I don't think this is a good idea at all. If it were so necessary, women would be doing it all over the world and it would be part of the traditional knowledge and practice among those cultures where everyone breastfeeds for several years, and I have never, ever read of any culture where women do this on a routine basis. I suspect that in contexts where baby is always with mother, and allowed to nurse ad lib, including at night, this is never necessary, because engorgement is so rare. A mother should not need a breast pump to breastfeed except under very extraordinary conditions (baby in NICU, terribly premature, etc.), and a mother shouldn't need to express milk from her breasts unless she is saving milk for bottles/cups when she must be away from her baby (working mothers). What you may be doing by having the mom express often for "discomfort" is mimic the action of the baby who gets to feed ad lib. That may, in fact, preserve the milk-producing status of the breasts, but it would be so much better if the baby just did it, and if the milk went into the baby instead of being wasted. Especially in those early days and weeks when a big proportion of the milk is still colostrum, full of wonderful antibodies. I cringe to think of women expressing and discarding all that wonderful milk. :( Kathy Dettwyler *********************************************** The LACTNET mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned LISTSERV(R) list management software together with L-Soft's LSMTP(TM) mailer for lightning fast mail delivery. For more information, go to: http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html