One thing that often gets recommended to women that are trying to increase their milk supply is power pumping. One advantage of power pumping is that it doesn’t require trying any new supplements or medications, and anyone can do it. Here is everything you need to know to try it out.
What is power pumping? How can power pumping help me increase my milk supply?
Power pumping attempts to mimic cluster feeding, but with a breast pump. (This is why it’s also called “cluster pumping.”)
When a nursing baby cluster feeds, he stays at the breast, nursing on and off and trying to get more milk. Often, this happens in the early evenings – both because that’s when babies start to tank up for a longer stretch of sleep and because breastfeeding mothers tend to have lower milk supply at that time. It also happens when babies have a growth spurt, and they need more milk than they normally do.
Because breast milk works as a supply and demand system – meaning that the more milk your body thinks your baby needs, the more it will make – the baby staying at the breast signals the body that there is more demand, which often leads to a higher milk supply.
Power pumping breast milk is just your pump staying at the breast and trying to get more milk, instead of your baby. Fortunately, your pump likely to be less fussy than a hungry baby.
How do I power pump to increase supply?
In order to power pump, you’ll want to sit down and pump on and off at an interval for about an hour. You can choose the interval that works for you – you can do 10 minutes pumping and 10 minutes resting, 12 minutes on and 8 off, 15 and 5, etc. The amount of time doesn’t have to be exact – cluster feeding babies don’t nurse for exactly 15 minutes, take a 5 minute break, etc. You just want to spend at least half the time pumping and some time resting.
That’s pretty much all you have to do!
One power pumping session replaces one of your pumping sessions from your normal schedule, so you can just pump at your usual time, but for longer than you normally would and at intervals.
Note: If you’re power pumping and nothing is coming out, you should keep pumping! Your goal is to get another letdown, which will give you more milk.
How many times should I power pump breast milk in a day?
Once is great. If you want to do twice and you can manage it, that’s fine, but make sure that you don’t pump so much that you get burned out and miserable. You are worth more to your baby than a few extra ounces of breast milk.
Can I power pump with a manual pump?
Yes. To use a manual pump when cluster pump, you would pump each side for 12 minutes, and then switch back and forth on each side for 8 minutes. So instead of resting completely, each side takes a turn to rest.
As an example, you could do:
- Left side – 12 minutes
- Right side – 12 minutes
- Left side – 8 minutes
- Right side – 8 minutes
- Left side – 8 minutes
- Right side – 8 minutes
- Left side – 8 minutes
- Right side – 8 minutes
(If your hand gets tired, you can obviously take a few minutes to completely rest in between sides, too.)
How can I make power pumping easier?
Do something that you enjoy while you power pump! Pick a time when you can sit and relax a little bit (just, you know … with your breast pump). Watch a show you love, read a book, spend time looking at cat gifs, whatever makes you happy.
Make sure that you have a pumping station set up with everything you need, since you’ll be there awhile. Also, a hands-free bra is key – no one wants to spend an hour holding flanges up to their breasts.
If possible, don’t try to take care of a baby and power pump at the same time. I would try to save power pumping for when your baby is sleeping or you have help.
I’m not getting any more milk when I power pump than I do at my normal pumping sessions. What’s going on?
It takes a few days for your body’s supply to respond to the increased demand from your breast pump. Try to power pump for four days in a row (up to a week) before you decide it’s not working.
What results should you expect from power pumping? It will be different for everyone – some women will see no change, and others will see a lasting supply increase of several ounces.
Good luck! If you’ve tried power pumping, please feel free to share your experience in the comments!
References- Madden, Kate, IBCLC. “Empty Evening Boobs.” https://balancedbreastfeeding.com/empty-evening-boobs/
- Mlynek, Alex. “How to survive your newborn’s cluster feeding.” https://www.todaysparent.com/baby/breastfeeding/how-to-survive-your-newborns-cluster-feeding/
I power pumped for the first time in January when my supply unexpectedly tanked (after 10 months of a great oversupply). It was easier than I thought it’d be, though a bit hard on my boobs. (I made it the next-to-last session of the night, though, so they were able to heal up overnight) It did work for me, and I was able to go back to my normal pumping schedule the following week with a supply that had mostly righted itself.
That’s great!
This is my experience extactly! I’ve had an oversupply for 10 months, then a fast drop off. How many days did you power pump in the evening before you saw the increase in milk?
My production tanked after getting my first period since delivering and because I was putting such large gaps between pumps. Along with making sure I pumped every 4 hours and frequent nursing, “Healthy nursing tea” has absolutely made my production come back to what it was when I was first engorged.
This is so helpful! I recently started exclusively pumping as I was having a lot of anxiety over not knowing how much milk my little one was getting from the boob. Turns out my supply was low and he wasn’t getting enough! I’m going to see if the power pumping helps!
Hi Lane. I think it was like 3-4 days to seeing results; one week after I began, my supply was OK again and I was able to drop the power pumps. Hope it works for you!
Tonight I tried power pumping for the first time as a suggestion from a coworker. Only my left breast produces anything so here’s hoping this power pump thing works for one breast! As of right now I’m only expressing 1.5-2 ounces at a time. Not nearly enough to sustain my little guy so we have to supplement with formula. I don’t mind supplementing but I would love to not have to. Sadly I don’t think that will ever be an option. But I have come to accept that any breast milk that I am able to give him is much better than no breast milk at all. Fingers crossed that power pumping will help me give him a little more!
I hope it works! Good luck!
My LO is 8 weeks and I have to pump 35-40 minutes to get only about 1.5-2 oz. It takes at least 15 min for anything to come out. So should I still just do 1 hour of power pumping? Or longer since it already takes my a long time to get any milk? Thank you! It would be so amazing if this worked.
Hi . So if I’m understanding this right…. For example if I pump at 6pm for 20 minutes I would add another hour ? I’m a little confuse ?
Thank you 🙂
Hi Darla! You would make it an hour total. So an extra 40 minutes from the 20 you already do. Does that make sense?
I’m gonna try this tonight for the first time and continue for a week. I also plan on doubling my water and powerade intake, buy oatmeal cookies, and maybe some brewers yeast supplements. I really want to get my supply greater than 1 oz per boob per pump!
Babygirl is currently 2 weeks old and my milk just started a week ago.
How many times do i have to power pump? I ussulay pump at work & breastefeed on demand at home. Do I pump after i feed baby? how many session do I have to do per day and for how long
Once a day should be too! And yes, you can pump after feeding your baby, if you’re nursing too!
I’m attempting this today, does it have any affect during the night? I can go about 8 hours without feeling uncomfortable and I’m hoping to not have to worry about being woken up with engorgement and needing to pump!