Hellobee Boards

I think the key is to find out when your supply is highest coupled with when baby tends to do a longer stretch. Whenever I tried to pump in the evenings i would get like nothing! He cluster fed a lot of the evening and just draiiiiiiinnnnned me. It always made me depressed when I tried! But in the morning, my supply was the highest for sure and even if he had just nursed I would always be able to get at least a couple of ounces. I know some people have luck with pumping like 2 hours after baby goes to bed but there was NO way I was doing that! Plus like I said, I may not have even got anything! I think the key is to experiment. Also, I think some people try pumping just 5 or so min after every feeding. Then even if you get a small amount by the end of the day you should have at least a few ounces!

I pumped right after feeding. At first you would not get much, but if you do it every day, it should increase your supply. As early in the day as possible is best, because your supply is highest then, but I never managed very early, because I preferred to shower and eat breakfast. I started pumping at two weeks with both. With my first I tried to pump twice a day, and with my second once a day. I went back to work at six weeks, and I might have started later with a longer leave. With my first, my stash was pretty small when I went back to work, but it was bigger with my second, despite pumping less often.

I did one pump every day immediately after LO went to bed at night. She would reliably sleep from 7pm to at least 11:30pm so I knew if I pumped at 8pm I would be sure to have enough by the time she wanted to feed again. Initially we used that milk to do a bottle every evening to make sure she stayed accustomed to it and we didn't have to deal with bottle refusal. But I had a big supply so I was typically pumping 2x what she would eat in one feeding, so the surplus went into the freezer.

I started pumping after his first feed at around 3 weeks old. Then when I went back to work I added another pump around 9:30-10:00 before I went to bed. Everything I pumped at work during the week, he would eat, but my morning and night sessions were extra to build my stash.

At 2 weeks, I tried to fit in one daily pump.

I find it extremely difficult to pump when I'm home alone with baby, because I never know when he'll wake up from his nap. If he wakes up in the middle of the pump session, I have to stop, rush to clean up things and throw it in the fridge while he's crying to be fed. So on the weekdays when I'm home alone, I wait until DH gets home, then I feed LO, shower, and then pump. Meanwhile DH takes care of LOs diaper change and getting him down for a nap. On the weekends, we do the same exact thing, except we try to do it after the first morning feed . Usually this process means that I'm pumping right in the middle of two feeding, so it doesn't affect the feedings at all. Showering helps me relax and encourages letdown.

Anything I pumped 2-4 weeks got frozen. We started bottles at 4 weeks. We do a fresh 3oz daily bottle during the week, and anything extra or on the weekends gets frozen. At two months, we might introduce an evening formula bottle, and while he feeds I will pump and freeze it. I go back to work at 2.5 months.