Working moms/mums - come and share tips and support!

[MJMom]

You're right Alissa. I was saying to my co-worker the other day that I love pumping. She's like, "you do?". I explained that the act of pumping itself is awkward, but what it represents is fantastic. I can sustain the life of my baby while I'm away from her.

I was so worried that my supply would take a serious nose dive, or that I would have a hard time finding the time to pump due to lack of support. But both have left my mind now. I may even try to go past 1 year if I can. How many milkfeeds a day are they on at that point?

PS...Alissa, you can get dry ice from most hardware stores, we travelled 15hrs by car with some fresh salmon, so been there done that!
 
Lyndsy

I knew I liked you for a reason.   

I think they are down to two at that point, but I have no idea really...

Dry ice - hardware stores?  no kidding!  I clearly have never had a reason to look!!

[marcimommy]

I think around that age the main source of nutrition is solid food and they drink milk just to supplement that. they should have 3 solid meals and a few oz milk to wash it down. that's just waht I think but of course I have no experience LOL

[lyndsy_p]

Maybe Byrony will chime in. I guess I'll have to find it on the solid food boards.

[Bryony]

I'm afraid I don't know - I was hoping one of you might 

I was hoping we would be down to one daytime feed by then instead of two - but Katie still isn't that into solids so it may be a false hope...!

B

[Samuel's mum]

From 12 months you are looking at approximately 12-18oz of milk (whatever kind of milk you are giving). But some of that could be replaced by a dairy serving.
Usually if a baby is still bfing you'll get 2 feeds (as a feed is going to be approximately 5-6 oz) plus a couple of dairy servings.
Only 1 feed at 12 months would be technically possible but you'd have to work hard on the dairy, calcium sources and possibly give cow's milk as drink as well.

[marcimommy]

thanks, that means that we actually could stop pumping just keept the first feeding in the morning and the last in the evening. YAY

[Samuel's mum]

Yes, that would be fine. Of course some people may not use any dairy and do more feeds out of choice. But in your situation morning and evening works out well.

[MJMom]

Thanks Emma for chiming in!  I can't wait!  I love feeding my daughter...  the pump... is definitely a love hate relationship depending on what I'm focused on.  (I try to focus on it as my method of feeding my daughter, not as the contraption of torture that it sometimes can be...)

Good news!  I got my period today!  YAY!  Which means by tomorrow supply should go back up a bit again!  Which MEANS... all of the fenugreek and pumping I did, kept my output STEADY rather than going to previous lows of 1 ounce per pumping session. 

That's weird... to have a yay after got my period... THAT never happens!  LOL!

[lyndsy_p]

Thanks for that Emma....I also would be happy with the wake/bed BF! Will supply keep up even after that with 1 feed per day, and when does that happen per chance?

Alissa, good to know that good ol' Aunt Flow is the culprit here!

Lyndsy

[Bryony]

That's great news, thanks Emma!    So can I ask.... when do they usually go down from 4 feeds a day to 3?  We are still on 4 feeds - it would be so handy if Katie is down to 3 when she starts at nursery as that will be half the number of bottles I have to pump

Bryony

[Samuel's mum]

There aren't really rules about this TBH. Lots of people who plan on feeding past 12 months do have more than 2 feeds. Lots of people have 4 feeds for a while yet. It's going to be hard to say for sure because nurslings do take a variable amount. How much is in each bottle?
My experience from this boards is that some people do go to 3 feeds from around 10 months but as I say it's not a rule and plenty stay with 4 or even 5 for a while.
As for one feed a day -  it's going to depend on whether you introduce cow's milk and how much dairy is in the diet. Not much before 18 months -2 years without really focusing on dairy consumption.

[Bryony]

Currently Katie rarely has a bottle as I work from home at the moment...  on the rare occasion I have to go to a meeting and DH looks after her for half a day, I leave him 5oz and she drains it - I suspect she would drink more but 5oz is about as much as I can manage to pump...    My guess is that she currently has about 7oz in the morning, 5-6oz mid morning, 6oz mid afternoon and about 4oz before bed.  But that's a massive guess based on how much I can pump, and how much she will drink if it's in a bottle!  She considers the bottle a very inferior option so it's really hard to tell what she would take if it was in the boob.

Bryony

[Samuel's mum]

It's my understanding (though there is massive variation depending on what you read) is that you are looking at around an intake of 20-24oz at about 10 months and as I say 12-18oz from around 12 months as a minimum. That sounds like quite a sudden drop though I think the second total really does expect good sources of dairy in the diet.

[kris dg]

can those of you moving to lesser feeds donate your excess milk to us with shy boobs?  =)  evrytime my DD cries early in the morning, I start to leak and I mean really leak!  It was like an ounce!  Why can't I leak like that when pumping?  =)

[Bryony]

Kris - can you collect it in one of those breast shell thingies???

B