Day 4 postpartum pumping

[LottieLou3]

Hi

looking for help and advice.

my milk has come in. My breasts are very full and quite hard. I want to pump and feed some to baby via bottles I find breastfeeding so excruciating and doesn’t work for me.

I pumped twice yesterday. I don’t want to express for a long time. Maybe the first few weeks and I don’t want a big supply. Just want to give some to babe once a day max.

how many times should I pump?
should my boobs be this full and a bit sore? I don’t feel like the pumping is helping.

From what I’ve read it says to do so until breasts are softer but they seem hard still after 20 mins pumping.

More than anything I’m worried about getting myself in pain and infection

I’m completely new to this so any advice would be welcomed. Please be kind.

You’re probably best speaking to midwife/ health visitor and / or breastfeeding support network.

Breastfeeding can be really painful to start with especially if the position is wrong and you are in the super early days. If you don’t want to breastfeed that’s fine, but if you don’t please don’t feel like it’s not going to work out just based on where you are on day four.

The last thing you want to do is encourage more milk supply if you do only want to give baby a bottle of breast milk a day so I am not sure you should be pumping for 20 mins at a time (different if you want to give breast milk more regularly). Each time you pump your body thinks your baby needs milk so it will produce more, these first few days are when it’s working out what it thinks your baby needs so the more you pump, the more it will make. If you only want to give breast milk once a day I would only pump once, or maximum twice, a day, and then look at other ways to relieve the discomfort such as heat pads, maybe a small amount of hand expressing. But I am no expert at all, that’s why I’d definitely recommend speaking to those who you should be having visits with etc

Thank you @CaffeinatedMum I really appreciate your reply. I do have an appt with a younger tie and feeding specialist tomorrow so I will get advice then too.

im just so scared about doing the wrong thing and ending up with mastitis or something. I have ice packs in my boobs at the moment. I just don’t know what’s normal for day four. Finding so much conflicting advice!

I have a two year old already and didn’t bf him - he had severe tongue tie and it took a while to sort this. so I just bottle fed and don’t have any of this except slightly full breasts in day 3. New baby doesn’t have tongue tie.

BF can be painful for the first week or so even if your latch is perfect.
Definitely worth speaking to midwife/HV/BF consultant though as you’re in pain so you can have your latch checked and check for tongue tie.
Personally I would advise stopping the pumping at the moment and just concentrate on breastfeeding. Only pump if you aren’t managing to feed at all and want to keep your supply.
Your supply will regulate for how much you need, once you get things more established you can start worrying about pumping and bottles again then.