After my baby is born..I plan to exclusively bf..but have to return to part time work at 6 weeks. My question is. ..how and when do i start to pump (to have a supply while im working so Dad can bottle feed...) and have enough to feed the baby regularly at the same time? When do I fit in a pumping session? Im afraid of I pump I will be empty when the baby needs to feed. I will only be working a few hrs at a time...so I will probably only need 1 bottle feeding a day.
Re: When to start pumping? ???
As far as timing, you can pump right after baby is done with it's first morning feed this would be good because typically our bodies produce more milk in the early morning hrs.
Also (some) babies sleep a longer stretch at night time so that would be a good opportunity to set an alarm and pump.
Another option is feed baby on one breast and pump the other at the same time. Again this works best in morning hours.
Then when baby is done on that side just turn off pump and offer the other breast.
You will never be "empty" your body will always be producing milk.
It's a good idea to limit the pumping for extra milk to once maybe twice a day in the beginning because you don't want to give yourself an over supply.
At first that might sound like a great thing but it definitely can give you big issues.
2010: Infertility
October 2015: missed miscarriage #2 at 11 weeks (trisomy 22)