There are multiple circumstances in which a mother chooses exclusive pumping instead of breastfeeding directly, which means expressing her breast milk either by hand or with a breast pump and offering it to the baby in a bottle or other recipient.

It can make it easier for you if you know more about it and some situations that can occur when you consider this option.

Is breastfeeding directly the same as giving expressed breast milk with a bottle?

We could say that offering expressed breast milk is similar to breastfeeding, but it is not exactly the same because breastfeeding is more than just offering breast milk to a baby. Breastfeeding, as a way of feeding, also brings advantages such as milk being immediately available, temperature, body heat, baby’s control of hunger, and control of when they are full, among others.

That’s why, when you offer expressed breast milk to your baby, you can do things to try to make it look and feel even more like direct breastfeeding.

To do this, pay attention to the following:

• Choose a softer teat (bottle nipple): there are no bottle teats that are similar to the breast, so look for the softest one possible to avoid the plastic teat’s impact on your baby’s mouth.
• Respect when the baby shows signs of fullness: by using the paced bottle feeding method, you can guarantee that the baby will get milk on-demand in the quantity they want. This is very important to avoid overfeeding babies.
• Offer the bottle close to your body: breastfeeding is done in close proximity, from body to body, and this is something you should “imitate” when giving a bottle. The closer the baby is to your body, the better.
• Swapping sides: just as you offer one breast side per feed, give a bottle alternating right/left arm to guarantee the same development of both of the baby’s sides of the brain.
• Offer fresh breast milk whenever possible: breast milk is a live liquid, and some of those cells are affected by freezing and thawing. Therefore, if you can give some fresh milk, you make sure the baby will receive the maximum of these nutrients.

How long can I maintain exclusive pumping?

It’s not easy to determine how long you can maintain exclusive pumping. There are two major issues:

• Maintenance of milk production: the mammary gland receives stimulation from the breast pump quite differently from direct breastfeeding of a baby and maintaining milk supply for many months becomes really hard. The first difficulties appear with the 3-month breastfeeding crisis or growth spurt at three months of the baby’s age, where milk production is usually adjusted a lot, and it is likely that you begin to have difficulties with pumping your milk.
• Fatigue and tiredness: without any doubt, the exhaustion in this process is an extra difficulty since, on top of the attention and care for the baby, you need to add extra time to pump, store, and handle the milk. It is likely that at some point in the process of exclusive pumping, you will feel it is time to stop.

What do I need?

There are different things you may need when considering exclusive pumping:

• Support: You certainly need lots of support and understanding from everyone around you. Often, mothers receive unfortunate comments about not needing to express their milk. An environment that embraces and understands this desire is important in maintaining exclusive pumping.
• Information: The conservation and handling of breast milk is another learning process in this type of lactation.
• Double electric breast pump: Whenever an electric breast pump is available, it will be better in terms of saving pumping time and in terms of maintaining milk supply.
• Pumping top: having a bra that allows you to place both breast pump funnels at the same time and have your hands free is a real game-changer. You can buy one or customize your own, whichever you prefer.

My baby eats more than I can get!

It can happen that the amount of milk you get when pumping is not enough to maintain exclusive breastfeeding.

This is because the stimulation of the breast pump is less effective than the sucking motions of your baby, and this can lead to a certain moment where the production of milk decreases significantly, and then you need to consider what to do.

Some ideas if you want to continue trying to breastfeed exclusively are:

• Improve your breast pump: having a double electric breast pump usually makes it easier to get more milk in less time.
• Create routines: Short, frequent pumping sessions throughout the day and night (imitating a baby’s feeding cycle) make it easier to increase and maintain milk supply.
• Using a different pumping technique: increasing the number of times a day you pump or using a different pumping technique can help you to increase your milk production. We recommend you review the information in the LactApp on hands-on-pumping.

I have been recommended to use prescription medication to increase milk production. What should I do?

Medication to increase milk production, called galactagogues, has become very popular in recent years, and they are readily recommended to mothers who are exclusively pumping, as for them it can be a lot more complicated to maintain milk production.

If you want to take any of these products, we recommend you talk to your doctor to assess whether there is any risk to you and to get a prescription for the medication in the most appropriate way.

On the other hand, there are herbal supplements, remedies, and other products, such as lactation cookies, that are culturally very widespread and normalized during breastfeeding. However, there is little evidence of their effectiveness, yet, understandably, many mothers want to try. We always recommend you check ingredient by ingredient on the www.e-lactancia.org website, as some may be dangerous for your baby and should be avoided during breastfeeding.

To find out more about exclusive pumping and breastmilk handling and storage, or if you have any other questions about breastfeeding, download our free App, Lactapp, for Android or iPhone.