When to start pumping?

[jessmke]

I am a FTM and my DD is now 9 days old. I am breast feeding, but I would like a back up supply of milk to use if I want to go out and leave her with my hubby for a few hours. Right how she is feeding pretty consistantly every 3 hours, but she does cluster feed in the evenings and occasionally during the day. I am worried that if I pump and then she gets fussy and needs to feed that I won't have enough milk for her since I pumped. She is satisfied at the breast and surpassed her birth weight at 6 days old so I think I have a fairly good supply. When is a good time for me to start pumping, and is there a time of day that is ideal? Do I pump until I am completely empty? When is a good time to introduce her to the occasional bottle? I am very worried about creating nipple confusion. TIA!

 

[MummyKP]

Congratulations on your new little bundle and well done for breastfeeding, those early days can be tough. My DD is 7 1/2 weeks old now and she is EBF but only introduced a bottle around 4-5 weeks old. I started by just putting a couple of ounces in a bottle and hubby gave it to her after she'd fed off me, this way she wasn't starving hungry when first using a bottle so had more patience to play around with the teat in her mouth and suckle, realising there is milk in there. She's happily taken a bottle a few times since. I don't do it regularly, just if hubby or a close family member fancies giving her a bottle, and we did pop out on the weekend for a meal so my MIL gave her a bottle of expressed then too. I know she will happily take it now and she will probably have a bottle this weekend as family is down and I think it's nice that they can do it on occasions. I had oversupply and fast letdown so I've always managed to pump a fair amount thankfully, so fingers crossed you will too. I didn't start pumping until 4 weeks or so as it's important your body provides the amount your daughter needs. Pumping too early can make your body think it needs to produce more than it does, so you need to give your body time to establish how much your baby needs first. Once your supply is well established you'll be able to pump so you have a back up supply in the freezer. I too was worried about nipple confusion which is another reason I didn't introduce a bottle of expressed too early. I pumped around 4-6 ounces, and I also found it better to split it into a few bags rather than all in one otherwise you could end up wasting milk that she doesn't take.

 

[noon_child]

I am worried that if I pump and then she gets fussy and needs to feed that I won't have enough milk for her since I pumped.

breastfeeding doesn't really work like that. Our breasts store very little milk (which is why they get painful, blocked and leak if baby doesn't feed, because the milk has nowhere to go). Instead babies get the initial letdown of the small amount that is already in the breast and then their sucking stimulates your body to produce milk there and then. Yes your baby might be a little fussy if she is expecting that fast letdown and instead finds she has to work for her milk, but it won't actually prevent her from getting milk. A lot of people find they have too much milk in the morning and can feed baby off one breast while pumping the other, but like PP said you don't want to create oversupply. If it is just for an occasional feed, you could pump it that day, or the day before and you wouldn't even need to freeze it.