@brandon_d I didn’t start pumping until maybe 8 weeks. I also was only getting ~0.5-1.5oz. It’s sooo discouraging. And I was never finding a good time and felt like pumping took milk from my always hungry baby, because she’d really fuss if she needed on the boob right after. The other thing is your pump will never pull as much as your baby does either. So while you think it’s not much, I’m sure your baby is getting more/plenty.
Fast forward to 16 weeks now. I started pumping again around week 13 or 14 so we could get baby sitters or have her dad feed her. Now my milk is regulated and I can pump so much faster and get a decent amount, she doesn’t eat as often, and pumping doesn’t hurt supply if I need to feed her right after.
I was told that before about 12 weeks, your supply is anticipatory and then when it’s regulated it’s on demand, if that makes sense. Our last big cluster feeding was around 11-12 weeks and I feel like nursing and pumping all got a lot easier.
If you just let your baby eat whenever they want to eat, they
should make your supply what they need. There will be lots of cluster feeding times before 3 months. I think week 3, week 6, and week 11-12 were ours. It’s tough and frustrating, but baby’s growing and getting your supply to where their needs are.
TLDR; don’t worry about pumping unless you are obviously seeing supply issues (baby super fussy at the boob, weighed feeding is below what they should be getting…). After about 12 weeks, it
should be a bit easier—at least it was for me. Focus on breastfeeding for now. It’s already hard enough especially in the beginning!
