![]() Pumping an hour after a breastfeed is likely to yield more milk to give your baby as a top up and will help increase milk production. Another strategy is to pump between breastfeeds. See Supplementing an Underweight Baby for more information about combining breastfeeding, pumping and supplementing. Pumping after a breastfeed is often suggested as part of a care plan when supplementing a low gain baby. Ensuring the breasts are thoroughly emptied of milk (drained) by pumping straight after a breastfeed will help the supply and demand process by increasing milk production even though a mother may not physically pump very much milk at this time. However if a baby is also breastfeeding directly it can be difficult to know when is the best time to pump or even to find time to pump at all. ![]() ![]() If a baby is not latching then a mother can pump when convenient with the goal of trying to fit in as many pumping sessions as possible to mimic the normal feeding pattern of a newborn baby (eight to ten feeds per day). For more information about pumping for a baby who isn’t breastfed directly see Exclusively Pumping Breast Milk. For some mothers this might be four or five times a day while for others it might be nine or ten. If a mother is exclusively pumping and not breastfeeding long term, once she has reached full milk production she may be able to adjust the number of pumping sessions to maintain production according to her own milk storage capacity. Once you are at work, the milk pumped for your baby when you are away from each other can be stored in the fridge for use the next working day. Some mothers may choose to only pump one breast to be sure there is plenty of milk available in the other breast should their baby wake for their next feed straight after a pumping session. Mothers often have more milk early in the morning so this may be a good time to pump. If you are pumping to stockpile breast milk for a separation or ready for going back to work, you could start pumping once or twice a day, according to your needs, and begin to store a little each day. It can be helpful to work with a breastfeeding specialist to identify the reasons for low milk supply and for help with any other difficulties such as the way your baby attaches to the breast ( latches). Any pumped milk can be used to top your baby up. Pumping six to eight times per day is a good goal in the first few weeks or as many times as you can manage. If there isn’t much milk straight after a breastfeed, you may prefer to try pumping about an hour later/between feeds (see next section). If your baby is breastfeeding but needs more milk because of low milk supply, low weight gain, or difficulties breastfeeding-pumping and/or hand expressing after as many breastfeeds as possible can help to maximise your milk production by demanding more milk from the breast. It is recommended to avoid long stretches of five or six hours between pumping sessions and to try to pump at least once during the night. Some mothers may prefer to pump regularly every two to three hours and others might find it easier to pump more often at certain times of the day to meet the same total. ![]() This will mean aiming for at least eight to ten pumping sessions per 24 hour period at first. If baby is not breastfeeding at all in the early days or weeks it is important to pump as often as a baby would normally feed to stimulate the breasts to build a full milk supply. Exactly how often to pump depends on why you are pumping and how much breast milk is needed-pumping excessively if it isn’t needed could contribute to engorgement (breast inflammation) and/or oversupply of milk. It follows that a higher total number of pumping sessions per day is more beneficial for supply than fewer sessions further apart. The faster milk is demanded from the breast by either a nursing baby, hand expression or a breast pump, the more quickly breast milk will be made in the breast to meet that demand. Search for a breastfeeding expert near you How often should I pump?īreast milk is made by supply and demand. How often should a mother pump to build up her milk supply and how long for? When is the best time to pump when she is also breastfeeding? Are there any tricks to get more milk in less time? What is the best breast pump to use? This article shares tips to increase milk supply when pumping and is a companion article to Do I Need a Breast Pump?, Exclusively Pumping Breast Milk and How to Make More Breast Milk. ![]()
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