Technically you shld pump whenever your child needs to feed if your supply matches demand.
Are you latching and pumping? Or just pumping?
Why do you wanna pump if you're fully latching? Is it becoz you wanna store for future use? Bear in mind that since you're fully latching, any more pumping would mean trying to increase milk supply so next time when you stop pumping, you may still get engorgement...
oh dear, you may want to monitor the situation. Is she feeling insecure and wants comfort?
Breastmilk consist of foremilk and hindmilk. Foremilk is the milk that your baby will get in the initial suckling (first five minutes or so) and consist mostly of lactose and water which makes babies very gassy. It's great for quenching thirst but has very little fat and protein that baby needs in order to pack on the weight.
Hindmilk is like the full cream milk of breast milk. Your baby gets hindmilk when s/he suckles for a period of time on the SAME breast and consist mostly of fats and proteins. Your baby needs this to put on weight and also, hindmilk is more filling so s/he won't suckle so often.
If your breasts are constantly engorged, you need to check a few things:
1) How is the latch on and is your baby drinking well? Signs to watch out for are softer breasts after nursing, baby putting on weight and such, diaper count and baby showing signs of "drunkenness" after a feed.
2) How long is your baby nursing at each feed? While many midwives and paeds dont't recommend looking the clock but instead observing cues from your baby, the estimated duration of suckling on ONE breast - as given by my midwife - is 30 minutes. If it's longer, you should find out why - could be your latch on is incorrect, baby is asleep on the breast instead of drinking (no no - your boobs shouldn't be the pacifier FIRST), and so forth).
3) How are you nursing? Are you nursing from just one boob or both? Also, are you switching boobs at each feed - meaning at 2pm, you start with the right boob and finish off with the left boob; then at 4-5pm, you start with the left boob and end with the right boob, etc? If you're constantly nursing from just one boob, you could end up stimulate one boob to overproduce milk and hence the engorgement.
Also, I noticed that your baby is around 6-7 weeks old - she could be going through a growth spurt which means that she'll want to nurse more frequently. Or perhaps she has had a long day, hence why she could want to nurse more at night. Some babies will want to nurse more often at night in order to sleep for longer hours.
If the engorgement is really unbearable, get your baby to empty your breasts and apply a cold compress for 20 minutes (avoid the nipple & areola). dont't worry, after a while your supply will stabilize again.
