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Thankfully, I had an oversupply in the beginning and built up a huge freezer stash. LO will be a year next week and takes 12 oz. while she's away from me and if I pump 3x a day I will get anywhere from 9-15oz. (For instance when I have my period, my supply tanks and I usually have to dip into the freezer stash.)

I'm starting to stress a little because I will be coming to the end of the freezer stash and I want to continue giving her breast milk for a while.

I just tell myself 'Every Ounce Counts'. I pump 4x a day. (3 at work and at 9 pm). I nurse 2-3x on top of that. And we still have to supplement. It is still worth it to me!

She eats about 32oz a day total. I produce a little less than half that.

It doesn't really stress me out, but I am in therapy for guilt/shame that I don't make enough. But I don't have plans to quit anytime soon. Any breastmilk is good for her and helps us to stay connected while we have to be apart 10 hours a day during the work week.

i just wanted to add that i pump about an hour after she goes to bed and i'm able to get 3-4 oz, so maybe you could try that to add in a session? i like doing it right after i put her down, that way i know she most likely wont be waking up anytime soon.

I definitely have stressed about it. I also realize that since I'm not nursing exclusively, I may need to supplement when she goes through growth spurts. That's probably what you've hit - a growth spurt. Hopefully she'll get through it quickly and what you're pumping equals what she's eating again soon enough.

I pump 4 times a day to get the 15 oz needed for my LO at daycare. She has a 5 oz bottle every 3 hours (5 months old)

I nurse from one side at 5 am, then at 6 am I pump the other side. She gets a bottle at daycare at around 9, 12, and 3. I also pump at each of those times. Then I nurse her once more between 5 & 6 pm. (She goes to bed really early!)

I make just enough. I build up my stash by pumping on the one side I didn't nurse off of in the morning on Saturdays and Sundays. This gives me an extra 8-10 oz which I save in case I need to travel for business. When I travel I try to keep my same pumping schedule plus add in 2 more for the times I would be nursing and bring the milk back with me so my stash isn't depleted. When I'm gone, my LO drinks 30 oz of expressed milk.

Even though he didn't take bottles on the weekends, I would still pump 1-2x/day on the weekends to build up a bit of a buffer for the coming week.

Until LO was 9mo old, I would pump 3x/day at work. He was pretty consistent at getting up at a certain hour so I would get up 2+hrs before that and pump. I would also pump 2-3hrs after he went to bed. So that was about 5x/day. He would take around 20oz-22oz (and 2 nursing sessions) a day.

I was not good at building a stash beforehand but hope to do better at that this time.

If I were you, I'd be pumping three times during the workday. Perhaps once shortly after you leave the house. Last time I freaked about the deficit although I never had to supplement in the end. I did more milk tea and all that stuff.

You might be OK because soon you'll introduce solids.

This time I don't think i'll have a deficit anytime soon. Nursing all night is not good for my sleep situation but it's great for supply!

One thing I do is if LO gets to bed at an odd time and I would normally have fed her, but she is sound asleepI will pump and put it in the fridge so if she wakes up realatively soon I will nurse her and then give her some of the bottle (make sure to divide what is in the bottle so the rest you can save if she doesn't finish it all). That way I don't go to long with out pumping/feeding, but if LO sleeps through the night I am not waking her.

I started off just trying to pump three times while I was at work to cover what he was eating, but I could never get enough. I have to pump 5 times a day to cover what he eats while I'm gone. Once in the morning while I'm getting ready, three times at work, and once in the evening after he goes to bed. I know he's can get more out than my pump can, so if he wakes up and wants to nurse too soon after I've pumped, he can usually get enough to satisfy. I also pump on the weekends about a half hour after he's nursed. I don't really get much, but it's enough to give me a cushion for the week ahead. I've spend 2.5 hrs a day hooked up to that damn pump for the last 8 months... I'm so over it.

Producing enough milk is a HUGE stressor for me. I supplemented here and there when I started back to work (thrush destroyed my freezer stash) and have needed to supplement during the week from about 5 months (LO just hit 7 months) to present. I am currently down to 2 pumping sessions during the day, and usually yield 7.5-9 ounces. I currently give LO both BM and F - each bottle has 2.5-3oz of BM, and 2-1.5oz of F (for 4.5oz total).

3 pumping sessions was just too disruptive at work (especially for off-site client meetings and depositions), so I cut back to 2. I am also in the process of sloooooowly day-weaning, but that is a story for another day!

@PrincessBaby: I first need to ask: where do you live that your workplace does not provide a space for pumping? Being exiled to your car certainly is not a relaxing place for producing and extracting milk!

I would recommend pumping every chance you get. If LO still has a middle of the night feeding, pump after that if your breasts feel super full, weekends are also a great time to stock up in case you need to dip into your stash. Eat oatmeal and stay hydrated. Good luck momma!

@PrincessBaby: Usually 3 (bottles). I am gone from about 7:3o to 5, so she eats at approx. 9:00, 12:00, and 3:00 . . . and I bust my butt to make sure I am home for the fourth feeding. I also think we may be doing a little bit of reverse cycling, because I co-bed with her at night (due to reflux . . . it's a long story) and she loves to be on the boob! I have tried 5oz for each bottle, but she was leaving 0.5 to 1oz in each bottle.

Awwww, not entirely crazy! And she might be eating more during the day because she is STTN (or close to it - hate the 4 month regression!), whereas my LO has never STTN (*sigh*), so, yeah . . . . if that makes sense?

@PrincessBaby: Are you using size 1 nipples on her bottles? They have the slowest flow so the baby needs to work more to get the milk. Maybe she's sucking it down so fast she's not able to gauge when she's actually full? An 8 oz bottle seems like a lot! Could just be a growth spurt though too.

DS is 7 months and I pump 3 times at work. I only get 8 oz over 3 pumps the whole day. I still nurse him at 7am and before bed around 730, and then nurse on the weekends. It was unbelievably upsetting for me at first, I felt like I was starving him. My pedi convinced me that as long as he is getting what I am putting out and she used a formula to calculate based on his length and weight how much he needed to intake minimum per 24 hour period and that helped put my mind at ease a lot. I think there is a calculator on kellymom. I also take Reglan and it has helped me more than anything else to maintain what little supply I have...and I feel like I've done everything...MMP, Fenugreek, Mother's Milk Tea...etc., etc.

@PrincessBaby: whoa, 8oz of breastmilk in a bottle is a lot! I would try smaller bottles more frequently. I always stressed over how much to put in E's bottles, but he only takes 6oz at most now at 10th months. Daycare would always say he seemed hungry, but he didn't nap well and I knew he was fussy because he was tired. H is probably going through a growth spurt now, but I'd still try the smaller frequent bottles.

Gah - I meant 4th bottle - my phone won't let me edit that part
Also, I didn't realize until reading this that the number of night nursing sessions was affecting my supply the next day, but that might explain why some days are "randomly" better or worse than others.