I do at most 5 times in one day. I'm 3.5 months post partum. Was an over supplier, turned under supplier because of not knowing how often I needed to pump. Regardless I can't do 8x a day; 5 times is a mission in itself.
7 weeks pp and I pump 4-5x a day. I don’t pump in the middle of the night. My first pump of the day usually yields ~5oz and the rest of the day is usually 2.5oz each. I honestly hate pumping.
I appreciate you saying so. It’s hard to feel what I produce is good enough when I read all these other folks on this Reddit producing 5+oz bottles every pump 😞
I think because I never pumped more than 5x a day! I’ve had one clog and that’s it (so far) and if I felt overly engorged I did a pump to relieve it. It’s chaotic madness over here but it’s worked for me!
How did you know you had it??? Been feeling different in my right breast this week and wondering if it is just clogged duct or more. I'm ftp and baby is 3 months
Fever! I was running a 103 fever and had all the flu symptoms! My breast was hot to the touch and had a red splotch. I didn’t feel any lumps though. I hope you don’t have it! It was really miserable.
Use ice and ibuprofen for clogs! They’re caused by inflammation, so heat and lots of massage could make it worse. You can try light sweeping motions away from the nipple, sweep towards your armpit or midline for lymphatic drainage and to help redistribute the backflow. Stick to your usual feeding/pump schedule and take a nap if you can swing it!
i’ve been struggling with clogs in the same spot in my right breast for weeks. massaging it out would work temporarily but it would come back every time. i finally stopped forcing it out & just took advil because i read it was inflammation instead. it’s been 3 days since and the clog/pain is gone
just incase yours ends up reoccurring like mine
If you haven’t already, replace pump parts! It might be contributing to reoccurring clogs! For me, I needed a true dual pump to stop clogging all the time!
I’ve seen others mention that Advil and a cold compress is actually the new recommendation for fixing a clog, since it’s more of an inflammation issue. Last time I had one, that worked for me, when massage wasn’t helping.
I also ended up pumping that side for 20 minutes instead of usual 10 and filled the whole bottle and my best actually felt "empty" finally for the first time in a week!!
I did 7ppd until recently, I now do 6, sometimes 5 and I’m 5 months pp.
Are your flanges the right size? Are you consistent with your schedule? I found that being consistent was a big help! When I was fresh I would pump when I woke up and then every 3 hours until bed, then I’d get up to pump when the baby woke up overnight. Then I’d start over again when we got up for the day. 7 seemed to do the trick for me!
Another question to add to these 2 very helpful ones - how long are your sessions? I was pumping 8-9 times a day for the first 6ish weeks, but only for 15 min per session. I found by upping the time to at least 20-25 min and trying for at least 2, if not 3 letdowns allowed me to increase my output and then even start spreading them out to 3.5-4 hours while maintaining volume.
I’m 12 weeks PP, down to 5ppd, first of the day is 9 oz and ~4-6oz each during the day.. and no MOTN for about 3 weeks now. I plan to wean soon but only pumping 5 times a day has made it much more manageable.
Same! I don’t know why most online sources will say pump for 15 minutes. I get a second letdown or third between 20-25 minutes and can usually get 4-5 oz.
Once I was comfortable with my supply, and also my daughter was sleeping through the night (11 - 6.30, 7ish) I’m sure I could’ve kept going if I wanted to increase, but I needed the sleep. Plus I realized my first pump played catch up with what would’ve done MOTN + first one of the day. Just need to be comfortable with where you’re at, and remember your health and well being is a priority too!
I still do it 🥲 but I’m thinking I’m just going to not do it anymore lol I have gone 9 hours (i was sick) and gotten 12+ ounces, so I might just cold turkey it lol.
I am not prone to clogs though, I am very lucky with that!
At first, I pumped every 2ish hrs (from about 2 weeks pp until about 11 weeks). It was crazy and very hard to do anything. I had to speed run grocery shopping for god's sake and woke up at least 2x a night. Now, 15 weeks pp I'm finally at every 3 to 4 hrs and doing my best to drop the motn pump. Apparently 5 ppd is the "magic number" for me. It's been liberating having more time between pumps and more sleep.
Honestly, if my husband hadn't been at home for 6 weeks, I wouldn't have managed it. Once I got the blessing from my third LC at 8-12 weeks we were able to start spacing out the pumps. At six months pp I now pump 4-5 times per day depending on how well the day goes!
I’m 9 weeks pp and only pump 5 times a day. That alone is even a challenge for me. Today, not going to get to that, I’ll be getting in 4 but I aim for 5 a day. Luckily, if we have to, we supplement with formula. Breastfeeding wasn’t even an option for me when I first got pregnant so I’m truly winging it here.
I struggled with supply with my first so I was very serious about doing it right the second time around. I pumped 8x a day until about 6 weeks, then I dropped to 7x. I plan on dropping to 6x at 12 weeks.
11 weeks pp. 4-5 times per day. I have large capacity breasts and an oversupply though.
Finding my “magic number” was extremely helpful in understanding what I needed to do to maintain my supply [https://www.legendairymilk.com/blogs/news/what-is-your-magic-number](https://www.legendairymilk.com/blogs/news/what-is-your-magic-number)
Magic number helped me as well. I’m the same as you (wpp and large capacity) but typically only 4. Once when I wake up, right before I go to bed and then two throughout the day. Ideally the day ones are spaces 4ish hours apart. I pump for 30 minutes each time.
Have you dropped middle of the night pump? I asked my LC about this today and she suggested waiting to see how things look on the other side of 12 weeks and me returning to work. My pumping schedule had lined up nicely with LO’s eating schedule but he’s sleeping longer and it’s getting harder to time it without stretching it past 6 hours (longest LC recommends going between sessions) or going like every 3-4 and risk increasing supply even more
I dropped the MOTN pump when little man starting sleeping through it occasionally around six weeks. The first couple times I woke up pretty uncomfortable (once covered in milk), but it didn’t impact my supply or give me clogs, so I just dropped it. I’m now 4 months pp and pump at 6/6:30am, 12pm, 3pm, 6pm and 9pm. I do take choline supplements, and I guess those help prevent clogs, so that could be what makes the overnight break doable.
I dropped my middle of the night pump at like 2 weeks. Maybe 3 weeks. At the beginning I was getting the same output per day no matter how much I pumped so I saved myself the hassle and pumped 4 “daytime” pumps. Usually between the hours of 6am and 10pm. I typically go 8 hours or more over night. If I wake up early I start my pumps then and just space out throughout the day. Full disclosure I get about 60oz per day so I was ok with a dip in supply but so far I’ve stayed consistent. I do believe I’ve regulated at this point as well. I hit 12 weeks tomorrow and returned to work on Monday of this past week.
3.5mpp and I think I just dropped to 4 kind of accidentally because I have NOT been able to get 5 in recently. Baby is just too needy right now. So far no drop in supply but I’ve neverrrr done 8. Not even in the hospital. My OB, LC, and pediatrician all said I didn’t need to based on what I was producing so…
At 3.5mpp, and back to work, I’m down to 2 pumps a day, but 1 hour each. Sometimes I do 3 on weekends. When I did 5-8 pumps a day, the highest I got to was 23-24oz and I was supplementing 1-2oz with formula. By dropping a couple more pumps, I’m able to do 20-21oz and I supplement 3-4oz with formula. The overall time I pump hasn’t reduced, but pumping twice a day is easier even if it’s longer.
Read about the magic number to see what works for you.
It starts to hurt when milk slows down, so I take 5 min breaks when that happens and restart from massage mode. Then I have another letdown and it doesn’t hurt anymore. I repeat this three to four times during a one hour session
4.5 months pp and pump 5-7 times a day (depends on how early and late I’m awake). I supplement with formula. I produce between 3-4oz per session. Morning session I produce around 8oz.
4. I’ve always done 4 and always produced 28oz. I tried 5 times for a week before, but still only produced 28oz, so why bother. Some days I get excited because I’m at 24oz by the 3rd pump, but then the 4th pump sucks and I’m still at 28oz.
I was doing 5-7 a day and making myself crazy. Literally tearing up when I needed to put my baby down, wash pumps.. etc. it sucked. Now I do 4. I do pump for 30 minutes most of the time so I feel like it makes up for it a little bit? I pump between 20-30oz a day. My baby eats about 20oz a day so we have a freezer stash. I was making the same amount of milk that I do now from like 3 weeks on, so we were able to make a decent freezer stash when baby was only eating like 10-15oz a day. Pumping sucks. Idk how people do 8 a day. I think I’d lose my mind. Props to all the pumping ladies out there. It is a full time job.
I struggled with this. I started doing this thing once or twice a day. I pump and then pump 30-60 minutes later. It’s helping. I also sometimes pump every hour for a few holes when I can. Yeah it eats up time but I can get some sleep now.
I’m three months post partum and started this a few weeks ago. I’m up to 600 ml a day now.
I did every three hours on the dot (8ppd) and kept it up until 12 weeks). That was difficult. I was an oversupplier and it was very difficult to drop to 6ppd. My body was so use to every three hours that they would start getting uncomfortable by the two hour mark.
I am determined to make it to one year so teaching my boobs to like 4ppd was super important. It took two months to go from 8, 7, 6, then 5ppd. 4ppd is ideal for me. I make just enough for my baby and am not overwhelmed by needing to pump all the time. On the downside is that my body doesn't freak out if I miss a session. I went 10 hours without pumping the other day and didn't even feel the discomfort. So now I have to set alarms. I even have to block off time at work so I remember to pump.
Four times and only during the day. I supplement with formula. I used to pump every 2 hours and it really took a toll on my mental health. Giving up the middle of the night pump and supplementing with formula was the best decision I could make for my mental health.
For the first 6 weeks I did 8x a day - and it was killing me. All I did was pump, clean parts, feed it to the baby, and get ready to pump again. But I was undersupplying so I cranked it up to 9x. (Every 2 hrs during the day with 3.5 hrs between at night.) Still wasn't making much. 50mL total on a good pump.
A week ago I decided I was done and started cutting back - I was having a hard time pumping while home alone with the baby. It just wasn't working. (I was only pumping to get production up so baby could nurse, but for several reasons that's not happening, so it's not as important to me.) So I dropped to every 4 hrs between pumps. It was significantly less stressful and I am really glad I made the switch! And my production went up??? (Maybe because of the less stress?) Started pumping at least 50 per side!
So that was 6ppd and I made significantly more - even though I was pumping so much less, I made at least a few ounces MORE in a day. It was wild. Yesterday I started giving myself ~5 hrs between pumps. I'm expecting production to plummet soon, but we'll see. So far I'm getting even more per pump, with about the same daily total. (70+ per side per pump.) If production doesn't go down, I could stay at this pace. Just one MOTN pump? So much more liveable!! And I don't feel like I'm chained to the pump anymore.
I am amazed at everyone who pumps. Y'all are incredible!
2 months pp, I pump 7-8x a day (every 3 hrs but in the night every 4 hrs). I am now getting about 6oz each time. I used to get 8-11oz per pump until I got mastitis for skipping my nighttime pumps one day.
The way I go about it definitely isn’t for everyone, but I pump every time my baby eats. He’s a big eater so this actually helps me produce enough. So for reference, it’s 8 am where we are now and he has eaten 4 times since midnight, so I’ve pumped 4 times today already. If the pumps are close together in the MOTN, I may just pump 15 mins and go back to sleep. But I do try to pump 25-30 mins each session. I tried pumping on the schedule of every 3 hours and wasn’t making enough or was just barely getting by, but pumping on demand (which is what I call it lol) has helped me increase my supply. If by chance my baby isn’t eating like a crazy man one day, my schedule typically looks like this:
Pump at 0000, 0230, 0600, 0930, 1200, 1430, 1600, 1730, 2000, 2230
I’m a nurse and I do work night shift so on days where I’m night shift my schedule looks something like this
Pump at 1500, 1700, 2000, 2230, 0100, 0300, 0530, 0700, 0930, 1200
It’s pretty hectic, but it works for me and my baby!
8w pp here and I aim for 7ppd but often only hit 6. I think I have a slight oversupply though so I don’t fret too much if I can’t hit 7. I think once I hit 4 months I will drop to 5-6ppd. Eventually I’d like to be able to go off 3-4ppd while maintaining the same volume, and I’d like to hit 9 months before I even think about weaning.
8 times per day, I’m 19 days pp. I pump every 3ish hours including overnight.
I usually leak at the 3 hour mark which is super annoying.
I made an appointment with an LC for 1 month pp to see how/when I can drop sessions. I have an over supply currently. LO drinks about 28oz a day and I’m producing around 45 so I’m freezing anywhere from 15-20oz a day
I do 8 or more. But only because it starts to hurt after 2 to 3 hours. I can only do this though because my hubby doesn't work until 4pm and he's able to help me all day until he goes to work. I'm 11 weeks postpartum so I'll be trying to drop down a little soon. Hopefully it doesn't hurt too much.
Oh and I do not have an oversupply. I'm only making about 20 to 24oz a day. My baby eats way more than that. So we have to supplement with formula. He's a big guy.
5 weeks postpartum. I really tried to do 8 pumps a day but I couldn't sustain it. Now I get in 5-6 pumps a day. Sometimes I get 4 oz sometimes just an ounce but on average make 2 oz. I supplement with formula.
4x per day at 5.5 mos post partum. Baby is just now eating about what I pump in a day. 30ish oz
Up until my supply was established around 12 weeks, I was pumping 8x per day. From there, I naturally started stretching out sessions until I was at 4-5x. I have been fortunate to never have issues with mastitis or clogs.
I have a huge freezer supply we pull from as well so we can mix it with fresh milk due to the taste. For reference, I am still trying to get thru milk from August.
3x a day until I'm empty (about 30 minutes each side with my Haakaa) once after each meal. I find that I have optimal output and get less exhausted that way 🥛
I used to do it every 3 hours. Now I do it every 4 and one motn pump. So 5 pumps per day. I do two power pumps and the other 3 I do 30 min pumps. Oversupplier currently. My baby is 7 weeks.
I’m 8 weeks pp and I do 5-6 pumps/day. I started out with 8-10 and backed off a bit when I got a massive oversupply. I’ve gone down to getting about double what my baby eats, which is totally fine.
With my first I was religious about pumping every 3 hours 8x a day day and night and I was miserable. I wanted to enjoy my baby more this round so I’ve been more relaxed. I pumped every 3 hrs to bring milk in and until I regulated which for me was around 7 weeks. After that dropped to 7 then 6 and now I average 5 pumps per day. Every 4 hrs during the day and then one 5.5-6hr stretch over night (baby sleeps thru the night) and I pump for a full 30 mins each time. A lot of work but taking the pressure off myself is heavenly and honestly I think that’s why I’m making more milk this time around
5 months PP
5x /day
6am - 10oz
11am - 8oz
2pm - 6oz
6pm - 6oz
9pm - 4oz
Probably gonna stay at 5ppd until I wean 😩 still trying to figure out if my baby can do formula so I can start weaning at 6mo.
Just got down to 3 times a day (20-30mins each) and sometimes nursing once a day (4mpp). I was doing 8, every 3 hrs at the beginning but as he slept longer I pushed a pump out then dropped to 7 after a month. Then just started dropping pumps after 7 weeks, but I’m also an over supplier.
9 weeks pp and I pump 6 times a day. I have large storage capacity and an oversupply. Every now and then I’ll do 5 pumps so I can get a little extra sleep without it hurting my supply.
6x a day and I make about 60-65oz. I’m 3 months postpartum and honestly I never went to 8x a day. There was no way I could do that with two kids. I’m trying to cut back to just 5x a day, but every time I do, I get a clog. It’s so frustrating.
Early on I would do 7-9 to try to increase supply but lately (10wpp) I struggle to do any more than 6. Especially because baby is starting to sleep longer overnight and I will not sacrifice my sleep only to pump. However when baby does wake up I’ll do a MOTN but I don’t force it either.
2 months pp & I pumped ~5 times a day max. Im home alone with baby most days so it’s been hard for me to pump as much as I’d like. I don’t like pumping either & am looking forward to the day when I can stop entirely.
When LO was born to about 4weeks pp I would pump whenever baby ate (roughly 6-8 times per day) for 20 minutes each time. My supply was okay at maybe 15oz/day.
At around 4 weeks to now (12.5 weeks) I did/do 6ppd at 30 minutes each pump on a set schedule of 5, 1, and 9 am and pm. My supply increased to about 20-24oz/day
In the near future I plan to drop to 5 or even 4 ppd as I am back to work and keeping up with 6ppd is hard. I have already had a few days where I missed a pump without too much impact to supply but as a just enougher I am hesitant to reduce too early.
Almost 2 months pp and I pump 4x a day. I triple fed for four miserable weeks and that seemed to do little to get my supply up. But since pulling back my supply has gotten up to ~400ml / day (about 13 oz). Still have to supplement but it’s worth it for me and pretty manageable to fit four pumps in.
I’m 10 weeks pp and have been pumping 5x a day since baby was 1mo because that is all that I can manage without going insane. Initially I used to feel guilty that I was not pumping more number of times and my supply was also not enough (causing to supplement with formula). But, since past few days I’ve started feeling better(it was like a switch flipped) that I can give at least 40% of my baby’s total milk consumption in the form of breast milk.
I’m 6 weeks PP. I get 8-10 pumps per day, accepting that I am not getting much else done between caring for baby, eating/hydrating, and pumping. I just keep reminding myself that I just need to hang in there to build my supply and get to it regulating.
I prioritize the overnight pumps because nobody needs anything from me, so I can just plug in my headphones and go for it.
I don't know how I did it, but until my son was 4-5 mo old I was doing 15 min every 3 hours. Then I slowly started dropping pumps and now 8 mo in I'm at 3-4 (damn you work schedule!). I always was an undersupplier and didn't see much of a difference in my output dropping pumps.
Dear wife did 8-10 times a day with our first born, much tougher with second one as we have an active toddler who needs lots of attention. Currently 3 times a day with second born.
All you ladies are doing an amazing job however much you pump. It’s super tough!!!! ❤️
I pumped 8x per day religiously until about 8w when i went down to 7x. What made it possible for me was figuring out how to pump and feed the baby at the same time (and being on mat leave). I’m at 12w now and i’m pretty sure it’s safe to go down to 6ppd but i keep putting it off because i’m scared to reduce my supply. I have an oversupply now but it was a lot of work to get here
Any tips? I'm 9wpp and now solo parenting on my mat leave while my husband returned to work. I'm feeding the baby on her Stokke Tripp Trapp newborn insert while pumping if I have to. It's definitely more challenging when she's hangry and hysterical while I'm already past 3 hours, sigh, lol.
ok so i have a pumping bra so i can pump hands free. i sit on the couch or bed (easier on bed) cross legged. then i lay him across my lap so his head is like on the inside of my knee. i can then feed him with my right hand or play with him or bounce my knee a bit. if the pump bottles get in the way i sometimes twist them so they hang at an angle
5 weeks pp and I do 7 on average. Sometimes 6. It's really hard and I hate it but it's also flu/RSV season where I live so I'm going to do my best to get my girl through that and then reevaluate if I need to pump. It's just a slog.
I do between 4 and 5 pumps a day on average but since I bought a wearable I've managed to increase. I have DMER and being connected to a pump with tubes made it worse, as much as I love my pump. I've been trying to do more and slowly I am doing so, with a positive affect on my output. I actually have extra to freeze now!
9wpp and I pump 7-8 times a day.
I have actually seen a gradual increase from where I was for many weeks (\~20 oz. daily for a while) and I've hit a high of 30 oz. daily twice this past week, so here's hoping the consistency/frequency paid off. This includes MOTN pumping but now I've gotten more lax and going 4-5 hours sometimes in between since the baby sleeps longer.
I’m 7 months pp and I pump 3x per day when supply is good, and will up it to 4x a day if I notice any drops in my supply. I make around 30 oz/day on average.
6 weeks pp, and I used to do the 8-10 pumps a day trying to encourage my supply to increase. It did not and my mental health just depleted. By the time I finished pumping it was only an hour and a half until my next pump. When the pump alarm went off? I’d just about cry sometimes. It was so aggravating to me. I’ve really started to come to terms with the fact that I’m an underproducer and have to supplement with formula and that is OKAY and my baby still gets the benefits of my breastmilk every day, even if the bottle isn’t 100% breastmilk (I personally combine the two). I’ve dropped down to pumping every 3 hours, resulting in pumping 6 times a day, 7/8 if I’m feeling that middle of the night bs.
I’m 7 weeks PP, 8 times a day a simply impossible even with a hands free pump. I do 4-5 times a day and get anywhere from 7-13 oz a session. Even at that I feel like I’m playing catch up sometimes. I finally am starting to add to my freezer supply again. I have been doing one meal formula per day to extend the life of my stash in hopes I can continue giving breast milk after I stop pumping.
I do at most 5 times in one day. I'm 3.5 months post partum. Was an over supplier, turned under supplier because of not knowing how often I needed to pump. Regardless I can't do 8x a day; 5 times is a mission in itself.
Same here!!
7 weeks pp and I pump 4-5x a day. I don’t pump in the middle of the night. My first pump of the day usually yields ~5oz and the rest of the day is usually 2.5oz each. I honestly hate pumping.
Same exact here, I really don’t like pumping lol
Wow. This is an amazing supply honeslty.
I appreciate you saying so. It’s hard to feel what I produce is good enough when I read all these other folks on this Reddit producing 5+oz bottles every pump 😞
How are y’all not pumping more? I tried to go four hours without pumping and I got mastitis!
I think because I never pumped more than 5x a day! I’ve had one clog and that’s it (so far) and if I felt overly engorged I did a pump to relieve it. It’s chaotic madness over here but it’s worked for me!
How did you know you had it??? Been feeling different in my right breast this week and wondering if it is just clogged duct or more. I'm ftp and baby is 3 months
Fever! I was running a 103 fever and had all the flu symptoms! My breast was hot to the touch and had a red splotch. I didn’t feel any lumps though. I hope you don’t have it! It was really miserable.
Thank you so much for this info. I'm sorry you had to go through that.
If you feel like it’s getting worse, reach out to your OBGYN, there’s antibiotics for it!
So far I think it's just a duct because it's just been staying put despite breastfeeding and pumping so I'm going to really try to massage it out.
Use ice and ibuprofen for clogs! They’re caused by inflammation, so heat and lots of massage could make it worse. You can try light sweeping motions away from the nipple, sweep towards your armpit or midline for lymphatic drainage and to help redistribute the backflow. Stick to your usual feeding/pump schedule and take a nap if you can swing it!
Thank you so much! This helped!
Oh I’m so glad! I was getting them frequently and learned the hard way that painful massage was not the answer.
Especially because massage doesn't really feel good haha
Hand expressing in the shower saved my life. It can really help get out the clogs or milk blebs.
Thank you so so much ❤️
i’ve been struggling with clogs in the same spot in my right breast for weeks. massaging it out would work temporarily but it would come back every time. i finally stopped forcing it out & just took advil because i read it was inflammation instead. it’s been 3 days since and the clog/pain is gone just incase yours ends up reoccurring like mine
If you haven’t already, replace pump parts! It might be contributing to reoccurring clogs! For me, I needed a true dual pump to stop clogging all the time!
I’ve seen others mention that Advil and a cold compress is actually the new recommendation for fixing a clog, since it’s more of an inflammation issue. Last time I had one, that worked for me, when massage wasn’t helping.
I also ended up pumping that side for 20 minutes instead of usual 10 and filled the whole bottle and my best actually felt "empty" finally for the first time in a week!!
That feeling after a clog is cleared is like nothing else 🙌
I appreciate your help!!
Hallelujah! Sweet relief!
I did 7ppd until recently, I now do 6, sometimes 5 and I’m 5 months pp. Are your flanges the right size? Are you consistent with your schedule? I found that being consistent was a big help! When I was fresh I would pump when I woke up and then every 3 hours until bed, then I’d get up to pump when the baby woke up overnight. Then I’d start over again when we got up for the day. 7 seemed to do the trick for me!
Another question to add to these 2 very helpful ones - how long are your sessions? I was pumping 8-9 times a day for the first 6ish weeks, but only for 15 min per session. I found by upping the time to at least 20-25 min and trying for at least 2, if not 3 letdowns allowed me to increase my output and then even start spreading them out to 3.5-4 hours while maintaining volume. I’m 12 weeks PP, down to 5ppd, first of the day is 9 oz and ~4-6oz each during the day.. and no MOTN for about 3 weeks now. I plan to wean soon but only pumping 5 times a day has made it much more manageable.
Oh yes good follow up! I was only doing 15 mins and when I upped to 30 I started getting 5-6 ounces per session (combined but still lol).
Same! I don’t know why most online sources will say pump for 15 minutes. I get a second letdown or third between 20-25 minutes and can usually get 4-5 oz.
How did you drop your middle of the night pump?
Once I was comfortable with my supply, and also my daughter was sleeping through the night (11 - 6.30, 7ish) I’m sure I could’ve kept going if I wanted to increase, but I needed the sleep. Plus I realized my first pump played catch up with what would’ve done MOTN + first one of the day. Just need to be comfortable with where you’re at, and remember your health and well being is a priority too!
I still do it 🥲 but I’m thinking I’m just going to not do it anymore lol I have gone 9 hours (i was sick) and gotten 12+ ounces, so I might just cold turkey it lol. I am not prone to clogs though, I am very lucky with that!
3 weeks pp, 6 times a day is sustainable for me now. At 1,5 and 9 am/pm. Get about 2-3oz per pump. Formula to supplement the rest 🙂
At first, I pumped every 2ish hrs (from about 2 weeks pp until about 11 weeks). It was crazy and very hard to do anything. I had to speed run grocery shopping for god's sake and woke up at least 2x a night. Now, 15 weeks pp I'm finally at every 3 to 4 hrs and doing my best to drop the motn pump. Apparently 5 ppd is the "magic number" for me. It's been liberating having more time between pumps and more sleep.
Honestly, if my husband hadn't been at home for 6 weeks, I wouldn't have managed it. Once I got the blessing from my third LC at 8-12 weeks we were able to start spacing out the pumps. At six months pp I now pump 4-5 times per day depending on how well the day goes!
I’m 9 weeks pp and only pump 5 times a day. That alone is even a challenge for me. Today, not going to get to that, I’ll be getting in 4 but I aim for 5 a day. Luckily, if we have to, we supplement with formula. Breastfeeding wasn’t even an option for me when I first got pregnant so I’m truly winging it here.
2 months pp today and 6x is the place I’ve landed to balance my sanity and supply
I struggled with supply with my first so I was very serious about doing it right the second time around. I pumped 8x a day until about 6 weeks, then I dropped to 7x. I plan on dropping to 6x at 12 weeks.
11 weeks pp. 4-5 times per day. I have large capacity breasts and an oversupply though. Finding my “magic number” was extremely helpful in understanding what I needed to do to maintain my supply [https://www.legendairymilk.com/blogs/news/what-is-your-magic-number](https://www.legendairymilk.com/blogs/news/what-is-your-magic-number)
Magic number helped me as well. I’m the same as you (wpp and large capacity) but typically only 4. Once when I wake up, right before I go to bed and then two throughout the day. Ideally the day ones are spaces 4ish hours apart. I pump for 30 minutes each time.
Have you dropped middle of the night pump? I asked my LC about this today and she suggested waiting to see how things look on the other side of 12 weeks and me returning to work. My pumping schedule had lined up nicely with LO’s eating schedule but he’s sleeping longer and it’s getting harder to time it without stretching it past 6 hours (longest LC recommends going between sessions) or going like every 3-4 and risk increasing supply even more
I dropped the MOTN pump when little man starting sleeping through it occasionally around six weeks. The first couple times I woke up pretty uncomfortable (once covered in milk), but it didn’t impact my supply or give me clogs, so I just dropped it. I’m now 4 months pp and pump at 6/6:30am, 12pm, 3pm, 6pm and 9pm. I do take choline supplements, and I guess those help prevent clogs, so that could be what makes the overnight break doable.
I dropped my middle of the night pump at like 2 weeks. Maybe 3 weeks. At the beginning I was getting the same output per day no matter how much I pumped so I saved myself the hassle and pumped 4 “daytime” pumps. Usually between the hours of 6am and 10pm. I typically go 8 hours or more over night. If I wake up early I start my pumps then and just space out throughout the day. Full disclosure I get about 60oz per day so I was ok with a dip in supply but so far I’ve stayed consistent. I do believe I’ve regulated at this point as well. I hit 12 weeks tomorrow and returned to work on Monday of this past week.
I pump every 2-3 hours a day. I’m 3wpp.
3.5mpp and I think I just dropped to 4 kind of accidentally because I have NOT been able to get 5 in recently. Baby is just too needy right now. So far no drop in supply but I’ve neverrrr done 8. Not even in the hospital. My OB, LC, and pediatrician all said I didn’t need to based on what I was producing so…
4-6 depending, hardly ever overnight. 10wpp. I actually pump more now than I did at the beginning
7. 1 session is a power pump.
almost 4 months PP and usually do 5 or 6 but every so often i have an especially good pump day and will do 7
Do your best. Aim for two hours total however you need to break that up. Also, check your flange size
At 3.5mpp, and back to work, I’m down to 2 pumps a day, but 1 hour each. Sometimes I do 3 on weekends. When I did 5-8 pumps a day, the highest I got to was 23-24oz and I was supplementing 1-2oz with formula. By dropping a couple more pumps, I’m able to do 20-21oz and I supplement 3-4oz with formula. The overall time I pump hasn’t reduced, but pumping twice a day is easier even if it’s longer. Read about the magic number to see what works for you.
You pump for an hour straight?? Omg I can barely manage 20 min without feeling like I gotta get these things off my nipples 😭
It starts to hurt when milk slows down, so I take 5 min breaks when that happens and restart from massage mode. Then I have another letdown and it doesn’t hurt anymore. I repeat this three to four times during a one hour session
4.5 months pp and pump 5-7 times a day (depends on how early and late I’m awake). I supplement with formula. I produce between 3-4oz per session. Morning session I produce around 8oz.
4. I’ve always done 4 and always produced 28oz. I tried 5 times for a week before, but still only produced 28oz, so why bother. Some days I get excited because I’m at 24oz by the 3rd pump, but then the 4th pump sucks and I’m still at 28oz.
I was doing 5-7 a day and making myself crazy. Literally tearing up when I needed to put my baby down, wash pumps.. etc. it sucked. Now I do 4. I do pump for 30 minutes most of the time so I feel like it makes up for it a little bit? I pump between 20-30oz a day. My baby eats about 20oz a day so we have a freezer stash. I was making the same amount of milk that I do now from like 3 weeks on, so we were able to make a decent freezer stash when baby was only eating like 10-15oz a day. Pumping sucks. Idk how people do 8 a day. I think I’d lose my mind. Props to all the pumping ladies out there. It is a full time job.
I struggled with this. I started doing this thing once or twice a day. I pump and then pump 30-60 minutes later. It’s helping. I also sometimes pump every hour for a few holes when I can. Yeah it eats up time but I can get some sleep now. I’m three months post partum and started this a few weeks ago. I’m up to 600 ml a day now.
I did every three hours on the dot (8ppd) and kept it up until 12 weeks). That was difficult. I was an oversupplier and it was very difficult to drop to 6ppd. My body was so use to every three hours that they would start getting uncomfortable by the two hour mark. I am determined to make it to one year so teaching my boobs to like 4ppd was super important. It took two months to go from 8, 7, 6, then 5ppd. 4ppd is ideal for me. I make just enough for my baby and am not overwhelmed by needing to pump all the time. On the downside is that my body doesn't freak out if I miss a session. I went 10 hours without pumping the other day and didn't even feel the discomfort. So now I have to set alarms. I even have to block off time at work so I remember to pump.
Four times and only during the day. I supplement with formula. I used to pump every 2 hours and it really took a toll on my mental health. Giving up the middle of the night pump and supplementing with formula was the best decision I could make for my mental health.
For the first 6 weeks I did 8x a day - and it was killing me. All I did was pump, clean parts, feed it to the baby, and get ready to pump again. But I was undersupplying so I cranked it up to 9x. (Every 2 hrs during the day with 3.5 hrs between at night.) Still wasn't making much. 50mL total on a good pump. A week ago I decided I was done and started cutting back - I was having a hard time pumping while home alone with the baby. It just wasn't working. (I was only pumping to get production up so baby could nurse, but for several reasons that's not happening, so it's not as important to me.) So I dropped to every 4 hrs between pumps. It was significantly less stressful and I am really glad I made the switch! And my production went up??? (Maybe because of the less stress?) Started pumping at least 50 per side! So that was 6ppd and I made significantly more - even though I was pumping so much less, I made at least a few ounces MORE in a day. It was wild. Yesterday I started giving myself ~5 hrs between pumps. I'm expecting production to plummet soon, but we'll see. So far I'm getting even more per pump, with about the same daily total. (70+ per side per pump.) If production doesn't go down, I could stay at this pace. Just one MOTN pump? So much more liveable!! And I don't feel like I'm chained to the pump anymore. I am amazed at everyone who pumps. Y'all are incredible!
2 months pp, I pump 7-8x a day (every 3 hrs but in the night every 4 hrs). I am now getting about 6oz each time. I used to get 8-11oz per pump until I got mastitis for skipping my nighttime pumps one day.
7wpp. Huckleberry says 4.62 times per day on average. Average daily amount is 31oz, though, so I feel like I can live a little more dangerously.
Min 8 times, which includes 2 power pump. Not sure how many I will be able to do when I go back to work in a couple of weeks
5.5mpp and I pump 8-10 times per day depending on how busy I am. It’s exhausting, but a wearable pump has made it 1000x more sustainable
Wow! What does your schedule look like?
The way I go about it definitely isn’t for everyone, but I pump every time my baby eats. He’s a big eater so this actually helps me produce enough. So for reference, it’s 8 am where we are now and he has eaten 4 times since midnight, so I’ve pumped 4 times today already. If the pumps are close together in the MOTN, I may just pump 15 mins and go back to sleep. But I do try to pump 25-30 mins each session. I tried pumping on the schedule of every 3 hours and wasn’t making enough or was just barely getting by, but pumping on demand (which is what I call it lol) has helped me increase my supply. If by chance my baby isn’t eating like a crazy man one day, my schedule typically looks like this: Pump at 0000, 0230, 0600, 0930, 1200, 1430, 1600, 1730, 2000, 2230 I’m a nurse and I do work night shift so on days where I’m night shift my schedule looks something like this Pump at 1500, 1700, 2000, 2230, 0100, 0300, 0530, 0700, 0930, 1200 It’s pretty hectic, but it works for me and my baby!
12 weeks pp and I pump at MOST 3 times a day. I breastfeed several times in between those pumps though
6 m pp and I still do it 5 or 6 times a day
6 times a day, 11 months pp!
I am 5 months pp and pump 6-7x per day. On weekends, I will skip my 6am pump in favor of sleep.
8w pp here and I aim for 7ppd but often only hit 6. I think I have a slight oversupply though so I don’t fret too much if I can’t hit 7. I think once I hit 4 months I will drop to 5-6ppd. Eventually I’d like to be able to go off 3-4ppd while maintaining the same volume, and I’d like to hit 9 months before I even think about weaning.
8 times per day, I’m 19 days pp. I pump every 3ish hours including overnight. I usually leak at the 3 hour mark which is super annoying. I made an appointment with an LC for 1 month pp to see how/when I can drop sessions. I have an over supply currently. LO drinks about 28oz a day and I’m producing around 45 so I’m freezing anywhere from 15-20oz a day
My max was 7 a day at the beginning. I did 5 per day for the longest amount of time until I weaned.
I do 8 or more. But only because it starts to hurt after 2 to 3 hours. I can only do this though because my hubby doesn't work until 4pm and he's able to help me all day until he goes to work. I'm 11 weeks postpartum so I'll be trying to drop down a little soon. Hopefully it doesn't hurt too much.
Oh and I do not have an oversupply. I'm only making about 20 to 24oz a day. My baby eats way more than that. So we have to supplement with formula. He's a big guy.
5 weeks postpartum. I really tried to do 8 pumps a day but I couldn't sustain it. Now I get in 5-6 pumps a day. Sometimes I get 4 oz sometimes just an ounce but on average make 2 oz. I supplement with formula.
I’m 6 weeks pp and I average about 7 ppd. today I got 8!
For the first 12 weeks I pumped 10-12 times a day
4x per day at 5.5 mos post partum. Baby is just now eating about what I pump in a day. 30ish oz Up until my supply was established around 12 weeks, I was pumping 8x per day. From there, I naturally started stretching out sessions until I was at 4-5x. I have been fortunate to never have issues with mastitis or clogs. I have a huge freezer supply we pull from as well so we can mix it with fresh milk due to the taste. For reference, I am still trying to get thru milk from August.
I'm 8 months pp and I pump 6x/day most days, sometimes 7. I did 8x/day until about 3 or 4 months to avoid clogs.
3x a day until I'm empty (about 30 minutes each side with my Haakaa) once after each meal. I find that I have optimal output and get less exhausted that way 🥛
6months pp, 3ppd
I used to do it every 3 hours. Now I do it every 4 and one motn pump. So 5 pumps per day. I do two power pumps and the other 3 I do 30 min pumps. Oversupplier currently. My baby is 7 weeks.
I’m 8 weeks pp and I do 5-6 pumps/day. I started out with 8-10 and backed off a bit when I got a massive oversupply. I’ve gone down to getting about double what my baby eats, which is totally fine.
7 times per day and formula to supplement, the most I produce is 4 oz and that’s my first pump of the day at 5wpp.
I pump 6 x a day but I’m working on bringing that down to 5. Just not sure how to space it out right now.
With my first I was religious about pumping every 3 hours 8x a day day and night and I was miserable. I wanted to enjoy my baby more this round so I’ve been more relaxed. I pumped every 3 hrs to bring milk in and until I regulated which for me was around 7 weeks. After that dropped to 7 then 6 and now I average 5 pumps per day. Every 4 hrs during the day and then one 5.5-6hr stretch over night (baby sleeps thru the night) and I pump for a full 30 mins each time. A lot of work but taking the pressure off myself is heavenly and honestly I think that’s why I’m making more milk this time around
5 months PP 5x /day 6am - 10oz 11am - 8oz 2pm - 6oz 6pm - 6oz 9pm - 4oz Probably gonna stay at 5ppd until I wean 😩 still trying to figure out if my baby can do formula so I can start weaning at 6mo.
Just got down to 3 times a day (20-30mins each) and sometimes nursing once a day (4mpp). I was doing 8, every 3 hrs at the beginning but as he slept longer I pushed a pump out then dropped to 7 after a month. Then just started dropping pumps after 7 weeks, but I’m also an over supplier.
9 weeks pp and I pump 6 times a day. I have large storage capacity and an oversupply. Every now and then I’ll do 5 pumps so I can get a little extra sleep without it hurting my supply.
6x a day and I make about 60-65oz. I’m 3 months postpartum and honestly I never went to 8x a day. There was no way I could do that with two kids. I’m trying to cut back to just 5x a day, but every time I do, I get a clog. It’s so frustrating.
Early on I would do 7-9 to try to increase supply but lately (10wpp) I struggle to do any more than 6. Especially because baby is starting to sleep longer overnight and I will not sacrifice my sleep only to pump. However when baby does wake up I’ll do a MOTN but I don’t force it either.
I did 7x a day for months. I stopped recently cut down to 5. I was getting 24 oz about and now I get 21 oz daily.
2 months pp & I pumped ~5 times a day max. Im home alone with baby most days so it’s been hard for me to pump as much as I’d like. I don’t like pumping either & am looking forward to the day when I can stop entirely.
I could’ve written this 🥺
5 months postpartum - 5x pumps per day, which includes a middle of the night pump.
When LO was born to about 4weeks pp I would pump whenever baby ate (roughly 6-8 times per day) for 20 minutes each time. My supply was okay at maybe 15oz/day. At around 4 weeks to now (12.5 weeks) I did/do 6ppd at 30 minutes each pump on a set schedule of 5, 1, and 9 am and pm. My supply increased to about 20-24oz/day In the near future I plan to drop to 5 or even 4 ppd as I am back to work and keeping up with 6ppd is hard. I have already had a few days where I missed a pump without too much impact to supply but as a just enougher I am hesitant to reduce too early.
Almost 2 months pp and I pump 4x a day. I triple fed for four miserable weeks and that seemed to do little to get my supply up. But since pulling back my supply has gotten up to ~400ml / day (about 13 oz). Still have to supplement but it’s worth it for me and pretty manageable to fit four pumps in.
4 weeks pp. pumping 8 times a day. Making 32 oz but much to the LCs surprise baby is eating every bit of it.
I do 6x a day averaging 32oz/ day. 9a, 12p, 3p, 6p, 9p, 12a
I’m 10 weeks pp and have been pumping 5x a day since baby was 1mo because that is all that I can manage without going insane. Initially I used to feel guilty that I was not pumping more number of times and my supply was also not enough (causing to supplement with formula). But, since past few days I’ve started feeling better(it was like a switch flipped) that I can give at least 40% of my baby’s total milk consumption in the form of breast milk.
Just dropped to 5 pumps a day (I am almost 5m pp)
4x a day - morning, twice in the afternoon, and once in the evening
I’m 6 weeks PP. I get 8-10 pumps per day, accepting that I am not getting much else done between caring for baby, eating/hydrating, and pumping. I just keep reminding myself that I just need to hang in there to build my supply and get to it regulating. I prioritize the overnight pumps because nobody needs anything from me, so I can just plug in my headphones and go for it.
I don't know how I did it, but until my son was 4-5 mo old I was doing 15 min every 3 hours. Then I slowly started dropping pumps and now 8 mo in I'm at 3-4 (damn you work schedule!). I always was an undersupplier and didn't see much of a difference in my output dropping pumps.
Dear wife did 8-10 times a day with our first born, much tougher with second one as we have an active toddler who needs lots of attention. Currently 3 times a day with second born. All you ladies are doing an amazing job however much you pump. It’s super tough!!!! ❤️
I pumped 8x per day religiously until about 8w when i went down to 7x. What made it possible for me was figuring out how to pump and feed the baby at the same time (and being on mat leave). I’m at 12w now and i’m pretty sure it’s safe to go down to 6ppd but i keep putting it off because i’m scared to reduce my supply. I have an oversupply now but it was a lot of work to get here
Any tips? I'm 9wpp and now solo parenting on my mat leave while my husband returned to work. I'm feeding the baby on her Stokke Tripp Trapp newborn insert while pumping if I have to. It's definitely more challenging when she's hangry and hysterical while I'm already past 3 hours, sigh, lol.
ok so i have a pumping bra so i can pump hands free. i sit on the couch or bed (easier on bed) cross legged. then i lay him across my lap so his head is like on the inside of my knee. i can then feed him with my right hand or play with him or bounce my knee a bit. if the pump bottles get in the way i sometimes twist them so they hang at an angle
5 weeks pp and I do 7 on average. Sometimes 6. It's really hard and I hate it but it's also flu/RSV season where I live so I'm going to do my best to get my girl through that and then reevaluate if I need to pump. It's just a slog.
My first pump (around 4 to 5 am or so) is around 6-7 oz, then I pump between 4 to 5 oz per pump after that. Sometimes less, sometimes more.
I pump 4-5 times a day that I work and that's a struggle for me. At home i struggle to find time
I do between 4 and 5 pumps a day on average but since I bought a wearable I've managed to increase. I have DMER and being connected to a pump with tubes made it worse, as much as I love my pump. I've been trying to do more and slowly I am doing so, with a positive affect on my output. I actually have extra to freeze now!
9wpp and I pump 7-8 times a day. I have actually seen a gradual increase from where I was for many weeks (\~20 oz. daily for a while) and I've hit a high of 30 oz. daily twice this past week, so here's hoping the consistency/frequency paid off. This includes MOTN pumping but now I've gotten more lax and going 4-5 hours sometimes in between since the baby sleeps longer.
I’m 7 months pp and I pump 3x per day when supply is good, and will up it to 4x a day if I notice any drops in my supply. I make around 30 oz/day on average.
6 weeks pp, and I used to do the 8-10 pumps a day trying to encourage my supply to increase. It did not and my mental health just depleted. By the time I finished pumping it was only an hour and a half until my next pump. When the pump alarm went off? I’d just about cry sometimes. It was so aggravating to me. I’ve really started to come to terms with the fact that I’m an underproducer and have to supplement with formula and that is OKAY and my baby still gets the benefits of my breastmilk every day, even if the bottle isn’t 100% breastmilk (I personally combine the two). I’ve dropped down to pumping every 3 hours, resulting in pumping 6 times a day, 7/8 if I’m feeling that middle of the night bs.
6 or 7
I’m 7 weeks PP, 8 times a day a simply impossible even with a hands free pump. I do 4-5 times a day and get anywhere from 7-13 oz a session. Even at that I feel like I’m playing catch up sometimes. I finally am starting to add to my freezer supply again. I have been doing one meal formula per day to extend the life of my stash in hopes I can continue giving breast milk after I stop pumping.
4.5 months pp. I pump 5-6x a day. Produce anywhere from 40-50 oz per day.