pumping

[deepsea]

hi,

l have 6.5 months identical twin baby girls. most of the night they STTN but l still wake up at 2:45-3:00 am and pump my milk. l dont want to do this anymore but l am worried about my support. yesterday night I tried not to pump but my breast were like a wall in the morning and it is not a nice feeling.  so l have 2 question

- if l don't pump through the night, will there be any change at the amount of the milk?
- if l stop pumping at night, will my breast will be that full every morning or my body will adjust it?

sorry for bad english, l don't know exact words on this topic:)

[clazzat]

Why are you pumping overnight? Are you trying to build up your supply, or is it so that you can store some milk?

Essentially, your body will adapt to what your babies need, so if they are not nursing overnight (and you stop pumping) then your breasts will produce less milk overnight and the uncomfortable feeling will get better. You will have enough milk to feed them in the morning, if that is what you are concerned about - as I said, your body adapts, so it will adjust depending on when you are feeding.

[deepsea]

I didn't know that so I started to pump when they stop NF. But I had created great storage of BM:)

Shall I stop pumping immediately or decrease pumping day by day, what do you suggest?
Thank you very much

[lidiayy]

Maybe you could pump only to relieve the pain. Soon your body will adjust and understands that your babies don't need this milk and will only produce for the morning feed. Good luck!

[clazzat]

It depends how uncomfortable you are. When dd1 stopped feeding overnight I seem to remember it was only a few days before I stopped feeling uncomfortable, but I do vividly remember lying there wishing she would wake up so that I could feed her!

What you can do is pump a little less over time - so 1oz less tonight and then in a couple of days 1oz less again until it is not worth pumping.