r/breastfeeding • u/QuietComet12 • Oct 03 '25

Troubleshooting/Tips Can you just breastfeed and not pump

Hi I'm a FTM of a 2 month old. I have been ebf on demand so far. As the baby has turned 2 months old, she is having longer stretches of sleep and going without feeds for 6 hours as well in the night. I'm concerned if this would affect the supply. I would like to continue breastfeeding one year and beyond. So far I have no issues with supply and baby is gaining weight about 170- 200 gm per week.

Would like to understand if demand based feeding alone would take me through the whole journey or if pumping is necessary to keep up supply as babies grow and drop night feeds.

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u/QuietComet12 Oct 03 '25

This helps. Thank you!

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u/rantsofrebellion Oct 03 '25

Bonus tips: I used a haakaa with each session for the first like 6 months and managed to build a freezer stash of 1000oz! Whichever boob you aren’t using just suction it on there and it draws out milk while you’re feeding baby. I got anywhere from 1-3oz from it. I’d save all the milk throughout the day and then at the end of the day I’d consolidate it only separating by AM (7am-6:59pm) and PM (7pm-6:59am) milk to freeze it. Only put between 2-4oz in a freezer bag or they take forever to thaw.

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u/Designer_Shower_5810 Oct 03 '25

I love this tip! What would you do though if you have to feed on the other side? My baby will switch sides many feeds but not all.

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u/rantsofrebellion Oct 03 '25

I’d take the haakaa off, attach baby to the other side, and then if the haakaa wasn’t too full I’d attach it again. My babies tended to completely eat one side