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Nursing/working moms (current or prior)
How many ounces did your 8-9 month old take from a bottle at day care? Isaiah used to take 9-10 ounces a day (he is there for 9 hours). This was perfect because I would pump about this much in 2 sessions (sometimes a little more). However, recently he has been drinking as much as 17 ounces in the same time period, and I can't keep up. I have almost no freezer stash left. I try to fit in an extra pumping during the work day if I can, and I've brought my pump home to try to fit in a few extra sessions over the weekend, but honestly, I dread pumping.
Part of me wonders if his DC is just giving him too much milk. I nurse him around 6:30-6:45 and they offer his first bottle (around 5 ounces) about 9, then lunch solids at 12, another bottle at 1, and another bottle at 3. I pick him up around 4:15 and nurse him at home. He eats solids for dinner and nurses before bed, and usually once in the middle of the night. I'm thinking I am going to send them a tentative feeding schedule tomorrow and ask them to space out his bottles and offer a few more solids in between. He would still get about 12 ounces of BM (plus 4-5 nursing sessions at home) so I'm not worried about substituting too many solids for BM.
Ugh, I went from having a huge oversupply to now barely keeping up. I know I could pump more to up my supply but I really don't want to.
Re: Nursing/working moms (current or prior)
I had the same thing happen at exactly 9 months but it was a growth spurt and it lasted about 3 weeks. After that nursing/pumping went back to normal. The best thing for me was to fit in extra pumping sessions to up my supply and then do the usual like steel cut oats for breakfast, lots of water, dark beer at night before bed.
I also got a prescription from my midwife but did not end up using it. It was for Reglan but I took OTC fenugreek instead and that was enough.
Good luck
It was at 10 months that Josephine gave up on the breast entirely. She literally shoved me away and screamed if I came anywhere near her. I tried for a month.
But I now realize she was eating a ton at daycare and this might have contributed. She was taking a whole bottle at 9, another at 12, then solids, then another at 2:00 and another at 5:00. Way more than she'd ever gotten from me. Therefore our nursing session went out the window at home.
I think my random point is, do address the schedule or maybe modify how much he's getting after lunch? If he's eaten a good amount of solid food, does he maybe only need 1/2 bottle?
2/20/2011
I had the same problem around that age. To fix it I did a "power pumping" sessions once a day for about a week and increased my fenugreek pill intake. I was taking 3 pills 3x's/ day. Power pumping is where you pump for 5 mins, rest for 5 mins for an hour. It simulates how babies nurse during a growth spurt (which is probably all this is). If you have a medela you can press the "let down" button about halfway through your pumping session which will change the suction a bit and may help get a bit more milk out.
Thanks everyone for the advice. I had read before that around 9 months a lot of moms see supply issues, but since I've always had more than enough I never thought it would affect me . . . dun, dun, dun.
I do think they might be over-feeding him a little at day care, so I asked them to follow this schedule starting today. His teachers said it worked really well so I'm thinking we will stick with it:
1. I nursed him around 6:40. He gets dropped off around 7.
2. They fed him breakfast of solids around 8 (today it was 8:40 and he had oatmeal, bananas, and mixed fruit and ate it all).
3. 5-6 oz bottle around 10 (he had a 5 oz. bottle at 10).
4. Lunch of solids around 12 (he napped until 12:40 so he ate lunch then - beef and sweet potatoes).
5. 5-6 oz bottle around 2 (he had a 5 oz bottle at 2).
I also asked them not to give him a bottle after 3 unless he really seems to be hungry. They used to give him a third bottle at 3 (the other ones were around 9 and 1) but sometimes depending on naps, etc. he wouldn't eat it until 3:30-4:00. I pick him up at 4:15 and want to nurse him when we get home around 4:30, so I figured if they pushed the other 2 bottles back by an hour that he could last until we get home.
Hopefully this schedule works. 17-18 ounces plus solids in a 9-hour period just seemed like a LOT.
Thanks again!