Why wait to pump?

Question

FTM here with a 5 day old baby boy. We are ebf but still working on it! I have heard many people say to wait a few weeks before beginning to pump and implement a bottle for some feedings, and I also see on here many women who begin to pump and implement a bottle right away. Looking for thoughts, opinions, experiences, etc. It would be greatly appreciated.

Answer

Upon advice from our beloved midwife we started pumping around the 4 to 5 week mark as I will need to bottle feed when returning to work at around 5 months pp. I only pump once a day, first thing in the morning immediately after a fees and give one bottle in the evening around 6pm (her last feed before bed is currently 8pm). We were told that if you EBF and leave it too long (a few months) before you introduce a bottle you can struggle with LO rejecting the bottle. We use a newborn bottle and have had no issues with nipple confusion etc.
I am buying pouches this week and I'm going to start increasing my milk stash soon in preparation for return to work and intend to pump the other breast whilst nursing.
On a side note LO accepts the bottle much better from hubby than me so it's his "daddy time" to feed each evening when he's not working.

Answer

I started pumping around 3 weeks and I only did it once or twice at night when she started sleeping longer and went 4 hours between feedings. This helped to relieve full breasts at night (and prevent drop in supply) and we could start to introduce the bottle to her. She didn't fully accept the bottle until about 5/6 weeks old.

Answer

I was told by pediatrician to pump right away to get my milk going. I did the first week and stopped. He seriously feeds every hour during the day my boobs needed a break! But it worked enough. He was suppose to be back to 8.5 his birth weight at 2 week check up and we are at 8.8!

Answer

The lactation consultant told me not to pump, not to introduce the bottle nor pacifier until 4weeks. I had to pump because my milk came in a day after giving birth and it hurt so bad. My LO is 3weeks and I give her 2bottles a day, just to get her familiar with drinking from one and so her father can feed her. For me it's a way to tell how much she is drinking too. You can get bottles related to breastfeeding/nipple..

Answer

I started pumping right away because my baby had a hard time latching so I bottle feed him breast milk.

Answer

My daughter had a hard time latching for the first couple of weeks, so they had me start pumping right from day 2, although I really didn't get much as my milk hadn't come in. We supplemented with formula for the first couple of days. After day 4, though, I was really overproducing and when my daughter finally did start latching, she would choke after a few seconds because the flow was overwhelming for her. At that point I stopped pumping altogether and my supply finally started to match what she needed. We have gone through everything I had stored, though, so I'm starting to pump again, but not nearly as much as I was. Having that much overproduction was not fun for either of us!! If you are going to be able to constantly pump and store, go for it as having a large stash can only help you in the long run. But, if you're like me and get frustrated by constantly having to pump in order to avoid engorgement, then maybe only pump once a day or once every other day.

Answer

/I started pumping at 3 days old because my son was tongue tied and it hurt like mad to bf because his tongue was too short to latch properly. I think when you start pumping is different for every situation. We also gave him a pacifier day 1 and had a couple nurses say we shouldnt do that and other nurses say if they take it go for it.

Answer

There is a danger your body will start to over produce if you are pumping and freezing the milk. The first few weeks a lot of women have so much excess milk and if you pump as well your body sets up to produce even more. Personally, I wanted a stored stash so I started early. I didn't have any problems

Answer

There are several reasons. One woman already  pointed out the over production issues. Over production can cause your baby to get too much foremilk and not enough hind milk causing gas and hunger. Foremilk is like water to a baby. It quenches their thirst while hind milk sustains them. Holds off hunger. Making them go longer between feedings. I personally am a dairy cow and produce so much milk and work 13 HR shifts in the ER so I start pumping as soon as my milk comes in to relieve pain and start my stash.

A bonus to pumping early is in those first few weeks when you just want to curl up in bed and sleep longer than an hour and want to cry bc you are so exhausted you can pump, hand the baby to your partner and go sleep for 3-4 hours uninterrupted.

Down side.... if your baby is having latching issues then introducing a bottle early can cause your baby to reject the breast. Don't introduce bottle till you feel your baby is latching well.

If introducing a bottle pick a slow flow nipple. I use Dr Brown bottles with a premie nipple. And I have never had an issue switching between bottle and breast. And I started introducing as early as 5 days old.

Why wait to pump?

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