First time mum and expressing- pump for 15 mins or until milk stops flowing??

[Yelloyello]

First time mum and I’m trying to express some milk so my partner can help with feeds but also have some work dates coming up where I would need to be away from my baby for a day so need a supply for that.

Conflicting advice online and I’m not sure what to do. I’m trying to express at different times of the day, morning seems good as I get a lot. But should I do it for 15 mins at first? Or until milk stops flowing? Inthe morning it’s always still flowing at 15 mins. In the evening it’s not so I stop at 15.

My baby is also quite fussy at night, not always though and I know babies are often just fussy at night. But he really pulls at my nipple and tries to come on and off constantly. He seems frustrated with the flow. Will pumping at night help to increase supply in a few days time? Would Brest compressions help? I’ve tried to do some but they seem pretty ineffective, when I hand express I have to squeeze quite hard but I can’t do that while he’s feeding or his latch is affected!

Please help!

Also, how long after feeding should I express? Straight away or after 30 mins or an hour?

I used to pump in the night to get supply up would pump for 2-3 mins before baby woke up then feed! Also pumped first thing in the morning and save that for night time feed which helped her sleep through, any pumping will make you produce more milk so doesn't really matter when you do it as long as you already have a good supply x

Thank you HJWT
Good to know. I think the supply is good?! He has loads of wet and dirty nappies. Need to take him to be weighed again but I’m pretty sure he feels heavier than the last time we took him.
It’s all quite difficult when it’s your first baby!

From what I understand, to keep your supply up you want to keep pumping for a couple of minutes after the milk stops flowing, so that your breasts know to make more. So I think you could maybe pump longer at the session in the morning, and maybe shorter at the one in the evening. Expressing straight after feeding would get you less milk but would be more effective in boosting your supply over a few days, so depends whether your aim is to get quantity as quickly as possible or whether to increase future supply. You could do this for the night feeds?

For the breast compressions, I would check your technique - it is similar to what you would do for hand-expressing, but further back so you don't affect the latch. Even when hand-expressing you should still be a fair bit back from the nipple, as it will be a lot more difficult to get milk out otherwise. If it's affecting the latch, your fingers are probably too far forward?

Best of luck OP 😊