If your baby shows continued feeding cues, then offer the other breast. You may be told to keep putting your baby back to the first breast in order to 'drain the breast' fully. But if your baby came off the breast on their own, they will get more milk by moving to the second side.
Allowing your baby to finish on one breast before offering the next breast will help maintain your good milk supply and will help your baby get just the right amount of fat and calories that he needs.
If your baby is nursing and seems content, there's no need to stop and switch breasts. A baby that is content at the breast seems relaxed. But if it appears that they are still hungry after eating from one breast, offer your second breast until they are full.
It is best to “finish” one side and then offer the other. The approach of feeding one side without “listening” to the baby ends up with a decrease in milk supply. Many mothers will keep the baby on the first breast until the baby is completely asleep.
It's usually more efficient to pump both breasts at the same time. Some mums also find it helpful expressing on one breast while feeding their baby from the other. Babies are very good at encouraging the release of oxytocin, the hormone associated with the milk ejection reflex.
Your newborn baby needs to nurse actively for one or both breast at each feed. Offer the second breast after they seem to have finished at the first, although they may not want both sides at every feed.
If you pumped both breasts at once and the total amount of milk will fill one bottle no more than two-thirds full, you may combine the contents in one bottle by carefully pouring the milk from one sterile container into the other. Don't combine milk from different pumping sessions when pumping for a high-risk baby.
As milk is removed from your breasts, your body is signalled to make more milk. The more frequently and thoroughly the breasts are emptied (though breasts are never truly 'emptied'), the faster they try to refill.
Your breasts will feel lighter
When your breasts are empty, they will probably feel lighter and no longer uncomfortably full, as they might have at the start of the pumping session. You can also pick them up to see if they still feel heavy or full of milk.
Engorgement. Engorgement is an over-fullness that occurs when the breast has not emptied regularly and frequently. Engorgement may happen when the milk volumes increase at 2 to 5 days after delivery. Engorgement may also occur anytime the breasts are not regularly emptied.
Short nursing sessions are normal – and perfectly fine unless your baby is having trouble gaining weight. Some babies are snackers – they nurse for a minute or two, take a break, and then go back. Other babies can drain the breast in two minutes and be satisfied for a few hours.
Your breasts work simultaneously, so, when you are feeding on one breast, the other side is also experiencing a letdown. Once your baby begins to fall asleep, switch sides so that there is a fresh supply waiting for them.
If your baby wants to breastfeed right after breast pumping, let them!
To keep up your milk supply in both breasts (and to prevent painful engorgement), it's best to alternate breasts, whether in the same feeding session or between different sessions. Remember to keep your baby on the first breast until it's soft, and then move your baby to the second breast.
Newborns may nurse for up to 20 minutes or longer on one or both breasts. As babies get older and more skilled at breastfeeding, they may take about 5–10 minutes on each side.
Your breasts will feel softer and less full as your milk supply adjusts to your baby's needs. This does not mean you have low supply. If your baby nurses for shorter periods of time, such as only 5 minutes on each breast.
Your breasts feel softer
This happens as your milk supply adjusts to your baby's needs. The initial breast fullness reduces in the first few weeks. At around 6 weeks, breast fullness is completely gone and your breasts may feel soft. This is completely normal and has no effect on your milk supply.
Refill Pain
Some moms describe a deep ache or dull throbbing pain after they complete a feeding. This feeling can start 10-20 minutes after the feeding is over and usually lasts 10 minutes or less. The ache is from the filling up of the alveoli with blood and lymph fluid in preparation for the next feeding.
Ultimately, if your baby has reached its birth weight and you're pumping enough milk during the day, it's okay to sleep eight hours without pumping at night. Keep in mind there is an adjustment period for your body as it begins to acclimate to the decrease in overnight milk removal.
Try not to go longer than about six hours without pumping if baby is eating during that time. That means, don't skip more than one breastfeeding without pumping. Note: If baby is sleeping longer stretches at night, you should be sleeping those stretches, too.
Using a pump that can express milk from both breasts at the same time will save the most time. It may take about 15 minutes to pump both breasts instead of 30 minutes or more to pump each breast separately. Double pumping also provides very strong stimulation to keep a good milk supply.
You should NOT combine your breast milk if: Different-day collection: You are collecting breast milk on a different day. It is not safe to add breast milk that you pumped today to a container of breast milk that you pumped yesterday or last week.
The most basic pumping position involves sitting down with your shoulders set and your back straight. Ideally, you'll want to do this in a comfortable, padded chair with armrests to help support you while holding your breast shields in place.