clementine / 824 posts
@DillonLion: Three times still and hating it! I might try to go to 2x next week and see if I'm getting enough.
She's finally starting to cut back on her milk intake some. I recently dropped her bottles from 5oz to 4oz and just within the past couple weeks she's been coming home with one of the three bottles probably 50% of the time. I'm wondering if I should go back to 5oz but just try to space them out more (maybe 4hrs instead of 3-3.5). I didn't realize this and the whole solids thing would be so confusing!
pear / 1616 posts
@DillonLion: i've only been pumping once at work, 3 times total a day. i make about 12-13oz a day when AF's not here, and like maybe 10-11oz when AF is here. bleh. so i'm in the same boat as you. i don't think i'll drop any more sessions until she's 1. then i am burning all my pump stuff (kidding... kind of)
is anyone down to 3 bottle/nursing sessions a day? i want to start to transition her to the 3 meals/2 snacks plan and i'm not sure what to do it with her milk. right now she eats at 7am, 11am, 3pm, and 7pm. so i'm thinking about dropping one of the mid day bottles and just having her drink from a sippy during that snacktime. i'm just afraid she's going to not drink enough milk a day. i'm not sure if i should just wait till 11 months to do the transition to make sure shes drinking enough. and yes @slr i agree this solids thing is confusing!
GOLD / eggplant / 11517 posts
@kodybear: C still has bottles at 7, 10, 1, 4, 6 and 8. Trying to drop the 6 bottle now...so we are nowhere near 3x a day yet. Wish we were! She's on 3 meals only. No snacks. Need to work those in I guess!
Tried pumping only once at work today. Got 3 oz total yesterday with two 30 minute pump sessions and then cried. Pumped once today at work and got 2.5 oz....so that's nearly the exact same....we will see how it goes from here. I'll probably do two on days I'm not super busy and once on days that things are crazy.
pear / 1992 posts
@kodybear: We dropped the mid-day bottle and replaced it with breastmilk in her straw cup. She drinks more that way than with her bottle, but still not as much as when she wasn't taking solids at daycare. I send 11-12 ounces each day depending on what I got pumping the day before and most days she drinks it all. Some days she only has 9-10 ounces.
Right now this is roughly how it goes:
5-5:30 nurse
8:30 breakfast + 4 oz bottle (at daycare)
10 snack + water in straw cup
12:30 lunch + 2-4 oz milk in straw cup
2:30 snack + water in straw cup
4:30 3-4 oz bottle
6:30 dinner at home + water in straw cup
7:30 nurse to sleep
2-3AM nurse
ETA I've been pumping 2x a day at work for a while now and it's been working well but the last two days have been so busy that I didn't get to my first session until noon or later (usually try for 10 and 3). So after getting 9 oz at 12:30, I'm going to pump after she nurses tonight to hopefully get the last 3 I need for tomorrow.
I would much rather pump 2x at work though, than pump 1x at work and lug all that shiz back and forth. Trying to do the math to see how much of a stash I have and when I can cut to one session and supplement with my frozen milk.
GOLD / wonderful apricot / 22646 posts
@kodybear: so confusing!
A's schedule has been this for the past month or so:
630am: nurse
830am: breakfast (yogurt+banana or eggs)
11am: nurse/btl
1230pm: lunch (rice with soy sauce, or veggies)
300pm: nurse/btl
500pm: dinner (chunky puree, grape tomatoes, etc.)
7pm: nurse
i have no idea how to make the transition to 1 pump session at work/3 nursing sessions in the next month or so. i think i might just wait until 12 months where i can start transitioning in whole milk adn then quit pumping/nursing gradually.
GOLD / eggplant / 11517 posts
My supply is way down (used to make 12-15 oz a day and now am barely making 8) but 8 (4 oz first thing in the morning, 4oz before bed, formula for her three daytime feedings) is all I feed her anyway, so I guess I don't need much more. AF is due so I hope things bounce back a little after that.
pear / 1616 posts
@lindseykaye: we tried a similar schedule over the weekend and she did great! i basically replaced her 11am bottle with 11am snack/straw cup and then gave her milk in her cup at lunch too and she did well. so i am trying it at daycare today. i'm so nervous! i'm scared she won't drink anything in the morning even tho i know she can drink out of the cup fine. when did you start sending the cups? i was telling the teacher about her new schedule and she mentioned that she usually sees 11 month olds with that kind of schedule (don't think she meant it in a bad way.. more of an observation?) so now i'm nervous that i send it too early (lo just turned 10 months!) but she's been doing great with the straw cup so i don't know. sorry kind of a long comment. haha ahh can't wait to find out how she did today
@DillonLion: i'm sorry everytime AF comes i think about quitting bc my milk supply is so bad. it will bounce back after tho! only 2 more months!!
@mrsjyw: do you feed rice with a spoon or rice balls or just put the rice on the tray? i tried making rice balls but it gets so sticky and ends up falling apart anyway. haha let me know if you have any tricks!
pear / 1992 posts
@kodybear: I sent a straw cup so she could have water with snacks a while ago - maybe 7 or 8 months? She was reaching for and stealing the other kids cups so I figured she should have her own if that was going to happen!
The rest of the schedule just kind of happened naturally with daycare taking the lead. When she started to refuse her mid-day bottle (or would only drink like 2 ounces) her daycare nanny let me know and I figured, let's try the cup? If she takes more, great! If not then we can go from there. She started drinking more so we continued with it. Interesting to know that babies who are a little older usually keep this schedule! I would have to look back in her daycare notebook to see when we made the change but it's been a little while now, maybe a month? Don't worry yet that it's too early - if she did well with it at home, she will probably do just fine today!
pear / 1616 posts
@lindseykaye: okay thanks! i'm trying not to think about her at daycare or else i just start worrying all over again. haha i'm sure they would call if there are any issues.
GOLD / eggplant / 11517 posts
The motor on my pump is going out! The suction is terrible. I pumped twice at work today and didn't even get 2 ounces TOTAL. I can't just be drying up like that. It finally dawned on me that I can barely even feel the suction at all. New pump should be here by Wednesday. I also ordered all new accessories to make sure there aren't any other issues I'm missing. You will not beat me pump! I WILL make it to a year, damnit.
GOLD / wonderful apricot / 22646 posts
@kodybear: usually with a spoon, we sometimes let him just make a mess on his tray!
@dillonlion: yay! hope your supply gets back to normal after wed!
pear / 1616 posts
@DillonLion: not sure if you're using your new pump yet, but if you are is it better?
@lindseykaye: just an update, she did fine at daycare! i was really worried on monday and my coworkers (who are parents) were making fun of me saying "she's starving", "you need to call them right now and make sure shes okay" ... but she did great. i definitely made a bigger deal out of it than LO. I'm sure she barely noticed anything changed. i talked to the teacher again today and she said LO drinks better than some of the older kids! so happy. 3 more bottles to go..
pear / 1992 posts
@kodybear: Yay! I was hoping she would do AWESOME so you could have no worries about it I'm not sure when we'll start to cut her other two bottles (AM and PM at daycare) so I might talk to her daycare nanny about how she's been doing. Lately her sheets have her drinking less in the morning, even though she won't have nursed since about 5:30... I'm thinking that one is next.
Man, now I have to buy more straw cups
@DillonLion: Yay new pump! Sucks that yours crapped out on you though. I have an Ameda Purely Yours that I have used 3x a day at work since returning and the motor started just turning off at random times while pumping (in August) so I called their customer service and they sent me a brand new one. It works great, and now I get to store a barely used pump for the next LO rather than one that went through the trenches this time around!
pear / 1616 posts
@lindseykaye: hah i was so excited to have one less bottle to wash everyday, then i realized i'd have to wash one more straw cup!! it never ends.. can't wait to pack up my pumping stuff tho!!
honeydew / 7687 posts
@travelgirl1 I think you're the only other SAHM who EBF in here are you seeing nursing sessions shorten?
LO nurses 6:30 11 3:30 and 6:30 with three solids meals and lately had been refusing one side at the 11 am nurse session. I don't know if I should try to push it back/try to condense the 11 & 3 into one? Or just keep offering 4x a day until he is 12 m?
GOLD / wonderful apricot / 22646 posts
@scg00387: I nurse 4/5 days of the week and DS has def been refusing length/boob/amounts for our 2 day time sessions. Since I know that his intake is usually only ~20 oz anyway, I'm planning on keeping it for as long as he'll tolerate it!
ETA: we nurse at 6am, 11am, 3pm, 7pm
pear / 1992 posts
@kodybear: I'm spoiled because our daycare nanny keeps and washes the bottles/cups that the LOs she watches use ;P
Going down to one pump session a day over here! Wish me luck. LO will be one in 39 days - time to break out the freezer stash.
pear / 1616 posts
@lindseykaye: ahh so lucky that your daycare nanny washes them! yesterday i was working at home so we tried to drop all the afternoon bottles, and washing 1 less bottle at night was so liberating. haha we're so close! and i can't believe you're down to 1 pump session!! so jealoussss
pear / 1992 posts
@kodybear: We'll see how it goes! I got 7.75 ounces at 12:30 (nursed at 6, will nurse again at bedtime between 7-7:30).
I thought I wouldn't drop until next week when she's actually a month out from 1 year, but yesterday I was in a wedding out of town, away from LO and didn't get to pump except at 11 and 8:45. OMG holy ouch. That was WAY too long to go between sessions but I figured I might as well just go for it dropping a pump while at work. If I don't do it now, I may chicken out and delay it for longer when I need to just rip that bandaid off..
GOLD / eggplant / 11517 posts
@lindseykaye: ahh painful. I've been doing 4x a day during the week and 3x a day on weekends (I EP). My little supply is so sad. I get 3oz during the first morning pump, 2-4 oz total at work, amd another 2 oz before bed. So I'm basically never full and never uncomfortable. I guess that's one perk of making basically no milk.
pear / 1992 posts
@DillonLion: I was really surprised how uncomfortable I was and it actually made me more nervous about starting to taper off. I've never had a problem with clogs or mastitis, but I am so scared of it! Now I worry that I'll just keep making milk... forever... even though she's not drinking as much, nursing as long, and I've cut pumping sessions.
I know how lucky I have been to have made more than enough for her this whole time, but I am fairly certain that if I just decided to go back to pumping 3x daily tomorrow, I would go back to making that much milk like immediately. How else do I tell my body to knock it off? And I also feel guilty - like I should keep pumping, giving it to LO as long as I can, or even donate pumped milk after I transition her because so many mamas and babies need that help. So many feels.
GOLD / eggplant / 11517 posts
@lindseykaye: lots of emotion on top of the fact that there are so many hormonal things going on as well! I'm sure your body will cooperate...it just might take a little more time. All mommies have to stop eventually. I mean technically we could all keep producing forever and be sharing or donating....but no one does that lol
persimmon / 1161 posts
@lindseykaye: If you're that uncomfortable you can try to do it more gradually, such as progressively pushing your morning session later and simultaneously shortening your afternoon session.
GOLD / eggplant / 11517 posts
Down to 3 pump sessions a day now. Actually tried only 2 pumos yesterday and im barely engorged this morning.
Just giving her one 5 oz bottle of breast milk a day before bedtime. but ive got a fair amount in tge fridge and freezer. I'm takung a four day girls trip at the end of this week so i wanted to make sure i had a bunch of milk to leave for her while im gone.
Once i am back we will be thawing more of the freezer stash and winding down to weaning over these last few weeks till she is one (omg)
kiwi / 541 posts
We started doing the transition to whole milk. Did one oz of whole milk with rest formula. He had an upset tummy all last week and really bad diaper rash. So I took him off the whole milk over the weekend. Both problems cleared up right away. So I think we will wait a bit longer and try again later.
persimmon / 1161 posts
@turkeylurkey: Have you considered trying goat's milk? I've heard that it is easier on their tummies.
pear / 1992 posts
@turkeylurkey: Ack I'm so nervous about transitioning to milk. I'm planning to continue to pump 1x a day and use my freezer stash to cover the rest of her needs until we hit November. Then I'll start the transition ahead of her birthday (and about 2 weeks ahead of her 1 yr. appointment) so that we can talk about any of these kinds of things that might come up with her pediatrician.
Good luck - I have heard the same as what @ChelseaRose: said about goat's milk but it's not easy to find around here. Maybe you'll have better luck!
kiwi / 541 posts
I wasn't planning to do the transistion until he was 12months but the DH decided to do it last weekend while I was out of town. So by the middle of the week E started having really loose BMs and Diaper Rash. So I stopped the transistion on Thursday. He was back to normal yesterday. It could have been from teething. Who knows but I figured cut out the whole milk and see what happens. My peditrician told us 10-11 months for the whole milk. So might be too early for E.
GOLD / eggplant / 11517 posts
37 days away from her first birthday. My goal was to have her drink breastmilk the day she turns one. Attempting to transition down to 2-3 pumps a day has been disastrous. I am now only producing 3-5 ounces total a day. I have about 50 ounces in the freezer,that i am leaving alone in case i dry up completely before her bdat. But ugh...this is cutting it close. Staying at 4x a day at least and drinking lots of water. AF is here I think so I am really hoping,things rebound a little bit once that ends.
Sheesh! There just had to be absolutely no time at any point that i wasnt stressed out and ashamed about my stupid milk supply.
pomegranate / 3225 posts
@DillonLion: Great job to you! I dried up and had to switch to formula about 2 weeks ago. Sad, but I'm happy I made it EBF for 10 months!
GOLD / eggplant / 11517 posts
@kml636: that is amazing! I am so in awe of EBFers. Great job momma
pear / 1616 posts
@DillonLion: so sorry you're going through this!! but i wanted to say you are doing awesome!! i have no doubt you'll make it to the end.
@kml636: 10 months is awesome!! i am also in awe of people were able to EBF!
i dropped to two pumping sessions. i was hoping to do 3 until closer to 12 months, but the past week LO was sick and i was just getting frustrated with having to pump mid day. i guess it finally caught up to me. so i just decided to drop the mid day session. i'll probably keep 2 sessions for 2 more weeks, then drop another one, then drop the last session around 12 months. then switch to cow's milk. i can't believe i'm almost done. i feel like pumping has been my life for the past year and i don't remember life without it! haha. bittersweet i guess.
pomegranate / 3225 posts
@kodybear: yeah, bittersweet is a good word for it. I am scared of the transition to cow's milk. I've tried a bit in a sippy cup and she throws it right on the floor. LOL.
GOLD / wonderful apricot / 22646 posts
@DillonLion: you are such a champ mama!!! in awe of you and your dedication!!
i am going down to 1x a pump a day today. Question tho - ds consistently takes 2 smaller bottles a day... what do I do on my days home? nurse 1x and btl feed (freezer stash) another?
pear / 1992 posts
@mrsjyw: I think you could either nurse 1x and bottle feed the other, or you could just nurse 2x when you are home?
I have been pumping 1x a day all month and while I have started making less (6-9 ounces usually), I am still able to feed her as normal on the weekends, and am not uncomfortable or engorged at work anymore.
Now a question for all of you! LO's milk intake at daycare seems to have gone down. She was drinking 12 ounces a day for so long, and is now around 8 ounces on average. Sometimes 6, sometimes 10. She also eats two meals and usually two snacks. So I know she is eating well, and still getting milk, I just worry that it's not enough because I'm so used to her drinking more!
She is just 2 weeks from her 1st birthday. I plan to start the WCM transition next week. Maybe this is a good thing??
GOLD / wonderful apricot / 22646 posts
@lindseykaye: so i just went down to nursing him 1x a day because i only pump 2-3 days a week and i think it would've been fruitless otherwise! he's done okay-- so we nurse 3x every day and i think he gets about 15oz a day now total. while i know it's on the low end, we're going to start WCM next week and he eats regular meals and is healthy so i'm not going to worry about it!! i think it'll be a great transition for you and E too
clementine / 824 posts
@lindseykaye: I think that sounds normal?! E is down to drinking 8-9oz at daycare during the day and seems perfectly fine with that. (But she still nurses 3x during the day usually and once at night still, although I'm sure she doesn't "need" this). How many times does she nurse at home?
We're not starting WCM until early Dec because that's the soonest we could get a Sat appt for her 1 yr check and the pedi wanted us to hold off until then. I can't wait to stop pumping at work, but I'm also getting nervous about gaining weight with weaning/cutting back on nursing!
pear / 1616 posts
@lindseykaye: @mrsjyw: wheww! i was just googling how much a 11 month old should drink because i was worried i dropped the morning bottle too soon. i *think* she's drinking about 16-18 oz a day. but probably more like 16oz. all that being said, its reassuring to hear that my baby isn't the only one starting to drink less. it feels weird to not worry about how much she's drinking tho! but i know once 12 months hit, it doesn't matter as much.
pear / 1992 posts
@mrsjyw: Nice - glad it's working out!
And glad to hear Ellie is similar to all of yours with this.
@SLR: She will nurse 2-3x at home. Every evening before bed and then 1-2x in the early morning. Sometimes 4 and 6, sometimes once arond 5. We also just started last weekend to not nurse to sleep for naps, so she is going longer stretches at home on the weekends between feeds, which I think will essentially cut one of them out.
@kodybear: Yes. Feels totally weird after a whole year of constantly thinking about how much she is drinking, how many times she's nursed, how many ounces I produced at work, etc. etc.
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