Time of expressing v. time of using the milk?

[deenz]

This probably is a stupid question, but should you be expressing milk at around the same time that you are giving it to baby?  I have been (sometimes) expressing milk in the mornings after the first feed, and am thinking of getting dh to give it as a top up at the 10pm feed.  Should I express at 10pm also?  I am expressing to make sure that my supply doesn't drop since dd is extremely fussy when feeding and I'm never sure when she's finished/if she's had enough (weight gain is variable).  The 10pm feed is usually quite small since she's so sleepy at this time.

This evening (7pm feed) I got dh to give dd some ebm from the bottle since I was having such a bad time trying to bf her - she took about 30ml (about 0.5oz I think).

I guess my question is - when you express milk, does your body make more milk for that time of day, or does it just generally make more milk?

[Jennifer2e]

I'm not sure the answer but I hope to hear also.  I have been pumping after Grayson's feeds because he has become lazy about eating.  He is getting more bottles of EBM because I work and I think he prefers them.  I really don't want my supply to go down so I pump after a feeding.  Of course this is a pain.

[Erin (redstarfalling)]

Basically, yes.  If you want to maintain your supply, you should really pump around the same time as you would bf.  To increase supply or have some extra milk, you can pump after a feed or at another time during the day.  To a certain extent, extra pumpings will increase your overall supply, but it's really more that your breasts expect to need to produce milk at that time of day.  So, for instance when your lo is sleeping through the night, after a couple of nights or so, you stop getting engorged because your breasts *know* that you don't need the milk at that time anymore.  They might still be fuller in the morning, but over time, if you don't use or pump the milk from first thing in the morning, you'll stop being as full then too.  HTH!