Wasting milk
Nov. 9th, 2010 07:47 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
puzzlement posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
plan_surviveV is 9.5 months old and goes to group daycare 2 days a week.
At home, he still does a lot of breastfeeding although his food intake is steadily increasing. (See a typical day here.) At the centre I think he takes somewhat more food than he does at home: they spoon feed and at home he eats finger foods.
During the daycare periods, I still pump three times and get at least 450mL (15oz) and 550mL (18.5oz) is not unheard of, and this is without the really rigorous style of pumping: I stop as soon as the flow has really dropped rather than wringing every last drop out. I definitely can not stop pumping entirely: I need at least two pumping sessions or it gets painful.
But he no longer consumes anything like 450mL when he is at daycare. 200mL is more typical. He doesn't really make it up at night on those nights either, I think the solids they give him are substituting. (I have no idea what his intake when we're together is like, but it probably is similar to what I pump.)
I realise that this is something of an anti-problem but it makes me sad to throw out that much milk (as we have to if it is thawed) and soon we are going to run out of room in our freezer if my supply keeps exceeding demand.
What do you think? Should I pump less? Actively encourage my supply to drop (somehow)?
There are no milk banks that accept donations from a woman in Sydney, NSW. I cannot donate the milk. (And even if there were, milk banks in Australia seem to prefer donations from women whose child is under 6 months of age.)
At home, he still does a lot of breastfeeding although his food intake is steadily increasing. (See a typical day here.) At the centre I think he takes somewhat more food than he does at home: they spoon feed and at home he eats finger foods.
During the daycare periods, I still pump three times and get at least 450mL (15oz) and 550mL (18.5oz) is not unheard of, and this is without the really rigorous style of pumping: I stop as soon as the flow has really dropped rather than wringing every last drop out. I definitely can not stop pumping entirely: I need at least two pumping sessions or it gets painful.
But he no longer consumes anything like 450mL when he is at daycare. 200mL is more typical. He doesn't really make it up at night on those nights either, I think the solids they give him are substituting. (I have no idea what his intake when we're together is like, but it probably is similar to what I pump.)
I realise that this is something of an anti-problem but it makes me sad to throw out that much milk (as we have to if it is thawed) and soon we are going to run out of room in our freezer if my supply keeps exceeding demand.
What do you think? Should I pump less? Actively encourage my supply to drop (somehow)?
There are no milk banks that accept donations from a woman in Sydney, NSW. I cannot donate the milk. (And even if there were, milk banks in Australia seem to prefer donations from women whose child is under 6 months of age.)
