The medical protocol takes 6 weeks of every-2-hours pumping, with every-3-hours-overnight pumping for the last two, to bring in a milk supply that is intended for a newborn. I would expect your approach to have a similar timeline, or slightly longer.
That said, thinking of 6 weeks as your minimum, I would start pumping daytime only as soon as it is practical to do so, based on your day-to-day schedule constraints. If your average wait could be as short as three months, and you start pumping after a month of waiting, that’s only 8 weeks of pumping.  I wouldn’t add night pumping until you have a referral in place and are within 2-3 weeks of placement. That will minimize your sleep disruption and help you to feel like you’re waking in the night for a concrete reason.
Also, based on my experience pumping for my daughter with a hospital grade Medela, and for my son with a Pump N Style (PNS), I highly recommend using the WIC pump whenever you can. The PNS is not really meant for an exclusive pumping situation like this, and I found it left me with serious pain after about 13 days, and plain old discomfort well before that. The pain was short-lived, only lasting 2-3 minutes per pumping session, but was enough to make the task of pumping 10-12 times a day quite unpleasant, especially toward the end, and I only had to do it for a few weeks, nowhere near the 6 or more that you’ll be looking at.  If you do wind up using the PNS to bring in your supply, just be very gentle with the pump suction settings and try to remember that your goal in the first month is not to actually produce any milk, but to produce the nipple stimulation that leads to milk!
I found the PNS was great for travel, and great for post-nursing pumping to increase my supply, it just wasn’t comfortable enough to use for long-term exclusive pumping.

I had some pain with pumping too, and went to see a lactation consultant.  They showed me how to hand express, which I never did with my bio son, and I find it a lot easier!  I use the tea once in a while, and domperidone.  Remember, you can use an SNS while your supply builds up too.  I supply about 1/4 of my 11 week olds feedings.

Good luck!

Thanks ladies! I will be joining an agency in 2 weeks. Im so excited! I was really thinking about starting to pump with the tea the second week of august. Whats your input on doing this way before my homestudy is approved? I know using this method to induce lactation is going to possibly take longer. I will probably pump 3x a day with hospital grade pump until homestudy is approved and then pump up to 5-6x a day.

Hey!  Just chiming in from a bit ago…I used the Newman-Goldfarb protocol twice, once for my daughter and once for a failed placement.  It worked beautifully.  That said, I think the mothers milk tea will take longer, so if you’re comfortable pumping now, that would be a great way to start. 

If you’re just wanting to do herbal induction, I would suggest getting fenugreek and blessed thistle in pill-form.  I took these in conjunction with my other meds as suggested in the protocol I used.  You’ll get much higher levels using pills, that you most likely cant get from the tea, even if you drank it constantly.

The milk you pump is good for a year in a deep freezer, and 6 months in a regular freezer.  If it takes longer than that, take a look into donating the milk to another adoptive mom, or just another mom to give to her baby.  Lots of moms take donor milk…and there are lot of places you can donate, without being screened etc.  Eats on Feets on Facebook is one place you can go…

GOOD LUCK!  This was the best thing I ever did for my daughter and I…and I wish it had lasted longer…so bittersweet…