Pumping Breast Milk Guide

Whether you're heading back to work or heading out for an evening, most new mamas eventually need a break from breastfeeding. Enter the breast pump.

This handy tool not only allows you to fill a bottle with your precious milk, but it can also help maintain your milk supply, relieve engorgement and create a backup stash for your freezer.

Pumping might seem daunting at first (tubes and flanges and suction, oh my!), but it’s not complicated once you get the knack of it. Here's what to know about getting the pumping party started. 

When should I start pumping?

You should start pumping when it makes sense for you to start pumping, and that right time will depend a lot on your particular situation.

Some new moms start right after their baby is born — in the hospital or birthing center — to help initiate breastfeeding or to encourage their milk supply. It’s particularly important to get an early start on pumping if you’re unable to nurse your baby from birth — if your baby is premature, for instance, or has special needs.

Other new moms will wait a few weeks before they start pumping. In the early days of breastfeeding, there is often precious little time between nursing sessions to pump, and lactation experts advise holding off on giving a bottle until breastfeeding is well established. (Plenty of babies, however, go back and forth between bottle and breast from day one, so do what works best for you and your family.)

By the time baby is 4 to 6 weeks old, breastfeeding should be well-established, and you’ll likely have enough time between feeding sessions to pump extra milk that can be stored for later use. If you’re planning to go back to work, start pumping two to three weeks beforehand to get the hang of it and build up a stockpile of milk. 

How should I begin pumping?

A few steps at the start of each pumping session can help ensure that you produce the most milk for your pumping buck.

First, always thoroughly wash your hands with soap and warm water before starting.

• Get relaxed. Find a comfortable, quiet spot to sit and relax as much as possible: take some deep breaths, do a five-minute meditation, do some yoga stretches.
• Encourage let-down. A soft breast massage or warm compress can get your breasts ready for let-down.
• Hold your baby close — in person, or in your imagination. If your baby is close by, a quick cuddle could help launch letdown (as long as she doesn't mind being this close to milk she’s not about to have). Away from home? Look at a photo of your baby, listen to a recording of her sounds or close your eyes and imagine her smell, her feel in your arms and her blissfully nursing face.
• Create a good seal. You might find that it helps to moisten the flange with water to ensure a good seal.
• Get centered. Center the nipple in the middle of the flange before starting the pump.
• Prime the pump. Most electric pumps will begin with a letdown phase — shorter, faster bursts of suction that mimic the initial suckling your baby would do in order to stimulate letdown. It will take a few minutes until letdown happens and before then you’ll only get drops to a slow trickle of milk. After a few minutes (around the time letdown happens) the pump will switch into regular mode.
• Don’t default to the highest level of suction. You’ll want to start at a low suction and increase it when the milk starts flowing (but only to your level of comfort — pumping shouldn’t hurt and a higher suction doesn’t mean more milk!).

How often should I pump and for how long?

If you’re trying to build up your milk supply, pump in between nursing sessions when you’re with your baby. If you're pumping at work to replace feedings you’re missing, try to pump on the same schedule as your baby's feedings back at home so you keep your milk supply going strong and aligned with baby’s demand, usually every three to four hours.

Aim to spend 15 to 20 minutes hooked up to the pump to net a good amount of breast milk (some women will need 30 minutes or more with the pump, especially in the early days). Pump until the milk starts slowing down and your breasts feel well-drained. Be sure to clean the breast flanges after every use.

What’s the best pumping and breastfeeding schedule?

The best time to pump depends entirely on what works for you, and you’ll soon figure out a pumping schedule that works. But it’s best to choose a time of day when your breasts are ordinarily full. If you’re pumping because you’re away from your baby and missing feedings, try to pump at the same times you would normally feed, about once every three hours.

If you're pumping at home to stockpile milk or to increase your supply, try pumping an hour or so after your baby’s morning nursing session. Your breasts are naturally fuller earlier in the day, so the morning is a good time to net more milk.

On days when you’re with your baby, squeeze in a pumping session around an hour after you nurse and at least an hour before the next time you breastfeed — more demand means more supply. But don’t overtax yourself in the name of building a breast milk stash: Pumping between each breastfeeding session or between nighttime feedings will just exhaust you...which in turn can diminish your milk supply.

Some moms are able to pump from one breast while baby is nursing on the other. As long as baby is getting her fill on one breast, it’s a time-efficient way to build a stockpile of milk while also ensuring both breasts are emptied during a feeding. But it’s probably best to wait until you’re experienced at both breastfeeding and pumping, otherwise this could be tricky and frustrating.

You can also pump at the end of feedings to make sure every last drop of breast milk is captured (many moms find it easier to do a post-feeding pump with a manual pump instead of an electric pump).

If your baby has started to spread her feeds out to once every four hours, you can also try pumping every two hours between feedings. Doing this will increase your milk supply and give you plenty of breast milk to store away.

It’s best to avoid late afternoon or early evening if you can, as your milk supply is likely to be at its lowest due to end of day exhaustion and stress. 

How to power pump

Power pumping boosts your milk supply by mimicking a baby's “cluster feeding,” a term for a period during which your baby feeds more frequently than usual (usually because of a growth spurt). Both are thought to ramp up the production of prolactin, a hormone that stimulates breast milk production.

You can do power pumping instead of a feeding session (for example, you’re at work or otherwise away from your baby for a few hours). Otherwise, do it right after a breastfeeding session. Ideally, your power pumping session should last an hour.

A power pump schedule might look like this:

• Pump for 20 minutes
• Rest for 10 minutes
• Pump for 10 miinutes
• Rest for 10 minutes
• Pump for 10 minutes to finish the hour

If you don’t have a full hour, then aim for two 30-minute sessions where you pump for 10 minutes, rest for five, pump for five, rest for five and then pump for another five. Then pump or nurse as usual the rest of the day.

It will take a few days for your milk supply to respond to this increased demand: some moms see an increase within three days, while others will need to power pump for a week before seeing results.

What are the benefits of pumping?

There are many reasons why a mom would pump her breast milk, from relieving engorgement and boosting milk supply to collecting milk for feedings when you’re away from your little one (such as when you return to work).

If you pump and store your milk, you can continue to give your baby the benefits that come from breast milk long after you’ve stopped nursing. And for moms who want to feed their babies breast milk but can’t nurse for some reason (poor latch, for instance, or low supply), pumping ensures they can still offer their baby that liquid gold.

No matter the reason you do it, pumping has a number of benefits:

• You’ll be able to go back to work (or go out for the night, take a vacation or travel for business) and still give your baby breast milk.
• You don’t have to be the only one responsible for feeding your little one — a partner or caregiver can help, too.
• Pumping allows you to build your milk supply even before baby needs more milk, thereby allowing you to store the extra for later down the road.
• Pumping gives you the opportunity to donate your extra milk to moms who can’t breastfeed their babies themselves but want to give their little ones the benefits of breast milk. 

Exclusive pumping vs. pumping and breastfeeding

For most women, there usually comes a day (or night) where they need to be away from their baby, whether it’s for work, school, travel or just out for an evening. Consider it the law of busy motherhood: your baby and breasts aren’t always at the same place at the same time. You still may nurse baby, say, in the mornings before work, and evenings and weekends when you’re home, but she gets pumped breast milk for those times that you’re not around.

Some women, however, have no choice but to pump exclusively, because despite all their best efforts, they can’t nurse due to circumstances such as the baby has trouble latching. In this case, you may opt to pump exclusively, otherwise known as “EPing."

If you do decide to EP (and kudos to you, it’s no small feat!) then you’ll need to invest in a good double electric pump, which saves you time and also is the most effective way to pump up your milk supply. Experts also recommend trying to mimic a newborn baby’s schedule as much as possible, at least at the beginning. That can be up to eight to 12 times in a 24-hour day, or every two to three hours for 15-20 minutes at a time.

As your milk supply becomes more established, you may find that you can space out the pumping for longer, at least at night.

How to store breast milk

Pumping is only half the story: You’ll also need to know how to store breast milk. Many breast pumps come with custom containers that can be used as storage and feeding bottles; others allow you to use a standard feeding bottle to collect milk.

You can also collect expressed breast milk in plastic bags (definitely use the ones specifically designed for breast milk — plastic bottle liners are too flimsy) and fill them three-quarters full if you'll be freezing them to allow for expansion. Freezing milk in small quantities (3 to 4 ounces at a time) allows for easy thawing.

Expressed milk can stay fresh at room temperature for up to four hours as long as it's kept away from the sun or other sources of heat. Milk can be safely stored in the refrigerator for up to four days and in the freezer for six to 12 months (using it within six months is best).

Always label each container with the date, and make sure to use the oldest milk first.

How to clean your breast pump

Cleaning your pump after each use is important to ensure germs don’t multiply and harm your little one. So be sure to wash all the pump parts that have come into contact with the breast or breast milk with liquid soap and hot water, scrubbing them with a cleaning brush and rinsing under running water.

When washing by hand, be sure to use a clean wash basin — not the kitchen sink — that is only used for washing infant feeding equipment, and do not place the components of the pump in the sink. Air-dry and put the parts away only when they are completely dry. If your baby is less than 3 months or, born prematurely, or has a weakened immune system, sanitize daily.

If your breast pumps parts are dishwasher-safe, place them in the top rack of a dishwasher and put it on a hot water and heated drying cycle. 

Maintaining your breast milk supply while pumping

Remember the rules of breastfeeding supply and demand: The more demand there is (in this case in the form of pumping), the more supply (in the form of breast milk) there will be. Which means that if you’re looking to maintain your milk supply you should be pumping at the same rate that your baby would be feeding directly from you, making sure your breasts are well drained at each session.

A few more strategies that can help you maintain your milk supply while pumping:

• Relax. When you feel happy and relaxed, your body produces oxytocin, the hormone that signals that it’s time for the milk in your breasts to be released (letdown). Research has found that moms who listened to guided relaxation or soothing music while pumping had an increased pumping output — and that those who also looked at photos of their babies pumped even more.
• Get handsy. As you pump, compress and massage both breasts. Continue until milk flow slows to a trickle, then massage your breasts again, focusing on any areas that feel full. When no more milk is expressed via the pump, finish with a few minutes of hand expression, where you do intense breast compression on both breasts to ensure you’ve drained both as fully as possible.
• Take a look inside your medicine cabinet. Some types of birth control pills may decrease milk supply for some moms (consider a switch to another birth control method if that’s the case for you), as can the decongestant pseudoephedrine (found in Sudafed). If you’re congested, stick with non-medicinal methods to relieve the stuffiness, such as sinus rinses, steam or saline nasal sprays.

Increasing your milk supply will take time, so don’t give up. Even dry pumps (when you pump but nothing comes out) sends a signal to your body that more milk is needed on tap, so it’s getting the work done even if there’s no output to show for it right away. Stick with it and you’ll see the results after a few days.