question re: maintaining supply while away

[buliej]

DS is down to 1 BF in the morning (waking feed). I have no idea how much he is getting, but he seems to be happy with it (and I love this morning time with him even if it's just a couple of minutes) and I've manually tested and there's definitely some there. I'm going away for work without DS and will be gone 6 nights (don't ask me how I feel about this - it is what it is and I'm trying to make the best of it). I would like to maintain my supply - to the extent necessary to resume these morning feeds when I return. Here are my options:
1 - do nothing and hope for the best - ha
2 - hand express in the shower (I am not saving/storing the milk - just dumping it down the drain)
3 - use a manually pump which I tried in the past and found that my hand did a better job
4 - pack my bulking electric pump - which is fantastic - and pump and dump every morning
5 - make a conscious decision that this will be weaning and we are done with BF'ing - however, I realized that I'm not ready to make this decision

Advice/suggestions/feedback please - greatly appreciated.

[peanutter]

If you and your DS enjoy feeding still, I'd take my electric and pump and dump

If I could keep it going longer, I'd want to give him the option to continue when I got back home

[[M]umma[M]ia]

Is there anyway to store it while your away and take it home for him? Pouring BM down the sink makes me so sad

But ide take the big bulky electric one to maintain your supply as he is under 12 months and would be benifiting greatly from that morning nurse, im sure

[buliej]

Thanks ladies - you've basically confirmed what I already knew/decided.

I've dumped so much BM that a bit more doesn't depress me any more (DS refused a bottle for 8 months so every time I tried to express (which was regularly during those 8 months as I worked on getting him to take EBM) he refused). Also, I'm flying internationally and don't feel like dealing with cold storing or quarantine. I know it's wasteful, but my goal is to maintain supply and not to come home with some EBM that he probably wouldn't take anyway.

[buliej]

PS - do you think that the electric pump will maintain my supply?

[Now we're 3]

I'm not expert but would suggest that you try using the electric pump more than once a day to help maintain your supply when you are away. You might just need to try popping your DS on more than once a day when you come back and then I would think you're supply would be okay. You are only away for 6 days and we've all gone through periods where they've refused feeds without supply drying up.

Best of luck. Xx

[peanutter]

hopefully. certainly will be better than not! I would express more often than you feed though, to increase stimulation etc.

I worked full time from when DS was 9 weeks old, and expressed frequently and kept that up for months