Pumping 101
Hi, so I've hit the 6 weeks mark yesterday which I heard is when the milk supply stabilizes and it's ok to start pumping. Please help me understand the milk supply though.
Does it mean that from now on my breasts produce roughly the same amount of milk over each 24h period?
My baby sleeps a lot and irregularly. Some nights (I guess during growth spurts) I need to feed her every hour or two but most of the time she's okay with 3 hour break between feeds if she drinks from both boobs or a bit less if just from one at the time. Sometimes she gives me 4 hours at night or in the early morning.
I'm on maternity leave and my partner works a shift pattern of 4 days on 4 days off (due to Covid and his workplace splitting the staff into two teams) and my main reason to pump would be letting my partner feed the little one at night sometimes during his 4 days off period so I can recharge better or being able to go out shopping or having some kind of 'me time' for longer than 3 hours.
The thing I don't understand is - don't boobs get uncomfortably full if I go 6-7hours without emptying them at night? Will it not decrease my milk supply?
Also, what's the best time to pump and how much should I pump for a 6 week old baby? As I haven't pumped before I have no idea how much she gets out of me.
So far I haven't had any milk supply issues and I don't want to cause any by doing something wrong with pumping.
I know babies are better than pumps at getting the milk out - is it then best to keep pumping to minimum, like only the nights when I really feel super exhausted and would benefit from longer sleep?
Also, I saw women having huge stashes of frozen milk... but isn't the body regulating the contents of the milk according to the developmental stage of the baby/ time of day, etc.? How long after pumping should the milk be used?
Sorry there's a lot of questions in this post and it's not the most structured but the whole pumping concept confuses me and this is my baby brain spitting out the thoughts 😅
Thank you x
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Woah there momma! Lol, let's take a breath, this is going to be awhile. Forgive me if I don't answer all your questions. I will try to cover everything the best I can.
I first want to say congratulations and that you are doing an amazing job!
I appreciate you asking all of this! 🙏🏽 I have similar questions.
All these questions just overwhelmed me as well. Now you have me questioning the whole pumping and breastfeeding lol. I have questions of my own on pumping and breastfeeding. I feel like it’ll eventually work itself out tho. I’m not going to stress myself over it, it’s too much and there’s too much to it.
I can answer at least one question for you tho. Yes! Boobs get uncomfortable and start to hurt once they get too full to the point where you will need to feed baby or pump.
https://karolinaochoa.com/best-bottle-for-a-breastfed-baby/
https://karolinaochoa.com/flange-size-matters/
https://youtu.be/OGPm5SpLxXY
This post needs to be pinned. Great job Kimberly!!!!
KIMMMMMMMMM!!! 🙌🏾💥🤯🙏🏾💗💗💗🤗💪🏾👏🏾
Thanks for posting all this and pinning it!! I just hit 6 weeks too on Sunday and have had a lot of these same questions. I've been afraid to start pumping, and since I'll mostly be teleworking, I'm procrastinating to start. One thing i'm not sure about still, and everything seems to hinge on this, if i'm breastfeeding baby on demand, which is all over the place, how do I know baby's schedule and when i'm missing a feed that I'd need to pump? Sometimes my little guy wants another feed 25m after the last feed, sometimes an hour, sometimes 2.5 hrs, and occasionally at night 4 hours. It's really all over the place and I don't know what missing a feed really means. I assumed it meant when I anticipate baby will probably want to eat, but I turn that feeding duty over to my husband with a bottle of pumped milk instead.
Oh and everyone, the 6 week mark is the most common time for moms to start thinking their supply is low because they don't feel full anymore. As you can see, that is not the case, you don't want to feel full.
You want to feel empty because you want baby to get milk made on demand, your baby is the customer and you are the chef, your nipples are the waiter.
This is the visual you want
-Baby sits down to eat, waiter takes the order and gives it to the chef, the chef makes the food, the waiter gives it to the baby exactly how they like it.
This is not the visual you want
-baby enters restaurant and sits down only to find it's a buffet of all you can eat. Baby gets food that's been sitting out for awhile under heat lamps all dried out and soggy. Loses its nutrition from sitting out for so long. (Oversupply)
Feeling full is bad!
Thanks Kimberly, this is all v information! So many similar questions Aleksandra, hope you're having success!
So, just to clarify, although my milk supply may be better in the morning, if I want my husband to give baby the 10pm dream feed, I should pump as close to that time, maybe 9-9.30pm to allow a little longer sleep? Also, I only have a single electric pump, should I be pumping both breasts at this time? Thanks Chloe
This is such helpful info! I have a few questions. If I’m feeding my baby and put the haaka on the other side, is that consider pumping? I think this is how I may have overproduced at beginning? Also if I’m home all day with babe is there a reason to pump other than if I feel too full and need to pump a few ounces for relief? Also I’ve mostly just used a hand pump since I’m not really pumping since I’m home all day with her. Is this ok? Is there a reason I should be pumping?
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