You might find all kinds of different recommendations for when and how to start pumping when you are breastfeeding your baby. Ultimately, it’s completely up to you and your circumstances…some women never pump, while others exclusively pump…or everything in between…for all kinds of different reasons. We’ve described a few situations below that we hope you find helpful…but in our experience every mom and baby’s situation is different. You will figure out what works best for you as you go along. Remember there is a “window” of opportunity to introduce a bottle to your baby, so don’t miss that window if you have to pump for returning to work or school! See our bottle feeding post for further info.

Pumping for occasional bottles: Many families want another parent or caregiver to be involved in feeding so Mom can have a better sleep at night, or to be able to go out once in a while. Once your baby is about 4 weeks old, introducing a bottle is less likely to interfere with latching at the breast. Pump about once a every day (or so) whenever you can fit it in…as your baby grows you’ll be able to find more predictable times to pump. Your baby can have an occasional bottle whenever it’s convenient for you…but keep in mind most moms are up anyway in the middle of the night (you have to pump if you’re not breastfeeding; your breasts will wake you up!!). Moms who have to eventually return to work often pump every day….one day they store the milk for later, and the next day the milk is for bottle time.

Pumping for stockpiling: If you have to return to work, many moms take advantage over-supply in the first couple of months of breastfeeding to stockpile. Pump every day or every other day, whenever you can fit it in.

• TIP #1: if you are combining milk from different pumping sessions to get enough to fill a bag for the freezer, the newest evidence suggests it is OK to combine milk (sometimes called “pooling” from different pumping sessions throughout a 24 hr period, even if it is different temperatures. In other words, within one day, you can add warm “just pumped” milk into a container milk already cooled in the fridge from earlier that same day. You should still avoid mixing milk pumped on different days, and avoid warming/cooling/re-warming milk. Scroll down for guidelines on how long milk keeps at different temperatures.
• TIP#2: lay your milk storage bags FLAT in your freezer…then you’ll have similar-size frozen rectangles that stack nicely in your freezer instead of frozen clumps of a variety of shapes with crumpled date labels you can’t read.

Pumping for returning to work or school: It’s a good idea to start pumping and stockpiling a few weeks before you have to go back to work or school, so you have a “buffer” supply in your freezer and your baby gets used to having a bottle. If you aren’t returning to work until 3-4 months, it’s important for your baby to get an occasional bottle (4-7x/week) before the “bottle window” closes. Read our Bottle Feeding Guide for more info. Some moms “practice” returning to work the week before, by arranging daycare and taking a day for themselves (go do something fun!). Try to be available to go visit your baby for nursing if needed for a smoother transition. If you’re going back to work full time, see if you can start on a Wednesday or Thursday so you have the weekend again soon…instead of starting back to work on a Monday. A few days before you go back to work, pump at the times you hope to do so at work, and bottle feed your baby at the times you’ll be at work. Or…forget all that prep and just go cold turkey back to work – most of the time the baby does just fine and it’s the mom who has a hard time with the transition! Most moms working full time try to nurse baby just before going to work, pump every 3 hrs at work (or if you’re lucky, nurse baby at lunch time)…and ask your daycare provider to hold off bottle feeding your baby within an hour or so of you picking them up, so you can nurse as soon as you see your baby at the end of the day.

Pumping for occasional alcohol consumption: See our post on alcohol and breastfeeding for more info on whether and how to pump when you enjoy an occasional drink.

Exclusively Pumping when your baby is not latching at all: This situation is more common than you might think. Some women pump exclusively because their babies were never able to successfully latch at the breast, others do so by choice. Many make a full milk supply and feed their babies breast milk for as long as they want to. See our post on exclusive pumping for more information and support if you’re an exclusive pumping mom.

General tips on pumping: Find a good quality double electric pump (call us if you need a loaner pump!). Ensure the pump flanges fit you well. Pumping both breasts is usually way more efficient. Pump for 10-15 min only, whenever you can fit it in. There is no magic time to pump, and every woman’s body is different. You’ll get varying volume, but that’s normal. Over time your body will “develop a relationship” with the pump (you already have a relationship with your baby!!) and you should see more volume in less time. Milk production is constant, but that doesn’t mean you’ll get more milk the longer you pump. In our experience, the longer you pump, the more you’ll hate pumping. You’ll get most of the milk in the first 10 min of pumping. Yes, there will still be dribbles of milk coming, but just like sweeping a dirt floor, if you pump until your milk stops, you’ll be pumping for 24 hrs! Just stop at 10-15 min; what you get is what you have, and it may be different amounts every time.

Milk Storage: You may find several different recommendations for how long breast milk keeps at different temperatures and recommendations on the safe handling of human milk/when to dispose of it. Here are the storage guidelines that we follow in the KINDNESS Project and a downloadable handout you can print for your daycare provider: Collection and Storage Guidelines.

Please contact us with any questions!

DISCLAIMER: We know when you surf the web for information, you can get conflicting results, and it’s not easy to know whether you are finding evidence-based, high quality recommendations. That’s part of our job here at Kodiak KINDNESS; we are here to support your informed decisions about infant feeding through your baby’s first year. We’ve done some background work, and to the best of our knowledge, this post reflects current best practices. However, the information contained in this post and any links contained herein is for your informational use only; it is not a substitute for professional advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Furthermore, Kodiak KINDNESS is not responsible for the accuracy of any information contained in this post or links contained herein; it is for you to review at your own risk and discuss, as needed, with your health care professional in order to make a plan that suits your individual circumstances.