Pumping Breast Milk Tips

Everyone’s breastfeeding journey looks different. But at some point you might have to pump — whether it’s because your baby started sleeping through the night and you’re engorged, you’re going back to work and need a few bottles stashed for those hours you’re away, or maybe you’re exclusively pumping and bottle feeding. I’m sharing my pumping breast milk tips today to help you during this time!

My breastfeeding journey has been a rollercoaster of ups and downs the past 3 months. Harlee latched right away in the hospital, but since then, we had a lot of issues with exclusively breastfeeding. I was constantly worrying that she wasn’t eating enough because she only breastfed for about 5 minutes on each side (the average being 10–15 minutes). But she was gaining weight so I had to trust the process.

But then her weight was plateauing (we have a Hatch scale so I was able to weight her daily and during feeds). She was popping on and off the breast and getting extremely fussing during feeding time. I was scared she wasn’t eating and that I wouldn’t be able to provide her the nourishment she needed. So at 3 weeks old we introduced a bottle of pumped breast milk. It eased my anxiety about Harlee eating, especially because I knew exactly how much she was eating and how much I was pumping. But I still wanted to have that breastfeeding experience.