back to work and need BF support

[Emma-Rose's mom]

Well, I recently started working, and have started to pump at work. Lo is 16 weeks. I was on a 3-hr EASY before (Eat at 7, 10, 1, 4, 6:30, DF 10:00), but daycare schedule has her eating later than my original EASY schedule. The schedule forces me to crunch the last feedings into shorter 2 - 2.5 hr intervals to fit in 5 feedings in during the day. Here's her daycare schedule.

E 7:00
A 7:30
S 7:45 catnap to daycare

A 8:00 arrive at daycare and plays
S between 8:30 or 9:00

E 11:00
A 11:30
S 12:30

E 2:00
A 2:30
S 3:30
A 4:15 wakes on drive home from daycare

E 4:30
A 5:00
S 6:00

E 6:30
A 7:00 bedtime routine
S 7:30
DF 10:00

Questions:
1) I think that moving to a 4-hr EASY might fit daycare schedule better so I don't have to crunch the afternoon feedings into such shoet intervals. She currently takes two 4 oz bottles at 11:00 and 2:00 at daycare. Is this still enough milk if I move her to 4-hr EASY or do I need to pump more because I'll end up dropping a feeding on a 4-hr schedule? Concerned because I barely get enough milk for the next day as it is, but also don't want to start NW for lack of food. If I need more, how do I get more? I have to pump usually twice to get enough for 1 bottle 

2) Currently, afternoon feedings are a bit of a disaster...
Somedays, Emma doesn't seem as interested in nursing in the afternoons. She is either distracted or doesn't seem hungry. But then she does a complete 180 at other times. When she IS interested in nursing, I don't feel like I have enough milk. She drains both sides and still wants more. Do you think 4-hr EASY will help motivate her to take a full meal more consistently and possibly help increase my milk supply in the afternoon?

3) Recently Emma started NW, and is VERY HUNGRY when she wakes up. Will 4-hr EASY make this worse?

Would like to know what other working moms might think
Mika

[RachelC]

*bump*

[Erin M]

Hi there!

Mine were bigger when we started daycare, but I have a couple of thoughts.  First off, why doesn't daycare feed her at 10 AM (which is presumably when you had been feeding her on a 3-hour EASY)?  My daycares always based their care on the baby's schedule.  Is she sleeping during that 10 AM time?  It just seems odd to me. 

She could be ready for a 4-hour EASY (or at least 3.5, you can stretch her out gradually).  Like I said, mine were both older when I returned to work, but they were taking bigger bottles on a 4 hour EASY (like 6-7 oz). 

There's also a chance that your increased NWs could be due to the fact that you are doing more frequent feeds in the afternoons.  If she's eating more often, she may not be getting as much hindmilk and may be more snacking than actually getting all that she needs. 

I think ideally what you'd want to do is get her on a 4 hour EASY, see if you could get her down to one daycare feed (which will be tricky for a few months until she's actually taking solids), so she's be really interested in the feed when you picked her up and then again at the one at bedtime.  Is she one of those babies who automatically falls asleep in the car?  Seems odd that she'd be sleeping on the way to daycare when she just woke up.  If you could get her so that she's nursing around 7/7:30 and then staying awake until around 9/9:30, then napping until about 11:15/11:30 so she'd be ready for you to pick her up around 4 and get that nursing in -- even if it means you're nursing at daycare (or in the car outside of daycare, not sure how far you are from her daycare) it would at least mean you might have to pump less. 

Good luck!

[Mum of 3 + 2 stepkids]

Just wanted to second Why are they not feeding her at 10 if thats what she's used to. I would think it would be very hard for her to go straight from 3 to 4 hr. If she were on 4hr EASY she would need about 6oz per feed.

Most people pump twice for one feed, the pumps just not as good as the real deal!!! When your not working you could pump an hr after a feed this will help send the signals for that extra milk and when you are working at night.

Drinking plenty in the morning will help supply in the afternoon, you may find thats shes more hungry in the evening as she she has gone that extra hr in the morning and is catching up.


Arh i just noticed how old you lo was, around 16 weeks your in for a big growth spurt this could well be the answer to you nwing's. I would say if shes waking in the night its a good thing for your supply, if you really want to up it more pump after that feed too. I know what your going to say but there are people on here that say they still get up and pump even if there lo do not wake. Every drop is the precious.

Kate x

[liacarmen]

It gets easier to be at work, I know how hard it is to get it all figured out, especially with the feeding - it does get easier! I agree with pps that daycare should be agreeable to feeding her at 10. Maybe they could try to stretch her second feeding to 1:30, then she'd be hungry when you got home at 4:30, feed again at 6:30 like you're doing and off you go!

My nine month old 23 pounder is still not on a 4 hour routine, except for in the middle of the day so I can't really help there! My instinct tells me that if she's hungry when you're feeding her, moving her to longer intervals would probably not help with the NWs. She's probably just growing fast and needing to eat if she's waking up hungry. Don't listen to anyone who tells you she should be sleeping through if she's hungry, she will when her growing slows down.

If you're worried about supply in the afternoon the best thing is to nurse away, and drink tons and tons of water. Good luck to you!

[Erin M]

I was just reading back over my post and wanted to second (or third) the PPs in the idea that if she truly seems hungry, by all means feed her and don't try to stretch her.  DD1 could have cluster fed in the early evening until she was 1 and it wouldn't have affected her sleep -- she was a great sleeper, no matter what.  When I tried cluster feeding with dd2 it only made her wake up more at night.  Always a guessing game, isn't it?

[Emma-Rose's mom]

Thank you ladies for all of your thoughts. This is definitely helping me get everything sorted out. I didn't think about the fact that crunching 2-hr feedings at night might be preventing her from getting hind-milk if she's snacking. It makes sense. Plus growth spurth at 16 weeks. Maybe it's a combo factor that's causing NW?

As for Emma's feeding at daycare...daycare isn't "they", it's "she". I chose to take my lo to a home daycare for a variety of reasons I won't mention here. But Judy, my daycare lady is wonderful. She wants to follow my schedule, but it's only one of her and five other little ones. She has to juggle so many schedules. Also, I don't think Emma is much of a morning person. She doesn't last very long at home on weekends. She eats at 7:00, and is asleep by 8:15, so I can wake her and feed at 10:00. But on weekdays, the catnap on the drive to daycare kinda puts a different twist to her morning. She wakes up once she's there and doesn't go down until 9:00. She will sleep for a good 2 hrs for this 1st nap, so she ends up feeding at 11:00 instead. Didn't seem to bother her a bit, though. In fact, she barely finishes the 4 oz bottle at 11:00. But, she's more awake and hungrier at 2:00. She polished off her 4 oz in 9 minutes, so maybe I should add 1 more oz to 2:00 feed? DH gave her one 5 oz bottle tonight at 5:30 PM instead of me nursing in two 2-hr feeds. I was surprised she polished all 5 oz w/o problem. Means that I'm dropping a feeding, but maybe it will be worth it since she is getting the full feeding this time. Fingers crossed. Maybe she'll sleep longer tonight.

I don't mind getting up in the middle of the night to pump or nurse if it means it will up my milk supply. I just want happy, healthy, well-rested and well-fed baby.

Will post what happened after all of these little tweaks...

[MamaC]

Hang in there!  Just when you think you know what you're doing it gets tweaked!

[Mum of 3 + 2 stepkids]

Hi Mika, just wanted to see how things have been? Whatever you change in your routine please remember that you need to give it about 3 days to see the effects of the change.

please keep us posted

Kate x

[Emma-Rose's mom]

Okay, so I didn't know whether to feed before bed after the tweaking...didn't want to risk dropping a feed yet so I topped her off at 7:30 before I laid her down. DF at 10:00. She woke up only once at 4:15, nursed, then back to sleep until 6:45. So some success here, yeah!

I think part of NW is growth spurt now. Despite adding more milk to day feeds, she was still SOOOO HUNGRY at 4:15 that she was actually holding her breath between swallows. I almost started laughing at how aggressively she was nursing. She didn't wake up babbling this time, though. YEAH!

I tried to pump other breast after nursing in the middle of the night, but I didn't get more than a half an oz. of all foremilk. Couldn't get the other side to let-down, maybe because I'm stressed about pumping and getting milk for work Monday, especially now that I've decided to add an oz to each bottle. Or is it because my body isn't used to pumping in the middle of the night?

I've got a long weekend now, which gives me time to establish new routine for the next few days..we'll see how it goes.

[Mum of 3 + 2 stepkids]

I tried to pump other breast after nursing in the middle of the night, but I didn't get more than a half an oz. of all foremilk. Couldn't get the other side to let-down, maybe because I'm stressed about pumping and getting milk for work Monday, especially now that I've decided to add an oz to each bottle. Or is it because my body isn't used to pumping in the middle of the night?


Yes your body is not used to it. Are you stressed at this pumping? Try not to look at the bottles and willing them to fill. When i pump at night i put the tv on very quiet and watch 10-15mins.

Oh and yay for the good night

Kate x

[Emma-Rose's mom]

Thanks for the TV suggestion. Got more ounces that way! Still not sure if Emma is getting enough milk when I nurse. When I pump, at least I know how many ounces she is getting. I can add ounces to bottles at daycare, easy. It's measurable. But, how do I keep track of whether she is really taking in more milk when I am nursing once I'm home from work? With the change in schedule, I'm worried that she's not getting enough in the afternoon. She still has NW. She had three last night, unfortunately, and I was quite baffled considering that I have been increasing the milk in her bottles during the day...

[liacarmen]

I didn't worry too much about a schedule, especially at night - imo, feed as much as you can in the evening, if she's eating, she'll get full and be able to last longer - I don't think you can really feed too much, especially at 16 weeks. No way to know how much she's getting, but if she's satisfied after a feed, then it's plenty! Maybe it's the growth spurt waking her at night, or something else?

[Mum of 3 + 2 stepkids]

Just what pp said, and you are due for a gs soon and its quiet a biggy. Try to get in as many feeds before bed as you can, all that extra pumping and feeding will be great for supply but it take a few days for you to see the effect of that.

Night feedings are hard but the bes time to boost supply
Kate x

[Emma-Rose's mom]

Okay, well, I hope all the NW is due to GS. Last night, she woke at 4:00, nursed, woke again at 5:00 but drifted back to sleep on her own until 6:00. Also noticed bigger supply at work today when I was pumping. Got an extra bottle's worth of milk today. Hopefully she's getting what she needs when she nurses.