Dear Lactnetters,
Is it possible to maintain milk production with long intervals between milk
removal? I know that it shouldn't be, but do you think it might be possible?
I'm working with a mother who is pumping 7 times / 24 hours, after she
breastfeeds. Baby transfers a little over an ounce at 6 of the feedings
and over 4 oz at the morning feeding. She is able to pump approx 1/2 oz
after each pumping. She states that when she pumps in the middle of the
night, she only gets 1 oz and then in the morning the baby only transfers
an ounce. She believes that she is producing more milk in the morning
because she is more rested and has had more time for her milk to fill up.
We are pursuing several avenues to increase production. She has been
taking herbs for several weeks and domperidone for a little less than 2
weeks. Latch is effective and painless. She is going to have her thyroid
levels checked, although that is probably a long shot. Right now she is
producing about 1/3 of the baby's daily intake. She does not want to use a
supply line at breast as she had no success with it with her last
baby. This baby is her 3rd and she has always had problems with
production. She states that this is the most milk that she has ever
produced. Baby is over 2 months old now, but still loves to nurse. He
does a good job too, I don't believe that this is a baby problem. He
transfers milk well when it is there.
But supposing that she has reached the highest level of production she is
going to reach, would she be able to maintain that production if she
breastfed 3 - 4 times / 24 hours and didn't pump at all?
My question would be do you think that since after 7 hours the baby
transfers 4 oz, and after 2-3 hours he transfers 1 oz... if she waited 6
hours or so between feedings, is it reasonable to expect that she would
have the same amount of milk production overall? If this *is* as high as
it's going to get, it would simplify her life not to be breastfeeding,
pumping, and supplementing for each feeding.
Since he loves to nurse, the mother will probably nurse more often than 3-4
times. So I guess my question really is: is the pumping after each
feeding (getting only 1/2 oz total each time) really helping increase
production?
Thanks for your ideas,
Cindi Swisher, RN, IBCLC
PS: (I did check the archives, but couldn't find anything to address this
specifically)
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