Fill ‘er up

I know I mentioned I pumped 11 oz this morning (my new record). Well, records continue. I fed my daughter (on tap) after that and dropped her at Grandma’s while I headed off to work. At about 10:30 I stopped to pump again (so the first pump was about 6:30 and I fed her about 7 or 7:15) and got a good 8 oz! It usually takes 2 times to get that.

I guess I should stop and reference here, as I only recently learned how differently everyone does this (I’m way too type A for so many options). The lactation consultants had told me that I should plan to pump before work and 3 times at work. So I usually pump around 7, 10 or 10:30, 12:30 and 3:30 (all plus or minus – it seems there are a good number of times that I’m pumping as I’m shutting down my PC at the end of the day b/c I didn’t do it when I was supposed to). I usually get a good amount at that 7 am pump – maybe 8 or more ounces and then smaller amounts during the day – 4 or 5 oz, sometimes less – usually trailing off with each time.

I happened to mention to a friend of mine what a pain it was to pump at the office (I mean, I feel like I’m washing the equipment all day long). She agreed that it was a pain, but then happened to note that she’d only done it ONCE a day for her daughters. In fact, she exclusively pumped for her first daughter who wouldn’t latch and she only pumped 4 times a day for the WHOLE day. Admittedly she pumped a lot longer each time (45 minutes to my 10 or so), but she was still able to get all she needed from that. Her theory – you can train your body to do what you need it to as it’s all supply and demand. She said she figured cows only get milked once a day and they get taken care of – it’s essentially the same process, so we can make it work too.

Hmm…

So I throw this out there – how often do you pump to meet your baby’s needs? I’d ask how much you get, but it’s so variable based on the age of the baby and other supplements, I know I couldn’t keep it all straight.