supplementing pm feed with EBM

Madi (5.5wks) nurses almost constantly all evening, which I understand is
normal. However, she seems to get little milk from this (no audible
swallowing sounds, no "milk stupor"). I figure this is b/c of both her
constant nursing and evening slowdown of production. Due to soreness, etc
before bedtime last night and the night before I gave her a few oz of EBM
which she slurped down avidly and then SLEPT 4-6 hours!! Normal for her is
to nurse, sleep 1.5-3 hrs, rinse and repeat. Subsequent periods after the
bottle feed were nursing, then the typical 1.5-3 sleep hours.
As thrilled as I am at getting some sleep, I want to make sure I'm not
compromising my evening supply. I easily pump 5-8oz in the morning after
nursing, so I'm still having a net "profit" at the end of the day, but
that's substituting morning oversupply for evening undersupply.
So, do I continue to offer a small bottle at night to get some sleep (still
allowing the nursing for comfort since that will help supply) or eliminate
the bottle and get used to waking up a lot?

Thanks!
Amy---who thinks its unfair that as soon as I get habituated enough to her
crying that I can stay in the shower to rinse my hair, she learns to cry
real tears!!! Ack, the guilt!

Amy, I would do a mixture, supplement her when you are really tired and
getting desperate, the rest of the time, try and stick with it

Anne

"V." wrote in message
...
Madi (5.5wks) nurses almost constantly all evening, which I understand is
normal. However, she seems to get little milk from this (no audible
swallowing sounds, no "milk stupor"). I figure this is b/c of both her
constant nursing and evening slowdown of production. Due to soreness, etc
before bedtime last night and the night before I gave her a few oz of EBM
which she slurped down avidly and then SLEPT 4-6 hours!! Normal for her
is to nurse, sleep 1.5-3 hrs, rinse and repeat. Subsequent periods after
the bottle feed were nursing, then the typical 1.5-3 sleep hours.
As thrilled as I am at getting some sleep, I want to make sure I'm not
compromising my evening supply. I easily pump 5-8oz in the morning after
nursing, so I'm still having a net "profit" at the end of the day, but
that's substituting morning oversupply for evening undersupply.
So, do I continue to offer a small bottle at night to get some sleep
(still allowing the nursing for comfort since that will help supply) or
eliminate the bottle and get used to waking up a lot?

Thanks!
Amy---who thinks its unfair that as soon as I get habituated enough to
her crying that I can stay in the shower to rinse my hair, she learns to
cry real tears!!! Ack, the guilt!

I exclusively pump and bottle feed ebm, so my experience is unique. Still,
at 5.5 weeks, I would think an occasional bottle would be fine, and a
welcome break for you. My friend who almost exclusively breastfed, did add
a bottle feeding at night and it worked out great for her.

Betsy

V. wrote:
Madi (5.5wks) nurses almost constantly all evening, which I understand is
normal. However, she seems to get little milk from this (no audible
swallowing sounds, no "milk stupor"). I figure this is b/c of both her
constant nursing and evening slowdown of production. Due to soreness, etc
before bedtime last night and the night before I gave her a few oz of EBM
which she slurped down avidly and then SLEPT 4-6 hours!! Normal for her is
to nurse, sleep 1.5-3 hrs, rinse and repeat. Subsequent periods after the
bottle feed were nursing, then the typical 1.5-3 sleep hours.
As thrilled as I am at getting some sleep, I want to make sure I'm not
compromising my evening supply. I easily pump 5-8oz in the morning after
nursing, so I'm still having a net "profit" at the end of the day, but
that's substituting morning oversupply for evening undersupply.
So, do I continue to offer a small bottle at night to get some sleep (still
allowing the nursing for comfort since that will help supply) or eliminate
the bottle and get used to waking up a lot?

The problem with the bottle, is that you are telling your body that
baby isn't nursing then - which I suppose could make your evening
supply even worse. Occaisionally, it's probably not a probelm, but
regularly, it might be. If you are going back to work, you'll want to
be nursing in the evenings to help maintain your supply.

What helped me quite a bit with the late afternoon/evening supply dip
was drinking Mother's milk tea from Traditional Medicinals (my local
Whole Food's carries it). I'd drink 2-3 cups in the afternoon and that
really seemed to help.
Here's a link to it:
http://www.steviasmart.com/motmilher.html

Also, make sure you are getting plenty to eat and plenty of fluids.

Mary W.

V. wrote:

So, do I
continue to offer a small bottle at night to get some sleep (still
allowing the nursing for comfort since that will help supply) or
eliminate the bottle and get used to waking up a lot?

I didn't do that with my first two but I did offer a bottle nearly every day
to Luke starting at 4wks. Well not me but dh did. I'll do the same this
time and plan to have that bottle happen at night sometime so while I don't
know how that will work, I'm going for it :-)

--
Nikki
Hunter 4/99
Luke 4/01
Thing One and Thing Two :-) EDD 4/06

V. wrote:
Madi (5.5wks) nurses almost constantly all evening, which I understand is
normal. However, she seems to get little milk from this (no audible
swallowing sounds, no "milk stupor"). I figure this is b/c of both her
constant nursing and evening slowdown of production. Due to soreness, etc
before bedtime last night and the night before I gave her a few oz of EBM
which she slurped down avidly and then SLEPT 4-6 hours!! Normal for her is
to nurse, sleep 1.5-3 hrs, rinse and repeat. Subsequent periods after the
bottle feed were nursing, then the typical 1.5-3 sleep hours.
As thrilled as I am at getting some sleep, I want to make sure I'm not
compromising my evening supply. I easily pump 5-8oz in the morning after
nursing, so I'm still having a net "profit" at the end of the day, but
that's substituting morning oversupply for evening undersupply.
So, do I continue to offer a small bottle at night to get some sleep (still
allowing the nursing for comfort since that will help supply) or eliminate
the bottle and get used to waking up a lot?

Sorry if this shows up twice, seems to have gotten eaten....

An occaisional bottle is probably OK, repeatedly doing it,
without pumping at the same time, would likely further
reduce your evening supply, so I'd limit the number of
times you do it. Also, if you are going back to work, you
are going to want to be nursing in the evenings to help
maintain your supply.

I found that drinking 2-3 cups of Mother's milk tea
(traditional medicinals) in the afternoon really helped
my supply. I got it at Whole Foods.

See:
http://www.steviasmart.com/motmilher.html

Also make sure you are eating and drinking enough. I found
that if I didn't drink enough water during the day, my
supply suffered.

Good luck,

Mary W.

I did very much the same with Jasmine and gave her expressed milk in the
evening because she was not very good at getting the milk out in the
evening. But what I made sure I did was that whatever she drank from the
bottle I made sure I expressed that same day. That way I knew that my
supply was being kept constant

Take care


--
Pip

My girls :
DD2 Abby - 8 weeks early now 11 months and trying to climb.
DD1 Jasmine - 5 weeks early now 3.75 yrs Favourite saying "I'm a big girl
cause I go to school Kindy"

"Inside me is a skinny women screaming to get out........but I can normally
keep the b*tch quiet with cookies"

--
"V." wrote in message
...
Madi (5.5wks) nurses almost constantly all evening, which I understand is
normal. However, she seems to get little milk from this (no audible
swallowing sounds, no "milk stupor"). I figure this is b/c of both her
constant nursing and evening slowdown of production. Due to soreness, etc
before bedtime last night and the night before I gave her a few oz of EBM
which she slurped down avidly and then SLEPT 4-6 hours!! Normal for her
is to nurse, sleep 1.5-3 hrs, rinse and repeat. Subsequent periods after
the bottle feed were nursing, then the typical 1.5-3 sleep hours.
As thrilled as I am at getting some sleep, I want to make sure I'm not
compromising my evening supply. I easily pump 5-8oz in the morning after
nursing, so I'm still having a net "profit" at the end of the day, but
that's substituting morning oversupply for evening undersupply.
So, do I continue to offer a small bottle at night to get some sleep
(still allowing the nursing for comfort since that will help supply) or
eliminate the bottle and get used to waking up a lot?

Thanks!
Amy---who thinks its unfair that as soon as I get habituated enough to
her crying that I can stay in the shower to rinse my hair, she learns to
cry real tears!!! Ack, the guilt!

V. wrote:

Amy---who thinks its unfair that as soon as I get habituated enough to her
crying that I can stay in the shower to rinse my hair, she learns to cry
real tears!!! Ack, the guilt!

I know this isn't the question, but I think it's about time for me to
confess the Top Five Most Stupid Things I Have Really Done So I Can
Take A Peaceful Shower.

5. Wait until the baby takes her nap. Unfortunately, this doesn't
always fit with our day's activities, so sometimes I find myself trying
other things, such as...
4. Put baby in her crib with every toy we own, while shouting to her
through the wall, "Ok, I'm washing my face, almost done! I'm washing
my hair, almost done!"
3. Put baby in a laundry basket on top of my pillow, covered with her
favorite blanket, with a couple of toys (it looked cozier than a
bouncey seat) on the bathroom floor.
2. Put baby in the bouncey seat with lights and music, put her in the
bathroom with me, and turned off the bathroom lights so the toy looked
cooler (and I didn't end up with body soap in my hair, or conditioner
on my legs!).
1. Call Grandma and put her on speaker to talk to the baby while I
grab my now-usual 4 minute shower.

*sigh*

Amy

V. wrote:
Madi (5.5wks) nurses almost constantly all evening, which I understand is
normal. However, she seems to get little milk from this (no audible
swallowing sounds, no "milk stupor").

Sounds like she's noodling. For the fourth trimester, all they want to
do is sleep and nurse. They think your boob is their umbilical cord,
and they can't understand why it's no longer connected 24/7. When mine
finally started to get interested in toys and the rest of the world a
little, she stopped this nurse all night stuff, and now only wants to
do it if she's not feeling well, or if she's in an unfamiliar place.

I figure this is b/c of both her
constant nursing and evening slowdown of production.

Or she's just sort of sleepy, and wants the comfort. Try distracting
her - give her a bath. A bath wears mine out right quick.

Due to soreness, etc
before bedtime last night and the night before I gave her a few oz of EBM
which she slurped down avidly and then SLEPT 4-6 hours!! Normal for her is
to nurse, sleep 1.5-3 hrs, rinse and repeat. Subsequent periods after the
bottle feed were nursing, then the typical 1.5-3 sleep hours.
As thrilled as I am at getting some sleep, I want to make sure I'm not
compromising my evening supply.

If the bottle is EBM, and not formula, I don't think it'll be a
problem. Your boobs don't know what time it is. The reason your
supply is higher in the morning is because you produce more milk when
you sleep, that's all. I always feel like I've "run out" by evening,
too, but it's not truly gone. You're also getting to the point where
you're not going to feel engorged anymore. So you're going to think
you've lost your supply, but you haven't.

I easily pump 5-8oz in the morning after
nursing, so I'm still having a net "profit" at the end of the day, but
that's substituting morning oversupply for evening undersupply.
So, do I continue to offer a small bottle at night to get some sleep (still
allowing the nursing for comfort since that will help supply) or eliminate
the bottle and get used to waking up a lot?

Whatever makes you happy.

Amy

"Amy" wrote in message
oups.com...

V. wrote:

Amy---who thinks its unfair that as soon as I get habituated enough to
her
crying that I can stay in the shower to rinse my hair, she learns to cry
real tears!!! Ack, the guilt!

I know this isn't the question, but I think it's about time for me to
confess the Top Five Most Stupid Things I Have Really Done So I Can
Take A Peaceful Shower.

5. Wait until the baby takes her nap. Unfortunately, this doesn't
always fit with our day's activities, so sometimes I find myself trying
other things, such as...
4. Put baby in her crib with every toy we own, while shouting to her
through the wall, "Ok, I'm washing my face, almost done! I'm washing
my hair, almost done!"
3. Put baby in a laundry basket on top of my pillow, covered with her
favorite blanket, with a couple of toys (it looked cozier than a
bouncey seat) on the bathroom floor.
2. Put baby in the bouncey seat with lights and music, put her in the
bathroom with me, and turned off the bathroom lights so the toy looked
cooler (and I didn't end up with body soap in my hair, or conditioner
on my legs!).
1. Call Grandma and put her on speaker to talk to the baby while I
grab my now-usual 4 minute shower.

*sigh*

Amy


LOL!
I generally nurse her and take a very fast shower while she's in her 5-10
min milk induced coma. She has also started entertaining herself by staring
at the wallpaper for 15 min at a time, which gives me time to dry off!
We also take a bath together every other night, which she loves...I put one
hand under her head to keep it out of the water and she blissfully floats
all by herself! Of course, then we get out of the water and she starts
screaming from the cold....and I'm the one that has to walk around the house
naked while I get her dressed as quickly as possible!