growth spurt???HELP!

[bonniec_tn]

I have been back to work for 2 weeks now and my lo is getting bottles of milk at the sitter. Usually I pump about 12oz at work and thats what he is taking there. Well, yesterday at the sitter he ate 20oz and I just dont pump that much. He nursed extra yesterday evening too. My q is, should I pump extra during the day at work while he is in a growth spurt or will it be ok to keep pumping like normal and just let him eat on demand at night (which he does anyway)???? I really dont want my supply to decrease
Thanks in advance for the help!!!

[cakemaven]

If he has had a sudden 60-70% increase in what he's taking from bottles, then, you should increase your pumping to meet this need. If you were only nursing and not pumping, those extra ounces would come from extra nursing, PLUS all the extra nursing he's doing at night. Otherwise, you run the risk of depleting what you have in storage and then what will you do the next time he hits a growth spurt and you have no extra stored?

[Dreamer]

I do agree that you should add an extra pumping session, but also be sure to pump both breasts until they are completely empty each time. This will signal your body to produce more milk as well as that extra pumping session. AND, make sure the sitter is giving him EVERY BIT of the milk she heats up for him... If she's giving him 6 oz & he's only eating 4 & she's tossing 2, have her SAVE that 2oz (at room temp) until his next feeding and feed that to him FIRST. Also, store your milk in less 2oz incriments or less (milk cubes in ice trays are GREAT as each cube is 1oz each) that way your sitter can fix him EXACTLY what he needs, and not waste any milk.

I ask my dh not to fix him more than 4oz at a time and that usually satiates him for about 2-3 hours. Then, he'll fix another 3-4oz bottle which will satiate him for another 2hrs... IF he wants more to drink before I get home, i ask that his last bottle not be more than 2oz, as I'll be home and able to nurse him very soon. This has been working great for us, as i'm just working 6hrs / day right now, so he usually eats at 9am (4oz), 12noon (3-4oz) & 2pm (2oz) and then I'm home at 3pm and he can nurse. I pump at 10am (8-9oz) and 1 breast at 1pm (4+oz) and that's more than enough for his next day's milk (usually I end up storing milk towards the end of the week.)

GOOD LUCK and I hope this was just a 1-day thing for him!! Most days my ds will eat 8oz, and others he'll eat 14oz!! I just try to store everything "extra" I have and since I've skilled dh on fixing SMALLER BOTTLES, the wasted milk think seems to be less of an issue for us!

Also, if you're having supply issues, ALFALFA TABLETS (get them at the Health food store) are GREAT for boosting supply--I started taking them when I started working, because I didn't want to have supply issues & in 2 days there was a SIGNIFICANT increase in milk production (so much so that I had to STOP the alfalfa b/c I was then having OVER SUPPLY issues)... So that's something you can do to increase your production... + WATER + OATMEAL--both good milk boosters as well!!

GOOD LUCK MAMA!!

Please keep us updated!

Alayna

[bonniec_tn]

thanks so much. My work schedule is so hectic (I work in a hospital) that it is hard for me to make time to pump. I think my schedule is kind of light tomorrow so I will pump extra to try and boost my supply.