EBF - wanting to express

I started expressing at around three weeks for the same reason. Expressing after baby's morning feed (6am ish) works best for me. Looking up advice from health visitors on different platforms suggests that supply is usually higher in the mornings. Changing from evening pumps to morning worked really well for me. Then I pump when baby has his occasional bottle. I don't pump everyday now I have a small stash, just when I'm still feeling a bit full after his morning feed.

I started pumping at about 6 weeks. I think it’s advised to wait until 6 weeks to try and not affect your milk supply. When I first started I would pump a little after each feed until I got enough for one bottle (at the beginning this was 4 oz, now my LO takes 5oz bottles). When my partner feeds the baby I pump for the next day. I was also really fortunate and my LO started sleeping through the night at about 2/3 months so I started pumping at around 3/4am and built up a frozen stash. In my experience I get a lot more from pumping between 3-6 am. Hope this helps!!

Professionals will tell you not to pump until around 6 weeks or you risk creating oversupply. However, if you’re very careful you can express before this. I would probably avoid electric pumps for the time being and either hand express a little each feed during the day or use a haaka on one side when you feed on the other. Technically a haaka is still a pump but I know lots of people who use it before 6 weeks and their supply was unaffected. Good luck!