Breastfeeding and pumping: how to find the right balance.
Breastfeeding and pumping are two ways of feeding your baby breast milk. And they are often combined!
There are many reasons why you may start pumping. It might be by choice or because you have to. Some reasons why some moms have to start pumping while breastfeeding are:
Managing low milk supply.
Having breastfeeding and/or latching difficulties.
Poor drainage while breastfeeding.
To induce lactation or to start relactation.
Back to work, separation of parent & baby.
Experiencing engorgement or clogged ducts.
Once you start pumping, it might be hard to find the right time to pump if you're also breastfeeding. We are here to help you find the right balance!
We will go over how to combine breastfeeding and pumping, the ideal pumping schedule when you're also breastfeeding and how a lactation consultant can help you get the most out of both.
How often should I pump?
When you're pumping to keep your milk supply up or to increase it, you want to pump whenever your baby feeds away from the breast. This way, you will let your body know that you need to produce that milk your baby's taking in a bottle, cup or any other way you're supplementing. With appropiate stimulation and optimized pumping sessions, you will be able to feed your baby expressed breast milk when fed away from the breast.
If you're mainly breastfeeding and you're pumping to build a freezer stash, or for some occasional feeds away from the breast, you might want to pump once or twice a day, and continue breastfeeding as usual. With this extra demand, our body will adjust and produce the right amount of milk for us to continue breastfeeding without difficulty and store some breast milk.
When should I pump?
If you're trying to add some extra pumping sessions aside from breastfeeding on demand, to increase your milk supply or to have some extra breast milk available, the best time to pump is in the late night or early morning, since those are the times when our supply is usually higher. Usually from 11 PM to 7 AM.
If you're back to work or feeding your baby away from the breast, you should pump close to the time when your baby's feeding. Ideally, we don't want to keep our breasts full without pumping or breastfeeding for a period longer than 4-6 h. If you have a young baby, this window should be shorter, closer to 2-3 h.
Should I pump before or after breastfeeding?
Breastfeed first, pumping second, will allow you to breastfeed as usual, with a nice milk flow for your baby, and then pumping to express some extra milk. Most times what works best is to pump right after breastfeeding or 30-60 min after, depending on your baby's age and the reasons why you're pumping. If you're pumping only to build a freezer stash or for future feeds away from the breast, the best way to do this is to pump when your supply is higher (late night or early morning), 30-60 min after a breastfeeding session. If you pump too long after breastfeeding, your pumping session might be too close to feeding time!
Should I set a breastfeeding and pumping schedule?
Breastfeeding should always be on demand, meaning no timing and no schedules, just following your baby's lead. For pumping, we can set a schedule or we can follow certain principles, such as pumping when baby feeds away from the breast. You should avoid copying pumping schedules from a friend or from internet, since every breastfeeding dyad is unique and a pumping schedule or pumping plan should be set up after considering many factors, such as:
Milk supply
Baby's weight gain
Baby's age
Family's routine and support system
Mom's wellbeing
Feeding goals
Special circumstances such as feeding difficulties or maternal conditions
Even more importantly, a pumping plan should be dynamic. Same as babies go through stages, the parent's body also changes and goes through different pospartum stages, so every feeding and/or pumping plan should be dynamic and continuosly adjust to the family's needs. This is were a lactation consultant can help you.
How can a lactation consultant help you?
As parents we often feel like we should know everything. We go through rabbit holes in Google searching for every little thing, and that is definitely overwhelming. A lactation consultant will assess your unique situation and needs as a family and come up with a plan for you. They will also make sure that pumping sessions are optimized by helping you choose the right breast pump for you, going through the pump settings with you, fitting your flanges, assess how your body responds to your pump and personalize the pumping technique based on their findings.
Pumping should be easy, and effective. If you're pumping, you should feel like pumping is helping you and not the opposite.
We are here to help you find the right balance with breastfeeding and pumping, and to make your pumping journey a smooth one. Book an appointment here.
By Paola Vallarino IEP CBS IBCLC.
REFERENCES:
La Leche League International. Pumping Milk.
Center for Disease Control and Prevention. Pumping Breast Milk.
HealthLinkBC. How to use a breast pump.
Office on Women's Health. Pumping and Storing Breast Milk.
Kid's Health: Supply and Demand FAQs.
National Library of Medicine. Infant and Youth Feeding.
