight appropriately and producing enough wet/dirty diapers. I'd like to start pumping in between nursing session to start a "milk stash" and to give him in his sippy cup. However, when I pumped after he was first born I could hardly pump any milk at all... I mean like an ounce or two in 30 minutes! I tried both a manual pump and a hand-me-down electric pump.

Should I try to increase my supply so that I may be able to pump more milk? Or try to increase in case I start my period soon? Or just in case it starts to decrease since he's a year old? I know, silly questions haha. But I'm trying to be proactive here!

[@llli*bfwmomof3]

Hi mama, I always QUIT pumping at a year. (I've pumped to provide milk to my babies while I'm at work.) Why do you feel like you need to give him milk in a sippy cup? You are nursing plenty. If you want him to learn how to use a sippy cup, you can put water in the cup. If you have a supply decrease with your period, your LO will nurse more to boost your supply back up. And your supply won't decrease just because he's a year. It will decrease because he starts getting more and more of his nutritional needs met by solid foods. Which doesn't mean that your milk isn't still important; but it does mean you don't need to counteract that process by pumping.

[@llli*ky.momma12]

Hi there! He can already drink from his sippy; I'd just like to try and give him milk in that to see if he may fall asleep with that instead of the breast (I know, long shot lol). I've never left him for more than a couple hours because he can't fall asleep without me and he can't eat without me. I'd like that to change. He doesn't take a lot of solids so he's not getting a lot of his nutrients anywhere besides BM.

[@llli*bfwmomof3]

How long are you planning to be apart from him? Have you tried pumping recently? If it's an occasional separation of a few hours, it should be fine to just have a couple of ounces on hand to help put him to sleep. Usually pumping in the morning will get you the most yield, because that's when you have the most milk, but you very well may get only a half an ounce or an ounce. But if you do that every day for a week, you're already up to a few ounces! I don't think you need to think of it as increasing your supply, though. Your supply should be perfectly matched to baby's needs at this point.