When faced with the "when to pump" or "how often to feed" questions, I
remind parents that baby is their little "Lactation Engineer" and it's
baby's job to signal Mom when it's time for feeding.  Baby (full term,
healthy newborns) knows when and how long to flood Mom with hormones in
order to achieve the supply he/she needs.  Pumping tends to interfere
with the normal "flow" of baby doing his job.  So... please reserve
pumping till baby is 3-4 weeks old and has had a chance to do his "job"
regulating  Mom's supply.  Parents are surprised that they can trust
baby to do something so important.

Of course, there are always those situations where Rule #1 supercedes
the "wait to pump" suggestion..... but we can get into that one-on-one.

Susan Wirtjes RN IBCLC     Waterloo, Iowa
mailto:[log in to unmask]                 "What you permit, you promote"

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