If you're an over-producer (BM) and pump at work

[mommylamb]

Pumping at work is driving me nuts, and seems to be increasing my supply rather than regulating it. I had over supply issues when I had DS1, but my supply seemed to regulate once I went to work and was pumping. Now with DS2, the pumping seems to be increasing my supply instead, and it's really uncomfortable.

I try to pump 3x/day while I'm at work, which is what I did with DS1, but this time I could easily pump 4x (maybe more). And it seems like I'm producing more than I do when I'm at home with DS2 on the weekends, and not even emptying my breasts. DS2 is only drinking about 18 oz a day, and I'm pumping about 22-23 oz a day, and could pump more. It's good to have the extra because I'm taking home a bag to freeze pretty much every day. But I feel really swollen, which makes me want to pump more. I'm just afraid of encouraging even more over-production. But on the other hand, I'm afraid of getting mastitis or something because I'm not getting it all out.

This morning, DS2 ate at 5:30 am, but wasn't interested in eating again before I left for work. When I got to the office, I pumped 10 oz in less than 5 minutes and was seriously uncomfortable until I got it out. Weaning, when we eventually do it, is going to be a bitch.

So if you had oversupply issues, did pumping make it worse? Is that normal? Any tips?

[GaPeach_in_Ca]

Hmm, that's a toughie. With DS2, he never really drank much from a bottle and I was able to pump 20+ oz in 2 pumpings, so I only pumped 2x at work. (For DS1, I pumped 3x at work for most of his 1st year.)

I don't remember being that uncomfortable, though. Can you try to space out the pumpings and see if your supply regulates?

[rin]

No real advice, but I had the exact same experience; the more I pumped, the greater the difference between how much I was pumping and how much DD drank. I suspect that people with oversupply issues are prone to that (?), since with direct nursing the baby only takes what they need, but with the pump you always want to get it all out, which encourages the oversupply. I only pumped & bottle fed for about a month, though, and after that returned to being with her full-time, so unfortunately I don't have any good advice, since once we were back to exclusive nursing things eventually regulated. I had sort of resigned myself to just having a whole lot of extra milk, which I could use for travel away or just as a back supply once we weaned.

(Since we don't have a deep freezer, it only stayed good for a few months and then I ended up tossing almost all of the frozen milk, which was kind of a bummer. If I'd realized that would happen, I would've looked into donation.)

If you don't want to just resign yourself to having extra milk, I suppose you could try limiting the number of ounces you pump, although I would worry that I might then NOT be able to have enough if the baby started wanting more. I was always a bit of a worrywart about not having enough milk, though (which is why it's probably ironic that I ended up with oversupply issues).

[AshUVA]

I had over supply similar to this. My lactaction consultant suggested limiting the amount I was pumping at each session. She also suggested block feeding when I was actually BF (so mainly on weekends) to try to teach my body how much my baby actually needed. I never really did that because things started to even out about that time. I'm sure you can find all the details on the internet but bascially you feed only on one side and the next feeding to that exact same side again. After two feedings on one side, you do the next two on the other side. It seems like it might be uncomfortable in the beginning for the side that isn't getting used, but its susposed to greatly help with over supply. Good luck!