When you decide to use a breast pump and go with exclusively pumping as your means of feeding your baby, you are signing up for an extended period of dedication, hard work, and constant thinking about breast milk supply and milk production.
Spending so much time thinking about milk flow and pumping breast milk in quantities sufficient to feed your baby, maintain milk supply, and even grow a freezer stash can often be the focal point of pumping sessions.
It can be easy to overlook another important key element to breastfeeding which is, how to know when to stop pumping?
This article will discuss how to know when to end a pumping session so as not to risk injury or damage to breast tissue without cutting down milk production. We’ll also discuss how you go about weaning from the pump when you’re ready to quit feeding breast milk.
When to end a pumping session
If you are exclusively pumping breast milk for your baby, it’s essential to understand the process of pumping sessions.
You should pump as often as possible, but if you cannot pump on demand for your baby, you should schedule your pumping sessions every few hours to keep up milk production.
The more time you spend pumping, the more milk you will produce. Therefore, there is no iron-clad rule on how long you should continue pumping during your pumping sessions. The real answer lies in understanding your milk production, your baby’s needs, and your own body.
This is often a learn-as-you-go process, and it will involve plenty of mistakes. The best advice to give to any mother is to take it in stride and always do her best to put the health and safety of herself and her baby at the forefront of her mind.
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Breast milk production when pumping
Any lactation consultant will tell you that breast milk supply relies on a supply and demand process. The more often you nurse or use your breast pump, the more milk your body will make.
If you stop pumping before emptying your breasts, the body stops creating more milk because it thinks that baby has had its fill.
Some women struggle to maintain a steady milk supply, regardless of what they do or how often they pump. On the other hand, some women are considered over-producers, who naturally make more milk than their baby will ever realistically consume.
It is essential to stay hydrated, maintain a healthy diet, get enough sleep, and avoid stress when you are pumping or nursing to keep your supply up. It is equally important that you do not push your body further than necessary.
Overproducing is not recommended as an intentional pumping outcome. You are supposed to make enough for your baby.
You’re doing perfectly fine if you cannot produce more than your baby needs.
When to stop during pumping sessions
Pumping sessions can last anywhere from fifteen to forty-five minutes. When power pumping, the process takes an hour!
Determining when it’s time to stop pumping depends upon factors like milk flow, the power of your breast pump, and your letdowns.
Let’s break it down further.
Milk flow
This term goes hand in hand with the term “letdown,” which refers to how quickly your milk drops.
Your body will occasionally leak milk if you go too long between pumping sessions, hear your baby crying, or in other circumstances.
However, for the most part, it takes suction from your child’s mouth or the breast pump to trigger your breast milk.
Some women have letdowns early, meaning it takes little time for the milk to start flowing.
Other women, however, have slower letdowns, meaning they either need to spend more time per pumping session to drain their breasts or invest in a more powerful breast pump.
Before you stop pumping breast milk, you should have at least two letdowns per pumping session. It will be best if you also pump until your breasts feel soft and are no longer producing milk, and the milk stops flowing altogether.
Your breast pump
You can use either an electric breast pump or a manual pump to extract milk. Whatever you choose, make sure that it works well for you.
Breast pumping is tiring work, and double pumping can help you to produce enough milk for your baby much faster than pumping one breast at a time.
A pumping bra, a battery-powered pump, breast shields that fit correctly, and spare pump parts are also crucial for a successful pump session.
If you aren’t getting as much milk as you’d like during the pumping process, it may be wise to consider getting a different pump.
Most insurance companies will provide you with a free pump for each pregnancy you have.
If you have an older pump or a used pump, you should look into selecting a free pump from your insurance company so that you can be sure that your pump is strong enough to get the job done correctly.
How to know when to stop pumping
Weaning from the pump is a choice all mothers who exclusively pump have to make at some point.
Choosing to begin the weaning process from the pump is a decision that can be difficult because the benefits of breast milk are so massive. However, for each of us, the time comes when it’s time to stop.
Why stop pumping?
Maybe you’re going back to work. Perhaps your little one is no longer interested in a bottle and is over a year old, or you are tired of breast pumping and transitioning to baby formula. You may be ill, and a medication or medical procedure is your deal-breaker.
Whatever the reason, it’s valid. You may even want to stop pumping as a personal choice; it’s not to be taken against you.
Your child needs breast milk or formula for the first twelve months of life. As long as you provide one or the other in that time frame, you don’t have to justify your reasons for stopping breast pumping to anyone.
How to wean from the pump
Always speak to a lactation consultant whenever you have essential or specific questions about your breastfeeding journey.
A lactation consultant is trained and educated for these purposes, and their help and advice can be invaluable to a nursing mother or pumping mother.
A gradual process
Dropping pumping sessions is something best done gradually. It cannot be done safely in one pumping session without the risk of a clogged milk duct or mastitis. Neither of these conditions is pleasant and can cause further complications.
Never stop pumping cold turkey if you can help it.
Gradually decrease your pumping frequency to ensure that you don’t continue to produce more and more milk.
How much milk you are making when you decide to quit pumping is the level you should stay at before you start to decrease pumping sessions.
What to do with pumped milk after you stop breastfeeding
If your child is absolutely done with breastfeeding, the remaining milk can be frozen and stored in a deep freezer.
If properly stored and labeled, frozen milk can be used by your child for months after it is frozen, or you can donate it to a woman who produces less or no milk.
A board-certified lactation consultant can usually connect you with a milk bank that you can donate to if you have too much milk in your freezer or are no longer interested in feeding it to your baby.
The weaning process and drying up
If you have decided that you are done with pumping, you need to make sure that you safely wean rather than quitting cold turkey.
Drying up your breasts when you have been engaged in exclusive pumping, even for a short duration, is something you need to do carefully to avoid pain and possible mastitis or a painful clogged duct.
The clogged duct
If you are not pumping your breasts until they are completely emptied, and breast milk is left in the breast, the milk ducts can get swollen, inflamed, and clogged.
Clogged ducts are painful and can lead to infections such as mastitis, so if you have clogged milk ducts, you need to start treating them immediately.
The following are ways to relieve clogged ducts.
Hot compress and breast massage
The most important thing is to listen to your body.
If you feel pain in your breast or notice redness, swelling, or your breasts are hot to the touch, you may have a clog.
Massaging the affected area and using a hot compress on the breast can help to break up the clog and provide some relief.
A few more minutes in the shower to allow early milk to leak from your breasts and break up a clog can also help.
If the issue does not get better within a few days, seek the help of your healthcare provider. Further complications can be dangerous.
How to dry up milk supply without getting mastitis
Mastitis can occur for several reasons, but the leading cause is a clogged duct that is left untreated and becomes infected due to milk left in your breast after a nursing session or pumping.
Most moms who get mastitis experience engorgement and flu-like symptoms.
Don’t stop pumping all at once to avoid mastitis while also trying to dry up your milk supply. Instead, slowly cut out a pumping session every few days until you are no longer pumping.
To relieve engorgement that may occur, avoid hot showers and heat on the breasts, as this can stimulate a few letdowns and get your milk flowing again. This is counterproductive to drying up.
Instead, if the pain of engorgement is too great, take over-the-counter pain medication and hand-express just enough milk to relieve the pressure you feel.
If you start pumping again, you’ll have to start the entire process. So avoid reaching for the pump if you can.
Cold packs and cabbage leaves
Wear a tight-fitting bra and apply cold compresses. Putting cold packs or cabbage leaves in your bra can help to dry up your milk while reducing the risk of infection.
Do this while cutting out one session in the first week and then another the next week or after several days.
Walking away from the pump
Whether you are curious about when to stop your first session with the breast pump or you are done with the breast pump altogether, you should find the educational content of this article helpful so that you and your baby are still happy.
Remember that baby needs to have either breastmilk or formula until twelve months of age and to speak with a certified lactation consultant if you have any specific concerns or questions.