There is a EP community recommended total amount of time to pump in a day for EPers, but the amount of time you need to pump at each session can vary.

A Deeper Look:

The amount of time you need to pump at each session can vary based on where you are at in your EP journey, how efficiently you remove milk from your breasts, and the amount of times you pump in a day. 

In the weeks immediately following your baby’s birth, your focus should be on pumping frequently—which is discussed in a post on how often to pump—and thoroughly draining your breasts.  How much milk supply you end up having once your milk is established depends on your attention to both of these factors.

How long you need to pump in any given pump session varies greatly from mama to mama because it depends on how quickly milk is removed from your breasts.  Two of the factors in this process are the speed of your milk flow and how quick your let-downs are.  

Your rate of milk flow can be effected by many things such as the suction speed of your pump, wearing the proper flange size, utilizing undamaged pump parts, and  practicing hands-on pumping—the use of breast massage and compression while pumping. 

For more information on how to pump, click here.
For more information on flange sizing, click here.
For more information on when to replace pump parts, click here.
For information on massage and compression, click here.

If you are able to feel or see your let-downs, the number of let-downs may be a good indicator that you’ve pumped long enough.  One study found that most of a mama’s milk was removed in the first two let-downs.  So aiming to pump for 2-3 let-downs may be a good indicator that you have thoroughly removed your milk.  Your breasts should feel lighter and softer once you have done so.

For more information on let-downs, click here.

Some mamas may only need to pump for 5 or 15 minutes because they have a fast milk-flow rate and their milk lets-down easily.  For others, they may need to pump for 30 minutes.  Since every mama is different, you are person in the best position to know how long you need to pump at each session.

One last thing to consider: many mamas who EP find that they are unable to maintain their milk supply if they pump for less than 120 minutes a day.  Some mamas may need to pump more than that to sustain their supply, while others may be able to get away with less.  There is no scientific evidence to back up pumping a minimum of 120 minutes a day to maintain your supply.  It’s just a number that is discussed amongst EPers, and it happened to hold true for me. You can use this time—120 minutes—as a starting point to calculate the approximate minimum amount of time you should pump at each session.  Are you pumping 8 times a day?  Then perhaps you may find that pumping for 15 minutes at each session is sufficient.  If you are pumping 6 or 4 times a day, then perhaps you may find you need to pump between 20 and 30 minutes a session. 

Of course if you are trying to increase your milk supply, the amount of time you need to pump in a given session may change.  For more information on increasing your milk supply, click here.

The EP&Me Take:

If you’ve previously read a few of my Takes, you know I had no idea what I was doing the first few months of pumping.  During the first and second month I pumped between 5-6 times a day and the amount of time I pumped really ranged from 14 minutes to 39 minutes.  Mamas—this is not the example you want to follow!

When I realized the importance of milk removal shortly after marking 2 months postpartum, I took it to heart, which meant that my morning pumping sessions began taking 60-80 minutes.  Although I only spent a month pumping like this, it felt—and still feels—like it was an eternity.  What I can personally attest to is that it’s absolutely true that you have to pump for a longer period of time if you are wearing the wrong size flange.  I have a large storage capacity (read more about that means here), so that meant that I was going a long period over night without pumping, which resulted in a larger amount of milk to remove during my morning session.  When I was pumping for 60-80 minutes I was using a flange size about  about 9mm too big, once I began using the proper flange size, my time immediately decreased to about 40-45 minutes. What a time saver that switch was!

While 40-45 minutes may still sound like a lot, I don’t think I was ever meant to pump for less time.   Most of the months I EPed, I pumped for longer than 120 minutes a day because I considered my session “complete” only once I had achieved 3 let-downs.  For me, my third let-down often came between 30-37 minutes, which meant that my sessions usually took about 34-40 minutes.  This meant I was generally pumping for 140-160 minutes a day.  I was okay with this because I was only pumping four times a day from my fourth month postpartum and my supply was steady.  If I’m honest though, I was really just too afraid to rock the milk supply the boat by ending my pump sessions after my second let-down.

Additionally, the length of my pump sessions were impacted by some personal factors: I did not like using a very strong suction, my milk flow was never particularly fast, my breast storage capacity was large, and I was not graced with easy let-downs.  In short—I was never going to be a speedy pumper, and that was okay!  I did practice hands-on pumping, and although it did not result in a faster pump session, it DID allow me to remove more milk.  I went from pumping between 29-34 ounces a day to between 35-39 ounces when I began using the hand-on techniques.

Towards the end of my pumping journey—about 9 months postpartum—my pumping sessions climbed up to 40-45 minutes because I dropped down to 3 pumps a day, and I wanted to make sure I was pumping a total of 120 minutes a day.  I know there is no scientific research to back up that number, but it did seem to work for me.  I maintained my supply at 35-38 ounces while only pumping three times a day for 40-45 minutes for two months until I got really sick with a sinus infection, and my supply took a hit of a few ounces that it never recovered from.  Although I could have tried to increase my supply, I didn’t because I was so close to my goal of a year, I had a good freezer stash, and I did not want to dedicate any extra time to pumping.

Just like the amount of times you pump in a day, how long you pump at each session is a decision based on factors that are unique to you.  Some mamas may be done pumping in 8 minutes but they pump 7 times a day, while others, like me, have to pump for 40 minutes but only 4 times a day.  There is no “right” amount of time to pump—there is only what is right for you, mama.  And if you do what is right for you, I have a feeling you’ll succeed.  Good luck mama!