When to start pumping

[lsmama]

I'm currently pg with #2.  With DD (now 3) I was home for 10 months, so I very rarely pumped.  When I went back to work at 10 mos pp, I pumped 2-3x/day to get the one measly bottle she needed until I got home from work.  I am stubborn and was willing to go to those lengths to make it to 12 mos, and then I just nursed at home  and she drank rice or cow's milk during the day, and we continued nursing until she self-weaned at 16 mos.

Anyway, with this baby, I have to return to work at 13 weeks.  I would like to establish a bit of a pumping schedule before I go back (mainly to keep supply up and get used to the whole production and to make sure this baby will actually take a bottle.  DD had no issues with bottles - I think she liked the novelty - buy I've heard horror stories.  I'm planning to rent a lactina to keep at work and use my PIS at home if I need to pump at home too (which I hope I don't!)

Anyway, I was thinking of starting to pump after a morning feeding, roughly around the time of my am pumping session at work, when baby is around 6 weeks.  This way, I can gradually build up a little freezer stash for those first couple of weeks as my body adjusts, and I can also get baby used to taking a bottle.

Does this sound like a reasonable plan?  Any potential unforseen consequences I'm not thinking about?

Thanks!

[Mrs-Mama]

My situation was a little different since I was not going back to work, but I started pumping when DD was 2-3 weeks old (don't remember exactly).  I was so engorged for the morning feed (milk supply naturally at its highest), that when I would nurse her for the first time in daylight (LOL) I would nurse on one side and pump on the other.  I easily got 5-6 oz a day and IIRC it didn't even take the whole 15 minutes.  I figured I may as well train my body to keep up that level of supply in the morning instead of waiting until it evened out later.  I went for months (almost a year, I guess) pumping first thing in the morning...sometimes with her nursing on one side and sometimes not.  (I'm a SAHM but I do like to be able to go out without the baby sometimes and it's nice not to have to worry about milk at the last minute...I always had some in the fridge.)

[lsmama]

Mrs - That sounds like a great approach.  With DD quite early on, my LC had us nurse one side per feeding.  I am very intrigued by the thought of pumping one side while nursing the other.  What kind of pump did you use?

[Altair]

Yes-- I did something similar and it worked out great.  I pumped in the morning after he finished and it upped my supply and got my body used to repsonding to the pump.  I introduced an occasional bottle then too to make sure he'd take it, but mostly just built up my freezer stash.  

[Mrs-Mama]

I have a Medela PIS.  It's a little tricky, but somehow I managed to do it!  I don't remember if I used a boppy or just a pillow.  I do remember sitting cross-legged with my legs up on the bed or in the chair and using my knee to hold the pump bottle until I could get the pump on and adjusted (baby latched before pump).  I always got more milk when pumping while nursing than if pumping after nursing.  The baby helps with the let-down.

[lsmama]

Thanks!  I will definitely plan to try this approach.