My son is 11 months and has been breastfed. I was pumping 3 times a day at work until 3 weeks ago. I switched jobs and had 3 weeks off so we were just breastfeeding since we were together all day. I started my new job this week and I'm only pumping once a day and nursing him in the morning and when I get home. I am planning to start weaning him once he is a year so I don't want my supply to increase. But we are on vacation next week so I know he'll be looking to nurse at least a couple times throughout the day. Will this week of pumping only once kill my supply? I'm so worried that when we're together next week there will be less milk and he'll get frustrated. Plus my period came back this week just to make things worse! I'm just hoping we can get through next week and then go to nursing before and after work. Anyone have any thoughts or experiences?
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It depends on your body. I had no issues nursing on demand on weekends once I stopped pumping at work.
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I only pumped once at work for several months and then nursed on demand all summer with no problems.
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Following. I just dropped down to 1 pump a day at work (starting last week). My LO is 11 months too (will be 1 on 8/24). I plan to continue BFing on weekends and everything during the day so I'm a bit worried about this. Good to know.
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My supply adjusts fast, so yes, my supply would drop. And when I was quitting pumping my supply dropped pretty quickly in response to dropping pumps. I mean, it won't kill your supply but I'm sure it'll affect it. But I think you will be fine, he will just nurse more often if he needs more.
I mean, after I quit pumping at 1 year I nursed on demand on the weekends for a good while (didn't wean until 25 mo but I started limiting sessions around 20 mo) and she maybe asked a bit more than normal (4-5x) when she wanted more but she wasn't frustrated.
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I think it would probably be ok if it was only one week, and then the following week, you were nursing again (that always made my supply increase back up again). It's hard to say for sure though. I started pump weaning around that time and gradually went from 3 to 2 to 1 pump daily over a period of about a month (incidentally, my period also came back in the middle of that). I continued nursing her on weekends for awhile and that was fine, although by the time I was down to 1 pump, she was like 1 week away from being 12 months and we had started mixing breast milk with regular milk and giving her a mixture in bottles to supplement the nursing a little when needed. We had some frozen stash left at that point as a safety net as well.
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It reaaaaally depends on the person... If it was me, I'd have big issues. But I know some friends that have an oversupply even when they don't pump regularly.
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6 comments