Hi Meng:
I guess poko had shared most of her experience with you.
Like to share mine too.
>1. My baby is 8 weeks old. I have been pumping on average about
>800-1000 ml per day. Will the milk supply keep on increasing or will
>it stablise when baby hits say 3 months? What was your experience?
==> i got 800-1000ml per day too! i would sy one or 2 days increase but most of the time if you keep up the schedule will maintain around that quantity while if you haywire the timing abit for a day or so, your suppliy will reduce. The key is to keep up with schedule if you want to maintain your current volume.
>2. I think i may have an oversupply, coz my baby's intake is only
>about 750ml per day for now. Used to pump every 3 hourly, 5 times in
>the day, and one time in the middle of the night. I now reduce it to 4
>hourly, 4 times in the day, and one time in the middle of the night.
>But I feel very engorged all the time. How long will it take before my
>body knows how to adjust? I tried using cabbage leaves to relieve the
>engorgement, but don't seem to work very well. i also fear that if i
>use too often, my supply will drop too much!
==> No lah not oversupply. U simulate well that's why ur BM came so much. Keep the excess in freezer using glass bottle or milk bag and label them. My baby also drink about 750ml per day and the balance like brought forward to next day one leh, therefore I know like about 2 bottles per day I will freeze. When going out, bring the frozen EBM out instead of fresh one if you dun hv a proper cooler bag. People use cabbage when they want to reduce or stop their supply, but to me also no effect becos our supply too much. Forget about cabbage.
>3. When can I start to lengthen the interval between each pumping? 4
>hourly is fine now, but i fear that once i go back to work when baby
>is around 4 months old, i would not be able to keep to 4 hourly
>intervals. What was your experience?
==> Then you have to gradually change the schedule time from eg. 6 to 5x, then gradually reduce from 5 to 4x. There is no shortcut otherwise the result is engorgement. In work place, unless your company is very mummy-pro, else how to keep the 4 hourly interval? At least you need 6 hourly interval coz u need to travel to work and back from work, by the time you reach home is already way past 4 hours between the last pump. trust me this is my expereince lor.
For me I pump in the morning before work, then during lunch time (you gotta scarifice abit of your lunch time for your precious baby) & after reach home from work. Timing always around 6am, 12.15pm & 8pm (after dinner). Dun need to be exactly 8 hours, important thing is to let BR get use to the timing that's all.
>4. How long does it take for you to completely wean off breastfeeding?
>1 month?
==> Depends on baby and how you wean coz you also need to gradually change from BM to FM, you cannot change from 100% BM to 100% FM over night. If baby adapts well, after 3 days can increase the FM and reduce the BM.
Eg: BM : FM Ratio
Starts - 100 : 0
Adapt well, after 3 days - 75 : 25
Adapt well, after 6 days - 50 : 50
Adapt well, after 9 days - 25 : 75
Adapt well, after 2 weeks - 0 : 100
Of course above is only my simulation, you may lengthen your schedule if baby cannot adapt well to FM or seen having constipation.
My 2nd baby is already 1 year old i am still EBM-g twice a day, but the volume is already reduced of course. I still enjoy EBM-g but am going to give up soon because my baby is already on semi-solid so the nutrients are already there. For you, please keep it up as your baby is still very young! hope you enjoy EBM-g for the sake of your baby as long as possible.
I guess poko had shared most of her experience with you.
Like to share mine too.
>1. My baby is 8 weeks old. I have been pumping on average about
>800-1000 ml per day. Will the milk supply keep on increasing or will
>it stablise when baby hits say 3 months? What was your experience?
==> i got 800-1000ml per day too! i would sy one or 2 days increase but most of the time if you keep up the schedule will maintain around that quantity while if you haywire the timing abit for a day or so, your suppliy will reduce. The key is to keep up with schedule if you want to maintain your current volume.
>2. I think i may have an oversupply, coz my baby's intake is only
>about 750ml per day for now. Used to pump every 3 hourly, 5 times in
>the day, and one time in the middle of the night. I now reduce it to 4
>hourly, 4 times in the day, and one time in the middle of the night.
>But I feel very engorged all the time. How long will it take before my
>body knows how to adjust? I tried using cabbage leaves to relieve the
>engorgement, but don't seem to work very well. i also fear that if i
>use too often, my supply will drop too much!
==> No lah not oversupply. U simulate well that's why ur BM came so much. Keep the excess in freezer using glass bottle or milk bag and label them. My baby also drink about 750ml per day and the balance like brought forward to next day one leh, therefore I know like about 2 bottles per day I will freeze. When going out, bring the frozen EBM out instead of fresh one if you dun hv a proper cooler bag. People use cabbage when they want to reduce or stop their supply, but to me also no effect becos our supply too much. Forget about cabbage.
>3. When can I start to lengthen the interval between each pumping? 4
>hourly is fine now, but i fear that once i go back to work when baby
>is around 4 months old, i would not be able to keep to 4 hourly
>intervals. What was your experience?
==> Then you have to gradually change the schedule time from eg. 6 to 5x, then gradually reduce from 5 to 4x. There is no shortcut otherwise the result is engorgement. In work place, unless your company is very mummy-pro, else how to keep the 4 hourly interval? At least you need 6 hourly interval coz u need to travel to work and back from work, by the time you reach home is already way past 4 hours between the last pump. trust me this is my expereince lor.
For me I pump in the morning before work, then during lunch time (you gotta scarifice abit of your lunch time for your precious baby) & after reach home from work. Timing always around 6am, 12.15pm & 8pm (after dinner). Dun need to be exactly 8 hours, important thing is to let BR get use to the timing that's all.
>4. How long does it take for you to completely wean off breastfeeding?
>1 month?
==> Depends on baby and how you wean coz you also need to gradually change from BM to FM, you cannot change from 100% BM to 100% FM over night. If baby adapts well, after 3 days can increase the FM and reduce the BM.
Eg: BM : FM Ratio
Starts - 100 : 0
Adapt well, after 3 days - 75 : 25
Adapt well, after 6 days - 50 : 50
Adapt well, after 9 days - 25 : 75
Adapt well, after 2 weeks - 0 : 100
Of course above is only my simulation, you may lengthen your schedule if baby cannot adapt well to FM or seen having constipation.
My 2nd baby is already 1 year old i am still EBM-g twice a day, but the volume is already reduced of course. I still enjoy EBM-g but am going to give up soon because my baby is already on semi-solid so the nutrients are already there. For you, please keep it up as your baby is still very young! hope you enjoy EBM-g for the sake of your baby as long as possible.
