I started pumping right after the baby was born because he was in the NICU for 4-5 days for blood sugar problems from being 10 pounds 9 oz. They had to supplement because of his size and so they gave him a bottle as well ( and a paci) and because he hadn't mastered how to eat off a bottle let alone a breast. I would pump every 3 hours as if he was eating. Once we got home, I put him on the breast and thankfully he has no nipple confusion and pretty much latches on to anything you put in there, lol. What I do now, is pump every 3 hours still. I don't breast feed at night. At night he gets a bottle of pumped milk because he will only latch on in football position and I can only comfortably do that on the couch in the living room and he needs to know it isn't play time at night. I will pump the other breast after he's eaten since apparently he gets all he needs off the one. I pump when I feel like I need too basically. I can tell when the breast is full, and if he's not awake I won't wake him. So I'm sort of just all over the place, but he gets breast milk all the same lol

after baby eats, pump both sides until they are empty, then pump an extra 5 min or so. this stimulates more milk production so you make more, if that's what you want to do. with my first I was pumping 60+oz a day. working towards that again this time.

oh the other way you could do it is pick up an extra pumping session between feeds. The pumping between feeds signals your body that bub is trying to pick up an extra feed. This never worked for me though as all my bubs are fed on demand & sometimes if I tried to pump between feeds bub would wake up & I'd have nothin left & end up giving expressed milk so my pumping effort would go to waste. Doesn't seem like a big deal but when you're already exhausted it is a big deal! lol.

It depended on what I was pumping for. If I was pumping for thecsake of slowly building my freezer stash I would just pump after the first feed in the morning just once a day because it was so much harder at night. If I was pumping to increase my supply I would do it after ever feed or every other feed, even if not much was coming out, the stimulation produces more milk. If I had no freezer stash & knew I was going out on the weekend I did it after every feed too. Be careful pumping too much though because once you stop it or have a break from doing it so often your breasts can get engorged & you may experience an oversupply as bubs can't keep up with how much you're making as breastmilk is made on a supply & demand. The more demand for it, the more supply you will make. Less demand will make less supply.

I just had my bub last week & weaned my 15mth old from the day I gave birth to her as tge separation from the stay in hospital helped me wean the older bub off the boob. I now have huge over supply from going cold turkey with at the same time my milk coming in :( Will take a while for my body to adjust.

It's recommended that you pump in between feeds.

In the morning and after a shower you will get more out if your breasts.

Don't mind me I'm just eavesdropping on this conversation. Good information lol

I remember reading once that if you pump after you're empty that your body will sense that baby needs more and you'll start producing more. I remember doing that and got to the point where I would pump 9oz in 10 mins by the time baby was 4 months old. Lol

I usually pump after a feeding because sometimes I have no milk left since my supply is barely coming in and only get what she needs which is 2-3oz. I noticed that after an hour or so of feeding, my breast get hard so I start to pump and she usually wakes up after 1 hour of me pumping so my breast have more milk again for her. May I add she doesn't latch on so I have to bottle feed but this works for me, and she still gets my breast milk which is really important for me :)

Nickel_z did you only pump after one feeding during the day like in the morning or after every feeding??

I used to just feed bubs & pump after nursing with my first two. The time could vary for everyone but for me I used to keep pumping a couple of minutes after nothing coming out.

Yeah I'm planning on waiting a bit even though this kid is a pro at latching on! Ha

I'd say pump one side and feed on the other. And then switch it up each time? And I didn't start any bottle feeding until a month after baby was born because it can cause issues with latching to the breast