Is It OK to Just Pump and Not Breastfeed?

The midnight nursing ritual is nothing new to Shafonne Myers, a mom of three from Fishers, Indiana. For more than a decade, she has snuggled and rocked one of her three children back to sleep in a dimly lit nursery. But now, with her youngest, instead of hearing the cooing and suckling of a feeding baby, Myers listens to the whirr of a breast pump extracting her breast milk while the baby in her arms drinks from a bottle.

Myers is one of many parents who are exclusively pumping their breast milk rather than direct-nursing their babies. "I nursed for the first three weeks, and it was hell," she says. Her baby had trouble latching due to her inverted nipples and wasn't feeding well. Her doctor suggested she would need to supplement with formula.

"I didn't want to supplement because I really wanted to strictly give her breast milk for as long as I could," she says. However, as her baby wasn't gaining weight, she decided to start pumping so that she would know the exact quantity of milk her little one was taking in. "I was really discouraged but found out that exclusively pumping was the best option for me," she says.

Read on to learn why it's OK to just pump and not directly breastfeed and about the challenges and benefits of exclusive pumping.

Why Parents Choose to Pump and Not Breastfeed

The World Health Organization (WHO) encourages exclusive breastfeeding for the first six months of a baby's life and then for up to 2 years or longer.

But breastfeeding, in particular nursing, doesn't always come easy for everyone—many find it inconvenient, painful, or even impossible for various reasons. In fact, only 24.9% of infants in the United States were breastfed exclusively through six months, according to the Centers for Disease and Prevention's (CDC) Breastfeeding Report Card released in 2022.

Medical reasons

There are some circumstances when someone may be prevented from initially breastfeeding, like after radiation treatment, some breast surgeries that make it difficult to latch, or when taking certain medications. In addition, the New York Department of Health lists the following as times when breastfeeding is not advisable but expressed breast milk can be offered:

• Active tuberculosis (TB)
• Active herpes lesion
• Varicella (chicken pox)

That said, there are times when breastfeeding can continue with chicken px as long as lesions are covered. And breastfeeding can continue with active TB if the breastfeeding parent is being treated with medication. Talk to a health care provider to determine if you can continue breastfeeding.

Veronica Haywood, RN, co-founder and executive director of Latched, a support group for breastfeeding parents in San Antonio, Texas, says that exclusively pumping may be the only option for some families who want to feed breast milk if either parent or baby has had a medical complication that prevented breastfeeding directly from the breast.

Lifestyle reasons

While Myers was able to nurse and did so for her two older children until work and other issues intervened, nursing wasn't working this time around and also didn't fit into her busy schedule.

"The thought of nursing when having to take my other kids places just didn't make sense," she says. "Pumping works with our lifestyle." On a recent 10-hour drive to Virginia, she was reminded of just how convenient pumping can be compared to breastfeeding: "Luckily, our truck has an outlet, so I just plugged in and pumped with my electric pump," she says.

The Challenges of Pumping and Not Breastfeeding

While exclusively pumping may sound like a great alternative, it comes with its own set of obstacles, including:

• Pumping time
• Needing to feed with a bottle after pumping
• Cleaning bottles and pump parts
• The cost of a breast pump, bottles, and supplies
• Finding a location to pump when on the go

The time commitment

"The major drawback to exclusively pumping is that it takes a lot of time," says Kara Manglani, CNM, a nurse-midwife from New York City. In order to maintain a supply, you'd have to pump every time you give a bottle, which is typically every three hours, even in the middle of the night, she says. Doing so mimics the regular feeding that babies require, which stimulates milk production.

That's especially true when your baby is a newborn and feeds every couple of hours around the clock. Generally, you want to pump as often as your baby would nurse to maintain an adequate milk supply. Double pumps can help to extract milk in about half the time as a standard single pump, so it's usually with the investment.

After pumping, you then need to feed your baby with a bottle. That is in addition to cleaning bottles and pump parts. All this extra time added to the feeding process can make exclusive pumping feel like a full-time job.

The cost

It can also be pricey: While at the most basic level direct nursing costs no money, pumping requires an electric device and storage bottles or bags for the best results. Some insurance plans will partially or fully cover certain breast pumps, but there are still higher-end options like wearable pumps you might prefer for comfort or convenience.

And that's just the base cost. You may also need to purchase additional pump parts like flanges to get the right size, or you may wish to have extras. There are also a number of pumping accessories that can make pumping easier, more convenient, and more comfortable.

Without assistance, a double electric pump can cost around $150 to as much as $500. Pumps can also be unwieldy and need to be taken everywhere, although modern versions are fairly compact and can often fit in a small backpack.

The logistics

You'll also need to find a comfortable space—and, depending on your pump, an outlet—wherever you are, day or night. Not all public nursing rooms have outlets that are easily accessible, so it could be worth calling ahead if you are traveling or going to spend a significant amount of time in any one location.

You'll also need bottles to feed your baby your expressed milk, and milk freezer bags or containers if you wish to store any extra supply.

The Benefits of Pumping and Not Breastfeeding

Myers quickly realized how much forethought and planning had to go into exclusively pumping. "You do have to keep a pretty strict schedule to pump. You have to plan everything around when you pump because when it's time to pump, it's time to pump!" she says.

She always carries a manual pump in her baby's diaper bag for emergencies as well as a nipple shield in case she has to breastfeed.

But for Myers, the extra work is worth it. Many parents agree that the benefits of pumping outweigh the downsides. These benefits can include:

• Freedom to be away
• Flexibility in allowing others to feed the baby
• The ability to see how much milk a baby consumes

Freedom and flexibility

Some may find that even if they are direct nursing, they still need to pump to encourage an increase in their milk supply. Adding pumping to the routine also allows parents to be away from their babies during a typical mealtime and still produce milk for later if they exclusively breastfeed.

The biggest difference between those who nurse and pump and those who exclusively pump is the absence of direct breast contact with the baby. A fact that concerned Myers, who worried that she wouldn't feel as strong of a bond with her baby as she did when nursing her other children.

"But I found that I had just as much bonding with my daughter while bottle feeding as I did with breastfeeding, and I didn't have to struggle to get situated to breastfeed or make sure that we were in the right position," she says. "It was just get the bottle and go."

Tracking how much a baby eats

Myers also liked being able to track just how much her baby was eating. "This really took the guesswork out of it," she says. "I knew how much she was eating and that she was on track and gaining weight like she should."

This is a true relief for those who underproduce breast milk and worry that their baby is getting enough to eat. After all, lactation cookies don't help everyone.

According to Haywood, babies fed with a bottle tend to take in more milk than they would from the breast. She says that exclusively breastfed babies take in an average of 25 ounces (750 mL) per day between the ages of 1 month and 6 months, whereas a typical range of breastmilk bottle intake is 19 to 30 ounces (570–900 mL) per day.

But of course, how much a baby eats at the breast or from a bottle will vary for every baby. "The fast, consistent milk flow of the bottle makes overfeeding more likely," Haywood adds.