can you reassure me that pumping won't disrupt my 6wo baby's feeds?

[smk84]

hi, ds, 6 wo, has a cold and is not feeding as effectively (sleepy, not drawing down as much milk) and so I want to pump so that my supply doesn't dip. What I don't want to do though, is 'take' milk from his next feed. I know that milk is constantly being made, and that I am never empty, but when I feed him, he takes 2 sides, has some awake time, then takes a little top up from one side before going back to sleep. I am conscious of not disturbing this pattern, so I have sort of decided to pump after he has gone back to sleep. The trouble is, this is sometimes 2 hours after he first started feeding, and if I pump then, I feel like when he has the next feed there is not as much milk waiting there for him. He normally sleeps about 1.5 to 2 hours, so in that time I guess I will build up some milk, but I am concerned that he might not feed as well the next feed if I have pumped some off. I know that empty breasts make milk faster, so I am wondering if there might even be the same amount there when he comes to feed again, but basically I am paranoid about disrupting our little feeding relationship as after many weeks of problems we seemed to have settled down into a nice little pattern. i know breasts don't store much milk, but for us feeding def seems better when there has been a gap btw feeds. many thanks
p.s thinking of giving expressed milk in eve during fussy time (by cup or syringe) or saving it for the odd bottle of ebm i am hoping to give when he's a bit older - any advice on this would be most appreciated :)

There is no danger that you will 'use up' your milk, but your baby is much more effective at stimulating milk production than a pump. It is normal for a 6 week old to be unsettled, especially with a cold and the best way to deal with this is lots of skin to skin contact and trying to coax him to suckle as much as possible. Introducing ebm at this stage can make feeding from the breast more difficult (although not impossible) but personally I would try to avoid it and feed on demand instead.

Your supply will not dip - it works on a supply and demand basis. When baby wants more milk, he will suckle more and this will create more milk for him.

Honestly i don't think i would bother pumping in this situation. Your body will adjust to meet his needs, perhaps you will make a little less while he is poorly but you will soon make more again as he recovers and feeds more. Babies have colds quite often and usually they get better quickly.

If you want to pump to store or for someone else to give personally i did it each morning when i felt fuller and have it in the evening in a bottle to try to encourage longer sleeping. It didn't work!

thank you both, dh says the same and that the process of bf must adapt easily to these kinds of things. think i am worried cos when ds1 was a week old he was unwell and my supply dipped dramatically and mws told me to pump. gave it in a bottle and thingss started to go pear

Yikes, smk84....you are so over-thinking this whole thing, sorry :(

You are trying to do the impossible - judging how much milk there is 'waiting' for your baby at any one time. IMPOSSIBLE!! And POINTLESS!! (not shouting, just emphasising :) )

Just carry on feeding him when he indicates he would like feeding; carry on switching sides when he indicates he would like to switch sides. Changes in your feeding relationship are just that - changes. They are not 'disruptions', honest.

Your supply adapts to you baby's needs. You don't need to engineer it. Relax and enjoy the fact it is working well :)

It could well be that your memories of when he was tiny have bashed your confidence - hope you can put them behind you soon :)

thank you tiktok - you think I shouldn't express then?

Express if you want to - but you don't need to, and on the negative side, it could make you feel more anxious, and it takes up time.

I don't think there is any point in expressing, is what I am saying :)

thanks tiktok (looks like my post did work after all !). TBH I haven't had time to express he has been latched on so much (and mainly asleep i think hehe!).

I think if you do express, freeze it, definitely don't give it to him now. It's likely to have been giving your DS1 milk from another source (on bad advice - not your fault, just unfortunate :() which caused your breastfeeding relationship to suffer, rather than the expressing or illness.

I agree with others there is no particular benefit to expressing in this situation.

thank you. why should i not give it >(is it because he will then feed directly from me less ?)
actually quite relieved no need to do it !

Giving ebm may make the gaps between 'direct' feeds longer, and as it is frequency of effective bf that drives supply, there is no purpose to giving ebm....no harm in it, if milk supply is well-etablished and/or you also express when the baby is having the ebm (ie at same time), but why would you do that? :)

thanks Tiktok, am now trying to build up a little supply for the freezer in case we might need it sometime. We did give a little bit in a bottle the other night, just to see if he would take it cos I am hoping to have an hour a week to go to counselling and he gulped it back ! I am hoping to feed him before I go and that he can wait until I get back, but somtimes he wants to feed every hour so I just want to have a back up. Just a quick question though - if I feed him before I go (offer as many sides as he will take) and say an hour later he is crying for more, would you suggest that my MIL gives a couple of ounces in bottle or tries to wait for me to get back? (p.s. DS is 11 weeks now ! perhaps I shoudl have written this on another thread !!). Many thanks.

I'd leave a little milk with your mil just so that she has a way of distracting him, even if he doesn't take the milk. Then when you get back you can feed again if he wants. By 11 weeks I don't think that a little time away, with ebm on offer and your milk when you return is at all likely to disrupt his feeding.

I used to leave some milk with my mum. None of mine went for bottles but if they got hungry/upset, she'd cup feed (using the lid from an avent bottle).

Re: expressing. I started building up a little stock in the freezer for emergencies (just in case - ended up chucking most of it on cereal when dcs weaned). I found the best way to pump was at the same time as feeding from the other side, in the morning. So dc would have one side, while i expressed from the other, then would transfer to expressed side and then I'd express any left from the 'used' side. Got 4oz a feed this way, and it did wonders for my hand-eye coordination!

Though actually I barely bothered expressing with dc2 and dc3. Couldn't be bothered by then and my opportunities for being child free were much more infrequent by that time. :)

Thanks very much Pooka :) When you put your LO on the expressed side, did it affect their feed? I have it in my head (from our experience so far) that if there is milk ready and waiting for my LO that he feeds better, not sure I would have the nerve to pump off what might be there for him (know I will make more, but would putting LO on an 'empty' breast mean that it would make as much as he needed in the time he was on, or that he would get frustrated having to work for it all iyswim?) .

Well dd was feeding in moving from unexpressed side (while I expressed from other). Then if she wanted to try the other side she did, and seemed (given that initial hunger met by the first side) happy enough with supply.

Was a long time ago though and whatever suits you and your ds wrt expressing technique/supply is obviously best! :)

I'd say at 6 weeks keep it simple, feed on demand and keep baby close, lots of skin to skin contact. I wouldn't express. Your supply will adapt but I've heard of people causing problems (oversupply- mastitis) by expressing at 6 weeks. If you really want to or need to for comfort then just express a little and freeze it.