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Pumping, bottles and donor milk

Whether you will express breast milk, when you will introduce a bottle, and whether you would ever use donor milk from a milk bank or another person.

Should we pump, use bottles or use donor milk?

In short: Parents choose between 7 main approaches: No pumping; Occasional; Regular; Exclusive pumping; bottle from birth; Once breastfeeding is established; Never; milk-bank donor milk; Informal sharing. Evidence: your call. No outcome evidence picks a winner. Preference, culture, money and logistics decide. Best settled: during pregnancy.

Evidence
Your call
Best settled
During pregnancy
Part of
Pregnancy to first birthday

Pumping, bottles and donor milk: what are the options?

Parents usually land on one of these 7 approaches.

  1. 1. No pumping

    You do not express milk.

  2. 2. Occasional

    You pump now and then, for example for a night out.

  3. 3. Regular

    You pump routinely, for example for work or shared feeding.

  4. 4. Exclusive pumping; bottle from birth

    The baby is fed only pumped milk, from a bottle from the first days.

  5. 5. Once breastfeeding is established

    You wait until breastfeeding is going well before offering a bottle.

  6. 6. Never; milk-bank donor milk

    You never use a bottle; and if needed you would use screened milk from a milk bank.

  7. 7. Informal sharing

    You would accept breast milk directly from another mother.

Pumping, bottles and donor milk: what does the evidence say?

Your call. No outcome evidence picks a winner. Preference, culture, money and logistics decide.

The AAP supports pasteurized donor milk mainly for small preterm babies (under 1,500 g) when the mother's own milk is unavailable, and says it should come from established milk banks that screen and pasteurize; it advises against internet-based or informal milk sharing because of contamination and drug exposure risks. In the US, the PUMP Act (2022) requires employers to give reasonable break time and a private space that is not a bathroom to pump for one year after the child's birth. Bottle timing and pumping routines are preference; no outcome research was retrieved

Sources

What else is worth knowing?

Pumping lets someone else feed the baby and helps when you return to work, and it takes time and equipment. When to introduce a bottle is debated. Donor milk from a milk bank is screened and pasteurized, which informal sharing is not.

Questions to ask each other

  • Are we open to a bottle, and who would give it?
  • How do we feel about donor milk, and would we ever use milk from someone we know?
  • What would pumping at work or on trips need to look like?

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First published 2026-10-03. Last updated 2026-10-05. General information, not medical advice.