The good news - we're down to one wake-up a night!!!
The bad news - I'm not pumping as much at work anymore. I'm not pumping enough for her daily bottles. 
I'm slowly depleating the stash I built up while on maternity leave.
She's 6 months old.
Any tips for upping my supply?
blogger / watermelon / 14218 posts
oh no can you add in a pumping session while you're home? maybe after she goes to bed but before her middle of the night feeding? unless you're already pumping then..
hostess / wonderful persimmon / 25556 posts
@mrs. wagon: I'm such a sad sack...I go to bed by 9pm. She eats at 6 or 6:30. It would be such a rigamarole to set everything up, pump and put everything away at 8:45, right?
I'm considering pumping one side in the morning and see if I get anything that way. It's hard to set up the pump for just one side but it might be an idea....
blogger / watermelon / 14218 posts
@mediagirl: Do it, girl... this is my routine:
When I get home, after she goes to bed I put my pump (which is installed in the bottom of my pump bag) on my nightstand, zip it open, and plug the ac adapter and tubes in. I then take the bottles of milk from work time pumping and set up the next day's bottles. (I pump at this time too but obviously you will have just nursed.) Then after dinner I wash bottles and pump parts, and right before bed I pack up pump parts and bottles for work the next day, then I pump before going to sleep (leaving the pump all set up). I also pump first thing in the morning, and right after pumping I pack up the pump and all the bottles/parts for work. It's an extra time suck but I have the whole pumping/packing/unpacking process down to about 15 mins for everything, with a good system of multiple bottles and pump parts.
Not worrying about your supply and your stash is worth the extra effort!! And once it becomes routine it's not a big deal at all.
GOLD / papaya / 10166 posts
@mediagirl: How many times do you pump during the day? Are you waiting for a 2nd let down each time?
I never pumped overnight, but I struggled with my supply when I went back to work. Once I started using More Milk Plus and waiting for a 2nd let down each time, I had a crazy supply (like 7-9 oz from each session).
hostess / wonderful persimmon / 25556 posts
@BabyBoecksMom: I pump 3x/day. I feed her 2x/day. I pump for 20 minutes, no more, no less.
@mrs. wagon: remind me...how many sets of pump parts do you have?
blogger / watermelon / 14218 posts
@mediagirl: I have 3 sets of pump parts and about 9 or 10 bottles. But honestly, with nightly washing I could do it with 2 sets of pump parts. One to be packed for work and one in the fridge for that day's pumping at home. The key is to have enough bottles for the next day's supply and enough in your pump bag to pump into at work.
hostess / wonderful persimmon / 25556 posts
@mrs. wagon: how freaking lazy am I? I don't want to pump at night because I don't want to walk my milk down to the fridge before I go to bed. Hahhahha. I may start setting it up on my nightstand again and see if that helps me pump extra times when I'm home. I haaaaaaaate pumping so much. But it's worth it, I guess. And it won't be forever (6 more months of pumping!!) (hopefully)
blogger / watermelon / 14218 posts
@mediagirl: MINI FRIDGE IN YOUR ROOM!!! Ours used to be in our room (AND our chest freezer, that's how lazy I am! and how big our bedroom is). If you're just pumping for the next day's bottles, a mini fridge will do the trick. We bought a used one off craigslist (college students!) for $30!
hostess / wonderful persimmon / 25556 posts
@mrs. wagon: lol good call. We have a huge bedroom. A mini fridge would definitely fit in there. Then we could keep Gatorade and waters up there, too. Ooooo.
blogger / watermelon / 14218 posts
@mediagirl: YES!!! we do this. And there may or may not be a pint of ben and jerry's in the freezer compartment.........
hostess / wonderful grape / 20803 posts
When I was exclusively pumping, I always pumped as the last thing I did before bed - I literally would do it in bed while DH and I read, talked or watched TV.
When we were on vacation at MIL's or my parents I would always leave a little cooler in our room (with ice packs) for LO's overnight bottles and for my pumping bottles as well.
GOLD / squash / 13576 posts
I started adding a bottle of formula for two reasons (1) it's a special preemie formula that I like to call baby steroids and (2) less pressure on me to pump at work. Pumping at work is so time consuming.
To increase supply, I'd suggest adding another pumping session and drinking LOTS of water.
wonderful clementine / 24134 posts
How is your LO doing with solids? I remember panicking around this age because my supply dropped some. But she starting eat a bit less once she got the hang of solids.
grapefruit / 4110 posts
I swore by pumping the side he wasn't nursing on in the morning. Then I would put him on there after pumping for more hindmilk.
But, breastmilk can be out at room temp for a few hours. So I would leave mine overnight. Also, I bought a single pump one day and I love it for pumping in the car, pumping in the morning and pumping at night when I had to.
Another thing is to make sure baby is to the breast anytime I wasn't at work so that he would stimulate. So all weekend long we would nurse nurse nurse.
hostess / wonderful persimmon / 25556 posts
@mrs. wagon: I pumped at 9pm last night. At 10:30, she woke up. Naturally. I think she just wanted to be soothed, though because she didn't seem to care very much that she wasn't getting much out of there. I was running late so never got to pump this am.
@Thehistoryofus: she's doing one solid a night unless she's sick and then we usually skip it so, it's not consistent yet. She's still all breastmilk for nutrition. In the new year we are going to start sending solids to daycare for one meal and feeding her consistently at dinnertime.
blogger / watermelon / 14218 posts
@mediagirl: of course. Haha. Well if she was just soothed byt he nursing (instead of actually needing to eat) then your being relatively empty shouldn't matter, which is great.
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