Pumping

Unfortunately that's not really how breastfeeding works, I would say research is the key to success with breastfeeding and something that will come up in that research is that overnight BF is mega important, I can't fully remember the science but it's something to do with the hormones of milk production being higher at night and the baby waking frequently to feed at night and you need to be actively participating in these feeds to keep your milk supply up, especially in the early days. Milk is made by milk removal so the more the baby is on the breast essentially the more milk will be produced, you can do this milk removal via baby on boob obvs or via pumping, however if you are wanting your partner to do a night feed via bottle, you would likely have to wake up anyway to pump the missed feed to make use of those night time hormones and so that you are not overly engorged with milk. So you wouldn't actually get a break at all. This info is quite specific to the first 6 week to 3 months

I would take a course like the one from Blossom Antenatal, it's free and it's about BF. And reading back your question there isn't a time anyone could give you that it would take to pump a bottle, some people produce loads via pump and some don't get much (I didn't get much via pump but breastfed for 14 months) In the first 6 weeks you really need to focus on establishing breastfeeding, both you and baby need to learn it and it's okay to pump the opposite boob a little bit while baby is feeding, but you don't wanna go on wild pumping sessions and cause an oversupply. Your plan will absolutely work once baby is over 3 months ish, cause you will have created a little stash of milk and baby will be good at BFing and baby will sleep longer stretches at night so your boobs will be producing less night time feeds. Anyway, I'm only summarising so do loads of research and do a free course and you will smash it! My baby took bottle and breast but we just focused on breast in those early days

@Robyn thank you so much for taking your time to write all that! I did formula with my first baby but I want to try breastfeeding this time and yeh 100% in the early days I’ll focus on just breast and getting a supply up and building a routine and yeh I’ve read about women needing to pump at night to make up for the missed feeds and apparently between the hours of 2-4am u have a lot of milk. So I just thought maybe I could express and freeze it for when I need it if going to try do breast and bottle. There’s so much to learn. I’ve not even brought a pump yet there’s loads of different ones I don’t want to waste my money or get the wrong one and I thought as well pumping and my partner doing some feeds will be good so I can spend time with my toddler. I also read that breast fed babies wake up more in the night for feeds than what a baby on formula feeding would ? And then on the breast how would I know when he’s had enough milk as you can’t measure it like formula.

When you did pump how long did it take ? Just out of curiosity and is it painful using a breast pump

No probs! Well I wouldn't bother buying an electric pump straight away cause they advise you not to pump for the first 6 weeks anyway so that you don't get an oversupply, so might be worth getting a suction thing like a Hakka and then you can just get a little bit from the opposite boob during daytime feeds build a small stash very gradually. I don't think they do wake more, each baby is different, my 3 year old started doing 10 hour night sleeps at like 2 months old and we couldn't believe our luck, then she had a 4 months sleep regression and never slept good again 😂 wasn't so much a feeding issue than just baby issue. You know they've had enough cause they stop drinking, you can't over feed a BF baby because they will take as much or as little as they need and the way you know they're getting enough is they put on weight, have lots of wet and dirty nappies and you can hear/see them swallowing alot of the time. It's more go with the flow, do what baby wants to do, feed on demand with BF

I would set a timer when I did start electric pumping, so I'd do something like 20 mins, check on it and then do another 20 if I only had a tiny amount, but I only pumped once a day and like I said in my previous message I didn't get much from pumping, would get 2oz-4oz but mostly 2oz. If you do keep to the BF and you end up wanting an electric pump I would suggest one that is totally wireless and just sits in your bra so you can even do stuff with toddler while you have your pump on, that's my plan too this time around, but again I'm not sure I will get much so might give up on the pumping and just EFB. The first use of a Hakka hurt cause I squeezed it too much and created too much suction, but just a light suction is not painful at all and you will find the best for you. Same with an electric pump but with electric you wanna find out what flange size suits your nipple, I didn't do this last time and think I could have got more milk if I did, so will be looking into flange myself too. It shouldn't hurt

I had a similar idea with my first but it was completely unrealistic in practice - including because night time feeding is so important to build and maintain supply. Pumping is also almost impossible to fit in when they are newborn, as they feed so often, and the added work of pumping/cleaning/sterilising just wasn’t possible. I also did get pain from pumping (because I had the wrong flange size). I’d did start pumping my at around 9 months when I returned to work (with correct flange sizes), and it took me about 10-15 mins just to pump. I also had complete bottle refusal first time round so this time I’m considering whether to try to do one bottle once a day at the same time each day, in the hope we will have more flexibility once breastfeeding is properly established.

I couldn’t pump. Took me all day of pumping for 20 mins after every feed to make a 4oz bottle. I gave up very quickly and just breastfed 😂

@Sarah it’s so interesting isn’t it 🤣why won’t milk come out when u pump but will if you breast feed like im really hoping I can pump/express it’ll be so helpful for night times and going out and about if im not confident enough to feed in public but like all I’ve done is sit on TikTok and research and read peoples experiences and it’s so 50/50 it either works for people or it don’t or there’s so many mixed opinions on it as well xx

It’s crazy! I also never leaked a drop. But bf successfully for a year. Make it make sense lol