Pumping. Is it necessary

[justamum98]

Hi.

Im pregnant with my second baby ( first time around i couldn’t breastfeed. Long story short the baby wouldn’t latch plus I was in so much pain expressing i couldn’t continue). But this time I want to get it right.

so my question is, if I will be doing all feeds and if all goes well and I breastfeed, do I need to express inbetween? Or is simply breastfeeding every 2 hours enough to keep my milk supply?

No, you don't need to express if breastfeeding is going well. Your body will regulate to what your baby needs, and if they need more your body will produce it.

Yes just feeding will be plenty enough to keep the flow going.

With my first, I pumped as well and found I had an excess of milk and had to keep pumping to be comfortable.

The second time I decided not to pump and it was so nice not having to do all the faffing and sterilising! My boobs were much more comfortable this way too.

Not at all. I've BFed 2 children for nearly 4 years in total and never needed to.

Babies have been fed for millennia without pumps remember!

You can absolutely do it just breastfeeding. I only really pumped for milk if I was going to miss a feed because I was going out without them.

Milk production is an amazing thing. Your body will produce milk for the times baby feeds and it remembers your babies own schedule. When I first went back to work my breasts were sore and full at lunchtime so I was pumping then, but it was frustrating and long so I stopped fairly quickly. After a couple of days without pumping at work my breasts were no longer full at lunch- it was amazing- I'd go a full work day and commute and only start to feel uncomfortable on the journey home. My baby would feed as soon as I got in and they knew. Just the baby feeding will create some milk even on empty.

I never used to time my feeds when I was home though. Just let baby feed whenever they showed interest.

For me there was pain for the first month of breastfeeding, really bad around week 2 or 3, and then it went and never came back, not even any pain with subsequent children either. It's a lot to push through at the time and made me cry a lot but it really does end.

I never really bothered with pumping, my babies refused bottles anyway and I could never get much from pumping so it seemed a waste of time. It was useful to have a hand pump for if I became engorged (maybe from baby having a growth spurt) I could just pump a bit off to make it easier to feed.

Everybody is different but I didn't need to pump at all. Once your supply comes in, it self adjusts. So by the end, you might only be feeding twice a day with a 1 year old but that supply keeps going. It doesn't dry up unless you choose to drop those feeds for several days. The main thing is just to be consistent I found. But it's not perfect for everyone so it's a see how you go thing. You'll probably need different advice in different weeks so Mumsnet or a nursing group to answer your questions as things change should help. Good luck with it.

I breastfed both of mine for 12 months each. I never expressed and had gallons of milk.

No need to pump at all. I only did it so I didn’t have to get my boobs out in public.

Agree with all the above. Pumping isn't a necessity. However, I've had to pump a couple of time in the night when baby started sleeping for longer, and also for when doing KIT days. Although baby won't take a bottle I still like to leave some just in case.

Also, the first 6 weeks is the toughest with cluster feeding. I struggled with my five year old during this stage.
Baby is now 7 months and feeds on demand, which is often more than every 2 hours.

I found a local breastfeeding support group really helps keep you going - find your tribe.

Good luck x

You don't need to pump. In fact pumping can just make your body confused. Let the baby nuzzle lots and let the hormones take over and allow your body to make the milk that your baby needs.
Don't pump.

No, I tried it once and hated it so never did it again. Breastfed for 3 years across 2 DC.

You don’t have to if baby is getting all they need directly from your breast, and if you don’t have an oversupply. I have to pump simply because my letdown produces more milk than my baby can cope with, so I pump a bit before I feed him to take off the heavy letdown so he doesn’t cough and splutter so much. He’s 7 weeks old so as he gets bigger he will probably get better at coping with the letdown, but it’s working for us at the moment (and he will take the expressed milk in a bottle, so DP takes on some of the feeds!)