How to begin pumping when bf on demand.

[Pollywoddles]

Hi all,

My baby is 12 weeks old and is bf on demand. We’ve had no issues, she’s gone from 9th centile at birth to 55th and I appear to have a decent supply. I want to begin pumping to slowly get her used to taking a bottle before I go back to work in 3 months and to build a freezer supply.

However I’m just finding it hard to get my head around how to work it into my day. What I’ve read says to do it an hour after I’ve fed her but sometimes she’ll want to feed again after 90 minutes. How do I manage it when she’s cluster feeding? How long do I pump for? How much should I expect to get? Regarding sterilisation, I’ve read to boil everything before first use except the silicone components which can be washed with hot soapy water and then everything can be washed after use with hot soapy water before next use (Spectra pump). Is this correct or do I need to be sterilising everything after every use? Do you pump at night too? How much expressed milk do you even give to a baby?

How do you do it? I feel like I’m probably overthinking it but I’ve had the pump for 3 weeks now sitting in it’s box and I just can’t find the headspace to deal with it, I already feel like the day goes so quickly. Thanks in advance.

You don't need a stash to return to work. You pump at work when you are missing feeds and that feeds baby the following day. You may want to have a couple of bags in for emergencies but you can probably do that the week leading up to it? Remember the more you pump now, the more your body will make and you could end up with oversupply.

When you do get to that point you might want to look into a steriliser (plug in or microwave). Run everything through there once a day and during the day wash what you can in hot soapy water and store in a clean box or sandwich bag. Baby probably has around 3-5oz per feeding as an estimate but it's all very variable. You might find they don't take a bottle at all. If it's past 6 months you can always go straight to a cup.

Maybe try a lazy day / morning at home and just do a 15 minute pump session when baby goes down for a nap. No need for a major amount of milk. Some women can pump loads, some hardly get any.

You should get to know baby's feeding routine a bit - mine would cluster from 5pm so evening pumps would be pointless - but I'd manage a couple in the morning no worries. I'd often be overfull in the morning - she'd have one side and be perfectly happy so I'd pump the other one immediately.

You can keep a bag and top it up with lots of smaller pumps to make up a full feed.

No need to sterilise between uses as breast milk is magic and actually has anti-bacterial properties - just hot soapy water but for reassurance I did what pp suggested and sterilised (cheap microwave one) once a day.

Have a look at the KellyMom website. It's US based but has brilliant information on bf and pumping. I never waited an hour after a feed. I pumped straight aftwards and then passed all the pump parts to DH to wash up / sterilise. I think there is a way that if you keep certain parts in the back of the fridge between pumps, you don't have to wash between pumps? But i didn't do this so am not sure on the details.

Milk production is highest between 2am - 4am so if baby is feeding then, i always did a pump after they went to sleep to maximise amount gathered.

As milk works on a supply and demand basis, pumping can increase supply, which then supports more pumping so can be win-win (i had low supply and a baby in NICU / SCBU so was pumping 6 times a day for several months).

You don't need to pump more than 15-20mins on each side.

Be prepared that pumping bears no relation to how much milk your baby gets. Some women bf for years but get very little from a pump. Others will get a good supply. I never got more than 30ml in one pumping session, so if i needed to pump to leave with DH for an appt (for example), it would take me several pumping sessions to build up enough for one feed.

You could also get a Hakaa pump, which is about £10 and uses suction on the breast opposite to the one that the baby is feeding from. It catches the let down and saves you pumping afterwards.

I always just put the pump on the opposite boob to baby when feeding.

OP, how did you get on/ anyone else reading this...

I have been EBF my now 4 month old however plan to return to work in 8 weeks so want to practise pumping; WELL I have worn the pump 3 times now following advice from threads and other info and I have only once managed to get even a teets full🤪 is this normal as my boobs aren't used to a pump after 4 months? Im SO anxious.. I don't want return to work to finish my feeding journey.

Any advice gladly received; I have an electric pump that goes in bra. Baby feeds at midnight and 3am.. do I want to go for a 1am pump?

You can do one side whilst feeding or just decide a time you're going to express, sometimes I express and then baby wants a feed, I know there will still be some there for her being produced even during the feed. It's not so much about the building a stash but getting her used to taking a bottle once a day now of your milk will save your life later on as it can be really hard to introduce later.

@Redsharks I decided to take another 6 months off and she refused a bottle anyway so still no further along. I figure she’ll be drinking out of a cup by the time I go back anyway.

I did get a good pump though (Spectra Dual S) and had no issues pumping between feeds and getting a decent amount so I would hope I’ll still be able to do the same in a few months time.

Could you rent another pump in case that’s the issue? Hope you get some answers and best of luck with the return to work.