Baby sleeps, boobs won't

[PumpUpTheJam]

I have been blessed with a beautiful three month old who sleeps for nine to ten hours at night (the day is another matter, but we're working on it). I know I am also blessed to have an abundant milk supply, as I didn't have enough for the first few weeks and felt terrible. But my massive milk jugs wake me after five hours of sleep even though baby is only halfway through the night! I'm currently getting up, pumping, then freezing it for the milk bank, but this has gone on for over a month and now I'd really like a good night's sleep! So far I have tried leaving it as long as possible (ouch), only expressing a little (meaning I wake again in an hour or so), dream feeding her (but she doesn't really want it), and wearing a bra in bed (at least avoiding waking up in a big wet patch, but not especially comfortable). Do I just have to put up with this til weaning? Or does anyone else have any ideas? Any at all?!

If you keep pumping then your boobs won't adjust to no night feeds - it took a few days when ds started sleeping 8 hours to adjust, but that was with no pumping.

Im afraid I have had to wear a bra in bed since I was about 6 months preggers due to leaky boobies and have only just moved from 2 pads a night to one- my baby is 5 months old. But when I pumped in the evenings it was much much worse- you have to somehow try and stop even if it means a few nights of discomfort. Maybe try pumping before bed then again in morning and before long you may be able to just feed in the mornings from both sides?

This is gutting! Every now and then dd does a long stretch & I wake up in agony and get blocked ducts.

You need to stop pumping and let your supply adjust.

Oh and I tend to wear a bra in bed till about 9 months!

As the others have said, don't pump or you will never get past this. When each of my little ones started sleeping through the night the first 3 or 4 nights were very painful and I got little sleep, but it really is only a couple of nights until the supply adjusts, but it won't adjust if you pump.

I always had to wear a bra and breast pads in bed due to leaking, you can get some really soft light support ones which would never do for the day but are fine to sleep in.

When you wake in pain in the night place a hot flannel over the breast and then massage gently - effectively hand expressing a small amount to relieve the worst of the pressure, press the hard knots and lumps that form and massage them away. If you wake in an hour or so then do the same again and so on until the baby wakes and wants to be fed. After a night or two you will be fine.

Agree you need to stop expressing - when DD started going through teh night my boobs got the message eventually! Now she is night waking and they have started making more milk at night again - clever stuff...

Thanks ladies! I will give your suggestions a try. Running out of space in the freezer! MoonUnitAlpha do you really go 8 hours without feeding and no blockages? Sounds great. I will work towards it.....

Just seen Nelly's post too - thanks will try it...

(You know what will happen- your boobs will finally adjust then LO will have a growth spurt and start waking in the night again....)

I used to! Until ds hit the 4 month growth spurt/sleep regression and now he wakes twice a night

Never had any blocked ducts or mastitis though, and I've never really pumped - occasionally had to hand express a bit.

I had the same problem (DD 11 wks old) - I found putting some frozen peas on my boobs before I went to bed helped, I'm still leaky, but don't wake up sore in the middle of the night anymore.

Thanks so much for all these replies - great to feel I'm not alone with this! Now I just need to work out how to stop DH making jokes about Unigate dairies...