Frequency is more important than Duration

Frequency is more important than duration

Here’s a mantra to keep in mind regarding milk supply both for pumping and breastfeeding in the early days: FREQUENCY is more important than DURATION. What this means is that it is more important to nurse or pump more often for a shorter time than to nurse or pump longer but less frequently.

Here’s why..

Milk-making hormones are stimulated by the INITIAL sucking motion (either by the baby or the pump) on the nipples. This action sends a message to the brain to make milk, and that message is sent at the beginning of the session, regardless of how long it lasts. The hormones will begin to drop after the session ends, until the next session starts, when the nipples are re-stimulated, sending the message back to the brain, where the milk-making hormones shoot back up again, halting their drop. If you don't allow a lot of time to go by between feeding/pumping, you'll keep the lactation hormones high, never allowing them the chance to drop much. On the other hand, if you allow four, five, six hours to go by between feedings, the hormones have dropped very low and may not come all the way back up to as high as we need them to be for a full supply, over time. The point is that it doesn't necessarily matter how long you're feeding or pumping for, it's more important that you have those repeated contact points to keep the milk-making hormones up. 

So for example, if you’re wondering if it's ok to go four hours between feedings but pump for longer, rather than pump every two to three hours, the answer is actually no - or, more specifically, yes go ahead and space out feedings once or twice at night if Baby will let you, so you can get some sleep, but try to nurse or pump as often as you can during the day to keep that supply robust, and don't worry as much about duration of feedings/pumping sessions, because we're trying to keep those hormones up while you're all awake. This advice is specifically referring to the first six weeks, when we are setting the milk supply. 

FREQUENCY is more important than DURATION - both for pumping and feeding!

~ Naomi, Infant Feeding Expert*