I was an exclusive pumper because my DD (now 2) wouldn't latch on.  I had at one time expressed enough milk and froze it that I had to start rotating it out of the freezer.  When I was ready to quit at 1 yr, I just slowly decreased my time.  At first I continued to express the same amount, then it gradually decreased.  It'll be harder for you because you're only expressing once a day, just continue to decrease your time even a week at a time, until you're basically getting nothing.  You've already decreased it to 8 oz, so it will get there, also try to increase your time between her first feeding.

It might help to combine your milk with either some whole milk or a little formula in a sippy so she doesn't taste BM exclusively.

Bless you for donating your excess supply.

Good Luck.

Welcome Amy and Sydney!!! I love her name and her birthdate! (my eldest is a May 17th baby)

Oversupply is very tough to overcome.  I had to keep pumping past the time I wanted to with my Olivia for my own comfort.

That is quite a lot in the morning, but I'm not surprised that the morning is the most productive and toughest to get rid of.  Is she nursing in the middle of the night still or just before bed and then that one side in the morning?

I think you should try to get her to nursing on both sides, just drinking less on each side.  Remember that emptying your breasts is a supply stimulator.  So I know it is SLOW-going, but just pump until you are more comfortable, but not empty.  If you are pumping 8 oz now, I would decrease by 1-2 oz in output every week or so (or every 3-4 days depending on your comfort level).  If you need to release pressure, massage and manually express at lunch time or something just to take the edge off at work.  Try some ibuprofen in the interim too.

Here is a link that I have offered out before...it is for weaning or extreme oversupply: http://www.kellymom.com/herbal/milksupply/herbs-oversupply.html

Just be careful since you still want to keep up your nursing supply.

Good luck and please let us know how it goes!

Caryn

Nursed Nia for 12 mos, W&P'd for Olivia until 13-14 mos and nursed Afram until 3 years after W&Ping for 16-17 mos.

Thanks so much for your responses. I've been kind of at a loss for who to ask about this because I don't want to rub my oversupply in anyone's face.

I think I may not have been clear, but I'm not trying to wean my baby. I just want to stop the morning pumping.  There was actually a time that I was pumping in the evening as well, after sydney went to bed. I actually started this at a time that my supply dropped and sydney was fussing nonstop. she has never been very patient for a letdown and won't nurse once the flow slows down, so I added that session to keep my supply a little higher for her last feeding before bed. Each time i dropped that session (roughly 4-5 oz in 20 min), my supply took a huge hit during the day and my baby fussed nonstop and woke several time sat night to nurse. Utimately, it took about 5-6 weeks to slowly drop that session without it affecting her daytime nursing or leading to increased night time feedings. I finally dropped that session about 5-6 weeks ago I'd say.

I still haven't returned to work, so this is our schedule.

4-5am nurse (most days)-- on one side only

7am nurse --on the other side

8am breakfast

9:30am nurse (sometime a lot, sometimes only a little depending on whether she ate her breakfast or not), then I PUMP. she pretty much only nurses on the side that is more full. i'm trying to only pump 2 oz from this side when she is done, but it is still flowing, and still feels full afterwards. I'm pumping for 8 minutes on the other side, which still is flowing and feels full afterwards as well.

12 nurse--usually both sides, but now sometimes only one side since i'm still pretty full from not emptying out when i pump in the am

1p lunch

3p nurse both sides

5p nurse sometimes one side, sometimes both. depends on her mood.

5:30 dinner

7:30 nurse and bed

so, i don't think postponing the pumping would really help here because she would need to nurse soon afterwards, and i don't want that to increase my supply.  does that make sense?  And i don't want to take anything that will dry up my supply for the rest of the day. also, i'm afraid that tapering down the volume too fast might iompact my supply the rest of the day. already, last night she nursed on both sides before bed and kept switching back and forth like she was still hungry. this is what used to happen when i tried to drop that evening pumping session. my breasts actually felt completely empty too, and they haven't felt like that after her evening nursing session in a long time. i'm just worried that I won't have enough milk for her for her bedtime feeding.

Thanks again for all of your help.

How long does she usually nurse for?  Do you think she usually does a good job emptying you?

If you could get rid of the morning (9:30) pumping, would you be willing to go back to pumping after her bedtime?

the amount of time she nurses for varies depending on the time of day. I'd say an average of about 10 minutes probably. longer before bed though.

I'd say that before i started cutting down on the morning pump session, she always emptied me well, except perhaps at the 5pm feeding. I would actually use compression during the feedings to help empty out fully since she'd get fussy when the flow slowed down. Since i've been decreasing my morning pump, I never feel like she is emptying me, except for her bedtime feeding. She is still emptying me very well before she goes to sleep. The 5pm feeding is usually less than the others. her first morning feeding (7am) is the largest. sometimes the 4am one is as well. I'd say she probably gets 5oz or possibly more then. I don't feel empty after it, but I go from firmly engorged to much much softer and smaller.

even when she took bottles, she never took more than 4 or 4 1/2 oz in a feeding.

as far as pumping in the evening, i'd really like to stop all together. We're travelling the first week of june, and i'd like to go without the pump. I guess i'd be willing so start back up for a bit if you think it could help me get rid of the morning session, but I'm not sure how that would work. I used to pump about 1 1/2 to 2 hours after putting her to sleep. I did notice that my morning pump increased a little when i dropped that evening pump, but I don't think it was significant. I'm curious to hear what you have in mind.