Power Pumping and other breastfeeding methodsThis article will discuss power pumping, reverse cycling and other methods of maintaining a milk supply when absent from your baby.Power PumpingPower pumping is a method breastpumping to increase your milk supply. It is a simple 10 on 10 off regimen.But before I say more, the First CRITICAL step is making sure you have a good pump. Cheap pump = low supply. You take a block of 1-2 hours and pump for 10 minutes, take a break for 10 minutes and repeat over and over for the 1-2 hour window. Even if nothing is coming out, keep the pattern up. Then take an hour off and repeat. At minimum do 2 sessions per day. Then go to pumping ever 2-3 hours for 15 minutes for the rest of the day. So yes, you would be pumping 20-30 times in a 24 hour period. This mimics a baby going through a growth spurt - those nursing marathons boost a mothers supply. When this wont work: if you are not pumping 24 hours a day. You must pump day and night to stimulate good milk supply. So you cannot pump like crazy during the day so that you can sleep all night. Just not the way your body works. YOu must empty at minimum every 4-6 hours all day long, to maintain a decent supply. A hands free bra like this one might make a pumping session like this more bearable: Reverse CyclingReverse Cycling is a common feeding method for a newborn who has their days and nights mixed up. They will feed hourly at night then go longer streches during the day. It usually takes them a few weeks to switch over to a better routine.Sometimes moms who return to work attempt to re-establish this type schedule to avoid having to pump frequently at work. Unfortunately, it often does not work well for many reasons. It can be attempted (pump less/feed less during the day and nurse frequently at night) but in my experience, moms who do not empty at regular intervals day AND night are more suspeptable to breast infections and low supply. Therefore, I do not recommend reverse cycling as a method for returning to work. I recommend pumping every 2-3 hours while separated from the baby. Here are some more breast pumping tips. All in all there are many ways to maintain a milk supply when separated from your baby but emptying is the main key. What you don't empty, you lose, it's that simple. Yes, you can gain it back but with a lot of effort. What about using herbs or prescriptions to boost your milk supply? Supplies to make it all easierBack from Power Pumping to Work And Breastfeeding page Back from Power Pumping to askthelactationconsultant.com mainpage |
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