When Is It a Good Time to Start Pumping While Breastfeeding

K. -

The current recommendation is to introduce the bottle between 3-4 weeks, and then at least once every 2-3 days so your baby will continue to take the bottle. When you are deciding on the type of bottle - find one with a very soft nipple, and wide mouth. Get a lot of the nipple in her mouth, lips flanged out, jaws wide open... Just like at the breast. The Playtex with the Drop-In are a PERFECT choice, or the Dr. Brown's wide mouth is good too. Avent is OK, but not my first choice.

You can pump to store milk a few different ways. Pumping in the morning will likely give you the best results because your Prolactin (hormone that makes milk) Level are higher in the early A.M. You can pump right after your baby nursed, or you can pick a time in the moring between her feeding and pump then. The first few times you do it, you'll not get that much, but if you keep it up everyday your body says, "Hmm, we need to feed this baby one more time, let's make more milk."

Now to pump for an immediate feeding, that's just what you'll do. When it's time for baby to eat (or maybe 15 minutes before) pump both sides for about 15 or so minutes and let your hubby give baby the milk.

If you have more questions feel free to call!
J. Bailey, CD, CBC
www.everymotherandchild.com

I've heard it's best not to give a bottle until about 4 weeks so you can make sure the baby has a good latch. That's what I did. My baby was stubborn about taking the bottle, but we gave her one every day to get her used to it.

It's usually best if someone else can give her the bottle. She might not take it from you. Just be consistent and persistent. Try different brands and types of bottles if you have to.

I pumped when I was done feeding, or if I just felt really full. Did this with both of my kiddos and went back to work when both were 6 weeks. Just pump until you are empty. If she is latching well and you are not having any problems nursing, then it is not too soon to start introducing the bottle. We did not do any sort of regular routine because I did not want them to get used to it being just one specific way. I wanted my kiddos to be able to nurse OR take a bottle any where and any time. I would have my husband give bottles if I was trying to cook and they needed a little to hold them over, or if I am doing something with the older one...etc. I usually tried not to have them eat an entire feeding from the bottle just to continue to have a good supply, but if I did miss a whole feeding, then I would pump. Really, you should play it by ear and adjust accordingly. Most babies do not have too many problems if mom is relaxed and natural about the whole thing. When we become tense, the baby does as well. Good luck and enjoy your time at home with the baby.

You should pump after she nurses. This will trick your breasts into thinking that the need is greater so the production will increase. I was lucky...at 3 weeks my daughter started sleeping 7 hours a night. The only bad part (which was actually great for storing) was that my breast filled up at night. So even though she slept, I got up to pump. I saved up a huge amount of milk over the course of 7 months. The other thing we did at night was to give her about 1/4 ounce of formula in a bottle right after her last feeding. It is such a tiny amount. I think it probably filled her tummy a bit more, (which is probably why she slept longer through the night), it got her used to the bottle, and it gave her the taste of formula so that when she eventually was switched to formula it wouldn't be such a shock. Good luck

I suggest you start pumping right away. Start by pumping after each feeding and between feedings if your daughter takes more than two hours between feedings. The best way to increase your milk supply is to drain your breasts MORE frequently. Even if they feel empty, try pumping or nursing. The more often you let down, the more milk you'll make. Wait for a couple more weeks before introducing a bottle so she's got your milk supply going well.

K.,

My daughter is 4 months and I started back to work when she was almost 2 months. We started the process about a month before I went back to work and I would pump a little bit from one breast and store it. In order for her to take a bottle I had to leave the house and have my husband give it to her. She took it fine. We also only put a few ounces in the bottle so that we knew she would eat it and not waste any milk. Since I have gone back to work I pump twice a day with a double pump and have enough plus a little extra for her growth spurts and to store the extra in the freezer incase of a decrease in supply. We also use the milk I pump on Monday for Tuesday's feeding and so on. These seems to work for us.

I would recommend starting now - try pumping just a little bit off before you feed her and then pump after you are done feeding your baby. That's what I did, and although you get just a little bit at the beginning, it really does start to add up. I didn't want to be attached to the pump all day long, so I opted to NOT pump in-between feedings. I just came back to work last week and alhtough I don't have a huge supply, I certainly have enough for emergencies. I am pumping at work and bring home enough to feed my baby and put some in the freezer. I would highly recommend starting the bottles at least once a day as soon as you can - if your baby is feeding really well. I had my husband feed her once a day from the bottle and I would leave the room. It's hard b/c they will cry a bit, but they must learn to eat from the bottle. Unfortunatelly we didn't practice this enough in the weeks before my return to work and the first few days was really hard for her with the bottle - I even had to switch from the Breastflow to the Dr. Browns bottles. She has been eating from the bottle during the day now for almost 10 days and it is going much better.

It is not unrealistic at all by the way, we started a bottle once day at 9 days old and the only time she would not eat from me was one day when I had eaten Thai food the day before - I ended up feeding her from a bottle and having to pump and dump.

Good luck - you will do fine!

HI! I was told by the lactation consultant when I asked this same question, to start pumping and introducing a bottle between 3 and 4 weeks. Best time to pump is after the morning feedings (your body naturally produces more milk in the a.m.'s), about 30 min later. I also had my husband give the bottles so the baby wouldn't confuse me with bottle vs. breast. My son in now 7 mo's old, I went back to work after 6 wks and am still breast/bottlefeeding exclusively breastmilk. You can do it!!

I started pumping as soon as my milk came in to relieve engorgement, but my little girl kept up with me.
I'm a big fan of pumping because I have a FANTASTIC pump.
I only pump 2x/day and nurse once or twice at night or during the day to bond with the baby and help her to calm down/fall asleep. She's 8 weeks and I'm pumping 40 ounces a day - 20 each time. That's a lot, but i don't ever have discomfort when pumping. I use the Medela Syphony with the 2.0 memory card.
I HIGHLY recommend it if you're up for renting a hospital grade pump.. it's fantastic!!!
Using it, I was able to pump for a year after my son was born (he weaned himself at 3 months from the breast)till I got pregnant again.
It's a GREAT pump.
Anytime you're ready is good.
You can contact Banner Desert Lactation Center and speak with a lactation consultant if you're still not sure.
They rent the pumps there as well - it is about $50/month for the top of the line one. Beats the price of formula.
Congrats on your little one.
Best of luck
S

definitely pump now, whenever you can. what worked best for me was after a feeding, usually about 1 hour. store as much as you can. my milk supply is dwindling and i swear it's because i pump at work and don't nurse as much. i've had to supplement with formula for about a month now and i hate it! formula is expensive and smelly. pump and store!!

Hi K., i read your first response. I didn't feed on demand. I do more of a schedule going approximately every 3 hours during the day starting between 6 - 7. My daughter was going 10 hours between feedings at about 8 or 9 weeks. I like this because then I get to sleep at night which makes going back to work easier. I also think it's good for being able to give daycare a schedule. Of course if she's hungry and needs an extra feeding (growth spurt or something) I will feed her before the 3 hours is up.
As for pumping, I find pumping right after the first feeding to be the best for me. Since I've gone all night, my daughter doesn't drain me. With my first daughter I had a ton of milk stored up doing it this way. I will say that my second daughter took a bottle alot better than my first. It was easier when my husband or someone else gave the bottle but it was alot of work with my first. I would start giving a bottle soon and then give one often so she gets used to it and so that you are both comfortable with it before you go to work.
Hope this helps!

Hi K., I had a baby who is now 8months. I have been breastfeeding and pumping since day one. Right now your boobs are producing sooo much milk. My advice is pump all the time. I look back now and wish that i had been pumping when i had soo much milk. I had so much that i could have fed 3 kids. (hahaha) I had to work with a lactation specialist to Down supply my milk. I just wish i had stored more. I pumped after i fed my baby, while he was sleeping and before bed, before he woke up. Anytime that you can really. The only catch is that the more you pump the more you will produce. Just this week i had to start supplementing with formula because i ran out of stored milk. He will be 9 months in a week so i think i did pretty good. But we are going to have another and i am going to pump, pump pump. Good luck. Also, i gave my baby a bottle at 4 weeks to get ready when i went back at 6 weeks. I pump and breastfeed my baby still. I only work 2 days a week.

Hi!
This is all so confusing sometimes, isn't it!? I'm still figuring everything out myself. But, I have way better luck pumping if I pump immediately after my first morning feeding, especially if he's slept well the night before and I'm especially full. I know it's good to wait a little while to start a bottle to avoid nipple confussion, but if I were you I'd start right now and do it once a day, if she's already three weeks old. I have always had SOOOO much trouble getting my baby to take a bottle. I've been so thankful that I'm staying home because I can kind of work my schedule around his feedings but it still gets frustrating not being able to get too far from home without him so I wished I would've worked on the bottle thing a little harder earlier on.

As a mom of 3 and the 4th on the way, I really didn't get the hang of this until my second but....I fed my babies on demand and when they started sleeping 4-6 hours through the night and feeding every 2-4 hours through the day within the first few weeks, I found my breasts quite a bit larger in the AM. I would usually do the first AM feeding between 6-8 AM and this was sometimes tough for my babies as they would choke if the stream was too fast/too much so to help them and start storing up I would pump right after that first AM feeding. I had more than enough stored up when I finally did go back to work when the baby was 4 months old.

Best wishes.

I had a hard time getting started with nursing, so my daughter actually started to take a bottle at about 1 week. I pumped after we nursed and then my husband gave that to her in a bottle. Once she got comfortable with nursing, I pumped after nursing a couple times a day to store up milk for when I went back to work. At work I pumped twice per day for 15 minutes until she was 6 months old and then I went down to pumping once per day. That almost gave me enough milk so that she didn't need any formula. The key is to have a great breast pump! I was very lucky, we never had any issues with her not wanting a bottle or vice versa. She was willing to take whatever had milk in it!

K.,

There is a yahoo group called PumpMoms that I'd highly recommend that you join.

:-)T.