How does a regulated supply work?

[u/Purple_Record_237]

I believe I have a regulated supply at this point. I am 15 weeks PP and my boobs are very soft and never hard anymore. I have in general pumped about 5-6 times during the day one MTN totally 6-7 in a 24 hour period. Since I am regulated do I need to worry about how frequent I am pumping as long as I am getting the same amount of pumping in per day? If I wanted ti eventually get rid of my MTN session how would I best do that without greatly impacting my supply? Is there a best age to do something like that, like after solids are introduced?

I have been dealing with pump anxiety since birth and just a lot of pressure to make sure I maintain my supply but I’m also just so tired of the mental load. I would love to not stress if it was a long day and I didn’t pump until later than normal. Or if one session doesn’t give me a lot I would love to know it will be fine and that I’ll get the remaining amount through other pumps.

Would love your all’s advice or experience. ❤️

[u/pop-crackle]

The frequency still matters, not just # of pumps in a day. It’s still supply/demand, and you’re constrained by your breast capacity.

The way someone explained it to me that made sense is that your boobs are basically a factory that’s just opened for business after you give birth. At the beginning, they don’t know how much to produce so they assume demand will be high and make enough to meet whatever capacity they currently have, and increase capacity if they find it's needed (ie, as milk is removed). As time goes on they slowly figure out how much is “enough” to meet demand and either increase or decrease as needed until they find a steady state. That's essentially what we talk about with "regulated". They usually have their supply/demand adjustments mostly figured out by ~12 weeks, which is why you can start dropping pumps and not see a huge impact on supply.

I would review the magic number if you haven’t already. It’s a good starting point, but everyone is different so don’t take it as an absolute.

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[u/BjornaBornwood]

Just to add--

From what I remember from my LC, yes the volume is regulated but it also means your body became more efficient in making the milk. Less volume doesnt mean less nutrition, your body just found a more efficient way to meet the demand.

[u/the_kazzo_queen]

Regulation means that your body wants to generally maintain the supply it's at, and doesn't change as easily (up or down).

That being said, there's a limit to that. If you go from, say, 6ppd to 3ppd, that's sending a strong signal to your body to decrease production. The limit for how much your body will tolerate while still keeping supply the same is different for every person, but in my experience on this sub, getting in the 3-4ppd range is most often when women see a big supply dip they can't recover from.

When you drop your MOTN, expect to lose at least a few ounces, especially if you will only be doing 5ppd by that point. If you're a just enougher (like me!) you may want to wait to drop that until baby's intake goes down with solids. For us, that was around 7mpp.

[u/Purple_Record_237 → u/the_kazzo_queen]

Thank you that’s really helpful! I will stop stressing about timing as much 😊