advice on pumping

my baby is due march 1-and i plan on breastfeeding-i have 6 weeks maternity leave and when i go back to work i plan on pumping the nights i have to work so my bf can feed the baby-when do you think i should start practicing pumping?? i dont want the baby to be confused with the nipple and the bottle-is it true beer can help with the flow?? leave as much advice as possible

[aridza]

I would recommend starting to pump as soon as your milk comes in, you can then freeze it.
That way, if one night you don't get as much milk, you don't have to worry because you have a stash in the freezer.
you might not get a lot at first but keep trying and you will get tons (it took me about a week to get a good amount)
At 6 weeks old, your baby should be ok and not get confused but still have your BF give him/her a bottle once in a while after 4 weeks so you know your baby takes it, some kids refuse the bottles so do a few tries to make sure your baby is ok with the bottle you are using and such

[casey's mom]

I believe I nursed my son a full 6 weeks before offering the bottle. When I did, he had no issue going back and forth. He was just happy to eat...was a very good eater.
I pumped a lot and made sure I had a big supply in the freezer before going back to work after 3 months. I would nurse my baby on one side, and pump on the other. You may have heard, a nursing baby will empty the breast 100 times better than any pump. So I have heard some women complain that their supply decreased when they went back to work b/c the pump draws less milk. Good luck and stock up that freezer, and nurse your baby as much as you can before/after work and on weekends to keep your supply up.
Also, pumping can be very psychological. Bring a picture of your baby to look at while pumping and try and imagine him/her nursing while you pump. It will help with your let down. It's a hard skill to master, good luck to you.

[apple_blossom]

I heard the beer thing the other day. As much as I miss a good cold one, I imagine that there are other ways to keep up a good supply.(lol)

I'm due March 1st and am taking 6 week leave too. I plan on doing the same as you- I tried to get bottles that have a natural looking nipple (within reason- none look exactly right), to help things along.

As far as pumping at work goes, I've heard frequency matters a lot, and that you should try to maintain the baby's eating schedule for pumping. On the other hand, my sister in law said she had to limit pumping at work to once a day, because otherwise she had way too much milk.

[mrsmd]

I looked up the alcohol/beer/wine thing the other day. It is acutally a myth, it doesn't increase the amount of milk supply. But, they did say maybe it would help the mom to relax a little which might help the process...

[AnnieBrooke]

The beer thing is said to be because of the malt in the beer, not because of the alcohol (which isn't that great for the baby anyway).  Therefore non-alcoholic beer should work just as well as beer does (if beer works).

[anxiousmomtobe?]

Start pumping after the birth, when you feel up to it.  I highly recommend the Medela pump in style.

[Debbie@38]

I would feed my daughter off of one breast and pump right after she got done eaten off the other breast.  I had a very large milk supply.  The more your body is taking the more it's making.