Q: My 2-month-old has recently begun sleeping for six to seven hours at night. I want to encourage this habit, but my breasts are getting so engorged that I wake up in pain. Will my breasts adjust and stop producing so much at night, or must I resign myself to waking and pumping in the middle of the night the entire time I’m breastfeeding? An uninterrupted chunk of seven hours would make my life so much easier.
A: Your body should adjust over a period of time to this longer period of not nursing. It is possible that as your baby gets older, he may begin waking at night due to teething or growth spurts, and you may once again be nursing more at night. Then your body would go in reverse and begin making more milk at night.
If you wake up at night in pain, try pumping just enough to feel better and not pumping all that’s there. This way you can slow down your milk and make yourself comfortable without encouraging the night milk supply to stay high. It may take a little longer to decrease your milk this way, but in the long run it will be healthier.
By Ann Calandro
BSN, RNC, IBCLC Lactation Consultant
