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Image credit: Jerry Bunkers on flickr It is important to express your milk to establish and maintain milk supply if your baby is not nursing at all or not nursing well. By expressing, you will also have your milk available to feed baby – every bit of moms’ milk that baby gets (even the tiniest amount) is like liquid gold. When should mom start pumping?
What pump is best?
How much milk should mom be pumping if baby is not nursing?
How often should mom pump? Now infants can get
How long should mom pump at each pumping session?
Additional tips
See Got Milk? for more information on milk supply. References and additional informationNote: Premature infants are certainly not the only breastfed babies who have problems nursing at the breast, but much of the writing and research in this area involves premature babies and their mothers. Talk to your lactation consultant about adapting these guidelines for older babies. @KellyMom
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ReferencesMohrbacher N. Cutting Edge Breastfeeding Trends, Orlando, FL, June 9, 2004. Wight NE. La Leche League International Conference Session–The Premature Infant and Breastfeeding: Myth, Reality and Evidence-Based Practices, San Francisco, CA, July 5, 2003. Furman L, Minich N, Hack M. Correlates of lactation in mothers of very low birth weight infants. Pediatrics. 2002 Apr;109(4):e57. Meier PP. Breastfeeding in the special care nursery. Prematures and infants with medical problems. Pediatr Clin North Am. 2001 Apr;48(2):425-42. Hill PD, Aldag JC, Chatterton RT. Initiation and frequency of pumping and milk production in mothers of non-nursing preterm infants. J Hum Lact. 2001 Feb;17(1):9-13. da Silva OP, Knoppert DC, Angelini MM, Forret PA. Effect of domperidone on milk production in mothers of premature newborns: a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial. CMAJ. 2001 Jan 9;164(1):17-21. Hill PD, Aldag JC, Chatterton RT. Effects of pumping style on milk production in mothers of non-nursing preterm infants. J Hum Lact. 1999 Sep;15(3):209-16. Bier JA, Ferguson AE, Morales Y, Liebling JA, Archer D, Oh W, Vohr BR. Comparison of skin-to-skin contact with standard contact in low-birth-weight infants who are breast-fed. Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med. 1996 Dec;150(12):1265-9. Anderson GC. Current knowledge about skin-to-skin (kangaroo) care for preterm infants. J Perinatol. 1991 Sep;11(3):216-26. Is pumping for 30 minutes too long?If the breasts do not get emptied completely or often enough, the body begins to produce less milk. Some mothers say the milk never stops flowing while they pump. Typically, you should not pump longer than 30 minutes, even if the milk is still flowing.
How long should I pump to increase milk supply?Increase pumping frequency
Pumping more often can help stimulate breasts to produce more milk. Moms can try pumping both breasts for 15 minutes every two hours for 48-72 hours. Then moms can return to their normal pumping routine. Pumping for longer than 30 minutes may not be beneficial.
How long do I need to pump to empty breasts?15 minutes or less should get you empty. Most milk comes out in the first 8 minutes (whether pumping or nursing). The automatic LET DOWN feature on high-end machines pump quickly for 2 minutes and then switch to a slower cycle to mimic how babies nurse for the let-down.
How long does the breast take to replenish milk?As mentioned, the breast is never completely empty, but milk flow is greatly reduced by nursing to the point where no significant amount is expressed. It typically takes 20-30 minutes to rebuild to an adequate flow and closer to an hour to rebuild to peak flow.
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