Are you too tired to pump at night? Once your baby gets past the newborn stage and starts sleeping for longer stretches, you might wonder how to stop pumping in the middle of the night. Here’s a step by step plan for how to drop middle of the night pumping sessions, including what you should do if you’re prone to clogged milk ducts, and whether you should worry about your milk supply.
Concerns about Dropping Middle of the Night Pumping Sessions
When you’re thinking “when can I stop pumping at night?” the two biggest concerns are usually milk supply and clogged ducts. Here’s what to consider when dropping your middle of the night session (also known as the MOTN pump).
Will My Milk Supply Go Down?
Anything can happen when you drop a pumping session – your supply might drop, it might stay the same, or it might even increase due to the extra sleep you’re getting. Unfortunately, every woman is different, so you can’t predict what will happen ahead of time.
Your best bet to mitigate the risk of losing supply when dropping a pumping session is to add the time from the dropped session back to your remaining pumping sessions, so that your total pumping time in a day stays the same.
With regard to dropping a middle of the night pumping session in particular, many women worry that they may lose supply since prolactin levels are higher at night than they are during the day. For example, you may have noticed that you pump more milk in the early morning hours (between 1am and 6am) than you do later in the day.
This doesn’t necessarily mean that your supply will go down when you drop the middle of the night session, though. I personally did not lose any supply when I dropped my middle of the night session; I just got more milk in the mornings. However, as I said above, every woman is different. It’s a good idea to monitor this as you drop your night time session and immediately afterward. If you notice your supply dropping, it’s a good idea to weigh the benefits (sleep) with the risks (less milk) of continuing.
The other risk is that after you drop your middle of the night pumping session, your period will come back. Breastfeeding frequency is an important factor in fertility after having a baby; if you stop pumping overnight, your period may come back sooner than it would have if you hadn’t because of the reduced frequency in lactation. Menstruation can be associated with a loss in milk supply, though there are some steps you can take to try to minimize or prevent this.
What if I’m Prone to Clogged Ducts?
Dropping a pumping session – especially the middle of the night one, where you’ll be going longer between pumping sessions than you have before – can be really scary if you’ve had clogged milk ducts or mastitis before.
Here are a few extra steps that you can take if you’re prone to clogged ducts:
- Go slowly. In the step by step plan below, I explain how to drop your middle of the night pumping session quickly and how to do it at a slower pace. You should pick the slower pace.
- Consider using cabbage leaves. Putting a cabbage leaf in your bra while you’re moving a pumping session back can help keep the milk from getting stuck and prevent blocked milk ducts (more info on how this works here). Note that if used too much, cabbage can negatively impact supply, so don’t overdo it.
- Try starting lecithin before you start dropping the pumping session. Lecithin can help make your milk less sticky, which also makes it less likely you’ll get a plugged milk duct.
- Try to fully empty your breasts at the session before the one you’re dropping and the next one. This might mean pumping a little longer.
If you are really worried, you can also get a lactation massager before you start dropping the session so that you’re prepared to quickly get any clogs out that do appear.
The Best Way to Drop a Middle of Night Pumping Session
There are four ways to drop pumping sessions, which you can read more about here or see below:
For dropping middle the night sessions, I prefer the fourth method, where you move pumping sessions until they are closer together and you can drop one of the them. What you want to do is slowly move the pumping session back until you get close enough to either the next middle of the night session or the first morning session that you can combine the two sessions into one.
This is because usually, when you’re dropping a night time session, you’re training your breasts to go longer between pumping sessions than they have before. It’s best to do that slowly to allow your body to adjust.
Step by Step Plan for How to Drop Middle of the Night Pumping Sessions
Here is how to drop the middle of the night pumping session in four easy steps.
1. Write down your current pumping schedule.
If you have a firm schedule – like 9am, 1pm, 5pm, 9pm, 9pm, 1am, 5am – you can skip this step.
This is more for moms who pump at night whenever their babies get up to eat, or who pump a certain number of hours from their last pumping session. The idea here is to get a good idea of where you’re at, so that you can plan the changes that you’re going to make.
So let’s say that you pump every three hours during the day plus whenever your baby wakes up at night. Most nights, that’s once, somewhere between 2:30am and 4:30am. You go to bed around 10pm, and you start your last session of the day at 9:30pm. You get up for the day at 7am.
Then your schedule looks something like this:
3:30am, 7:30am, 10:30am, 1:30pm, 4:30pm, 7:30pm, 9:30pm
These may not always be the exact times that you pump, but it gives you a good idea of where you’re at now, so you can plan how to get where you want to be.
2. Decide what you want your new schedule to be.
Make sure that your goal is clear. How long do you want to be able to go without pumping at night?
Let’s say that you decide you want to be able to go from 10pm to 6am without pumping, and pump every three hours during the day.
Your goal schedule might look something like this:
6am, 9am, 12pm, 3pm, 6pm, 9:30pm
In practice, you wouldn’t have to pump at exactly these times; maybe you push back the 9am to 10am on Mondays because of an activity or something. That’s totally fine, we just want a general schedule to work towards.
3. Make a plan for dropping the middle of the night session.
So you’ve identified the pumping session that you are going to push back (in our example, 3:30am), and your next pumping time in your goal schedule (6am). The next thing that you need to figure out is how much time you want to push the session back at once.
For example, you could push the 3:30am session back by 30 minutes per day until you get close enough to 6am that you can drop the session altogether. So:
- On the first day, you’d go until 4am
- On the second day, to 4:30am
- On the third day, to 5am
- On the fourth day, to 5:30am
- On the fifth day, to 6am, and you’re on your new schedule
(Note: at some point, probably around the 5am or 5:30am mark, it won’t make sense to pump again at 6am, so you can then drop the session, add the pumping time back to your remaining sessions, and just continue to keep pushing the time back until you get to your target time of 6am.)
Does that seem too slow? You can go faster! Maybe you want to push the time back an hour a day. Or two hours a day. Whatever you think your body can handle is fine.
Or does that seem too fast? Maybe you’ve tried pushing sessions back before and you got mastitis. Go slower! You can do 15 minutes at a time, and wait a few days at the new time before pushing back another 15 minutes. You set the pace.
4. Start dropping your middle of the night session – and keep track of what happens!
Once you’ve got your plan, you can go ahead and get started pushing your sessions back. It’s a good idea to use either a pumping app or just a piece of paper and a pen to track when you’re pumping and your output. This allows you to troubleshoot potential issues, and proactively identify any changes in supply so you can make adjustments if needed.
Have suggestions or questions? Leave them in the comments!
References- Battin, DA., et al. “Effect of suckling on serum prolactin, luteinizing hormone, follicle-stimulating hormone, and estradiol during prolonged lactation.” https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/3923412?dopt=Abstract
- Bonyata, Kelly, IBCLC. “Breastfeeding and Fertility.” https://kellymom.com/ages/older-infant/fertility/
Hi Amanda!
I try to breastfeed my baby girl as much as I can and only pump about 4 times a day now that I’m back to work – 10:30am – 1:30pm – 4:30pm – middle of the night (whenever I wake up engorged). I BF 6:30am-8:30am (she catnaps and clusters) and then bf from 7pm-9:30/10:pm (clusters).
So far this has worked well. Still a good supply and (so far) no clogs…but I’d like to cut out the nightly pumping. I’ve been doing it since month 1 because I’m lucky enough to have a baby who pretty much sleeps through the night every night, but I’ve always still gotten up in the middle of the night to pump from relief so I still don’t get sleep.
Would you still suggest the 30 minute delay pumping method?
Thanks so much!
Hi Elydia! Yes, I still think that would work best! 🙂 Good luck!!
Hi Amanda,
My LO will be 3 mos old on 7/3. I’m currently pumping 8x a day (12a, 3a, 6a, 9a, 12p, 3p, 6p, 9p). My baby sleeps from 9pm until 6am. I have 2-3 extra bottles of milk each day, which has filled up my deep freezer stash & have no room left. At 23-34 mins each session, I get 6 oz. He drinks 5-6oz per bottle. I would like to drop my midnight pump and am willing to push back my 9p to 9:30p, so I’m not going past 5 & 1/2 hours yet. I’ve had mastitis before from sleeping through my alarm but am now taking lecithin as daily maintenance. How could I go about this carefully?
Hi Jasmine! It’s great to hear from you! I would start pushing the 12p back slowly until you can skip it completely and just pump at 3a. It might be 15 minutes every few days or 30 minutes every night – whatever pace you feel comfortable with!
Hi Amanda thanks for the helpful information! I’m currently 11 weeks post partum (so my baby is almost 3 months old) & am currently pumping 7x a day (2am, 6am, 10am, 1pm, 4pm, 7pm and 10pm) & producing around 1000 ml a day.
I’m planning to drop to 6 session a day with 4 hours stretches today. But I found your article today & I think it’s a good idea to drop the midnight pumping session. Any tips for my new pumping schedule? Much thanks.
Hi Linda! Do you mean drop the 2am? Just wanted to make sure I understood!
Hi Amanda, yes I’d like to drop the 2am session. But I’m worried about clogged ducts if I don’t pump for that long (10pm to 6am). Also, if I drop the 2am schedule can you recommend the schedule of the rest of my pumping sessions? Much thanks:)
So if you’re at:
2am, 6am, 10am, 1pm, 4pm, 7pm and 10pm
I would slowly push the 2am back to 6am. I think 8 hours at 3mpp should be okay. Are you prone to clogged ducts? If so and you’re not already doing it, I would consider lecithin. If you think that’s too long, you could wake up an hour early and do your first session at 5am. Or go to bed an hour later and pump at 11pm? Or both? You could do that temporarily or however long you think it’s necessary.
I think your current schedule without the 2am pump will be good! Hope that helps!
Hi Amanda, currently for each of my pumping session, I pump for 30 minutes. If I were to drop the 2 am schedule (pushing 30 minutes or maybe an hour back each day until I get close to 6 am), will I need to pump for longer time for the rest of the sessions? Much thanks 🙂
My baby is almost 5 months old and currently I pump 5x a day: 7:30 am, 12:30 am, 6pm, 9:30p and 2:30 am. I would like to drop my 2:30 am pump session. I get clogged duct easily, so I use vibrating massager to help. I bought lecithin, but I just could not take it as it is so big and has really bad smell to it. Can I try spacing out 30 mins at time for night time session without using lecithin? Any other tips to avoid clogged duct?
Thanks
Yes you can try that!
Maybe this would be a better option for you since it’s liquid?
https://lactationmassager.com/products/duct-flow-lactation-support
Hi! My baby is 8 months old and I have exclusively pumped since he was 4 months. My pumping session looks like this… 2am, 7am, 11am, 2pm, 5pm, 830pm… I’d like to remove the 2am and will do this by using your slow method and push it 1/2 hr each night. Should I also be slowly cutting the time of that session as I’m pushing it into the 7am session? 15 min to 10 min to 5min, etc…
Also, is 830pm-7am too long in between sessions?
Hi Ashley! I don’t think you need to reduce the time, I would just add all or most the time to the morning sessions when you combine it!
It might be better to move it back to 9:30 or 10 if you can, but if not and if you’re comfortable, it should be okay. Lots of nursing babies sleep for 10.5 hours at a time at 8 months. Good luck!
Honestly I was just trying to skip the 3am feed altogether and I literally did just that and ended up with Mastitis:-(
OK got it! Instead of doing that, I would slowly push it back by 30 minutes at a time to train your body to go longer. 🙂
So my pump sch is 6am, 9am, 12pm, 3pm,6pm,9pm, 12am, 3am. My son is 1 month and a week and I have sooo much milk I bought a deep freezer. I currently have mastitis because I was trying to get rid of my 3am feed due to baby sleeping thru the night. Any tips? Thank you in advance
Hi Jasmine! How were you trying to drop the session – what method were you using? Sorry about the mastitis!
I have a 7 week old and she’s been sleeping through the night so I basically dropped my MOD pumping session by accident because I stopped waking up to my alarm haha.
My period came back but so far, I haven’t noticed a decrease in my supply. I have been trying to increase it though because I struggled with low supply in the beginning but so far, I only see my output going up due to the herbal supplement I’m taking. I still pump 6x a day though plus breastfeed here and there so should I continue doing this or should I try and pump MOD still since I’m still trying to increase supply?
I think you should continue doing this! The sleep is priceless and maybe being well-rested helps? You never really know. I would keep doing what you’re doing, but obviously it’s up to you!
My baby is 4 weeks old and I pump about 6 to 7 times a day. I’m making plenty of milk and wanted to know if you thought I could drop a session?
I think you could do 6 but probably wouldn’t go lower than that until ~8 weeks unless you are really struggling. The worry is that your milk supply hasn’t regulated yet. more info here:
https://exclusivepumping.com/when-is-milk-supply-established/
Hope that helps!
I have bee. Exclusively pumping since about 5 weeks and I have a 4mo old now. I pump 5x a day and make more milk than she needs now. I’m cold turkeying my middle of the night pump (for about 3 days) but I’m wondering how long it will be until I’m not waking up with overflowing breasts. They do get painful in the middle of the night and affect my sleep.
Hi Kae, I would guess it would take a few more days to a week or so? Good luck!
I’m thinking about dropping my 4am morning session, little one is almost 6 months old. My pump schedule is currently 4am 9am 2pm 7pm 10:30pm.
In order to drop my 4am and have my first pump at 6am it will look something like this
6am 12pm 6pm 10pm…is 8 hours between 10pm and 6am too long? I am prone to clogged ducts so I will look into lecithin.
I don’t think that’s too long – good luck!!! 🙂
Your information has been a Godsend to me! My little one is just a week old and my current schedule for pumping is 6am-9am-12pm-3pm-6pm-9pm-12am-3am. It seems like a lot but I just started pumping at all of his feeding times to get started. I would like to try 6am-10am-2pm-6pm-10pm-2am. I do have a good milk supply so is it too soon to start cutting these times?
Hi Amber! Congrats on your one week old!!! I think 7 sessions would be okay but would wait until 6-8 weeks before going down to six, just because you want your supply to regulate first. More info:
https://exclusivepumping.com/when-is-milk-supply-established/
Appreciate all the information. My current schedule is five pumps per day 9 AM, 1 PM, 6:30 PM, 10:30 PM, 3 AM. Looking to drop the 3 AM session, but really can’t move up the 9 AM due to baby’s schedule and work. I know that is a long time between 11pm and 9am and I get engorged and clogged pretty easily. Based on your information, I am thinking I would want to decrease volume slowly versus shortening the time? Or should I gradually push out the 3 AM session? Also considering trying some lecithin. Any other thoughts to try and accomplish this goal of more sleep!?
I think I would push out the 3AM session. Lecithin is a great idea! 🙂
How old should my baby be before I drop this middle of the night session. She is almost 3 months and sleeping 9 hours at night.
There’s no real rule, but I think 3 months is fine unless you’re trying to increase your supply.