So you have learned how and when you can start weaning your baby from nighttime feedings. Now, how do you maintain your milk supply while night weaning?
Night Weaning: 1. Pump Before Bed
First, pump both of your breasts entirely before bed to ensure both of your breasts are drained. You can store this milk in BPA-free breastmilk storage bags to use in the future!
Check out this Milk Storage Cheat Sheet you can easily keep on your fridge, so you never have to worry that you stored or misused your breast milk!
Your Milk Storage Cheat Sheet is yet another bonus included in The Balanced Breastfeeding Course!
2. Pump at Night When Needed
If you wake up feeling engorged during the night, but you aren’t planning to feed your baby for 2 or more hours, you should pump until you feel comfortable again. But don’t fully drain your breasts because this will tell your body to continue making excessive amounts of breast milk during the night.
(Remember, supply=demand!)
3. Start Reducing Your Before Bed Pumping Time
After three nights of night weaning, you can begin the process of dropping the bedtime pumping session if you’d like.
If you want to continue to build a freezer stock, then you can continue! But if that’s not the case, you can start reducing the pumping time before bed to gradually lower your body’s need to produce breast milk at that time.
To do this, you can lower your pumping time by 5 minutes every three nights until you’re no longer pumping before bed!
Did Your Breast Milk Supply Still Plummet While Night Weaning?
If you feel that your milk has decreased too much, then you can incorporate a power-pumping session into your day.
Power pumping mimics a cluster-feeding baby. This will tell your body that you need to start producing more milk! Here’s how you do it:
- Pump for 20 minutes
- Rest for 10 minutes (do not pump)
- Pump for 10 minutes
- Rest for 10 minutes
- Pump for 10 minutes
I recommend trying to do this during your baby’s nap so that you don’t get interrupted. Plus, it’s during the day, so the power pumping won’t cause you to produce more at night!
And suppose you really want to use this time also to get other tasks done. In that case, I highly recommend investing in this hands-free pump (that I even cant wait to get for my next baby!) that you can put into your nursing bra or nursing tank top!
Or you can check out this hands-free nursing bra that’s compatible with other pumps!
Once your breastmilk supply bounces back, you can now wean off power pumping by skipping one “pumping step” every day or two until you’re no longer power pumping.
I really hope this helps you, mama! If you have any questions or comments please leave them below.
DISCLAIMER: This post is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health provider with any questions you may have regarding you or your baby’s health. Please read my Medical Disclaimer for more info
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