Long term breastfeeding works most easily if you directly feed your baby for about the first six weeks, without pumping. It is unlikely that you will take the same amount of milk as the baby does when pumping.
The baby is generally (if not ill or premature) able to get the milk more efficiently than a pump can. This will lead to a reduced supply if you pump too often.
If you pump out more milk than the baby would have taken this leads to an over supply. Often over supply is worse than under supply with the baby crying, chocking or fussing at the breast, and the mother being much more likely to get plugged ducts, mastitis and having that uncomfortable full feeling for much longer than normal.
After six weeks the milk supply is much more stable and pumping generally doesn?t cause so many problems.
Remember that a normal lactating breast is soft, not hard and the very full feeling usually fades after the first couple of months, unless you over stimulate your breasts by too much pumping.
Once the milk supply is well established, around six weeks, your body will replace the amount taken out. If you leave your breasts full then your body will take this as a request to reduce the amount of milk it makes. If you want to increase the milk the quickest way is to get the baby to feed on empty breasts ? this tells your body to make more milk.
My best suggestion for helping with the tiredness of early breastfeeding is to learn to breastfeed lying down. This way you can get more rest even if you don?t get more sleep. I?d start by lying down in the middle of the day and so learn how to do it then once you know the night feeds will be much easier.
Have you considered joining one of the LLL meeting and asking the mothers there how they manage to get enough sleep? I find I learn new tips at every meeting. The meeting schedule is at
http://www.lllhk.org/Meetings.html