A sea of questions on Expressed milk

[moodia]

We have started getting a bottle a night of expressed milk ready for oh to deliver at weekends with the aim of me getting extra sleep!
BUT it never seems to be enough and oh goes mad trying to calm the baby down and not disturb me but only the boob stops him screaming.

Is there any guidelines on how much a baby should have aprox per feed? He is 3 weeks and 3 oz didn't touch the sides.

Also how long for and when to express? Should I mix milk from different pumping sessions?
A friend said she expresses 10 mins after every feed?


Finally with American style fridge/freeze
What if milk splits in fridge, is it still good?
can we freeze milk for 6 months?
Can we leave milk out of fridge ready for oh's feed in the night?

Apologies if you've heard it all before!

 

[Karate Kid]

We have started getting a bottle a night of expressed milk ready for oh to deliver at weekends with the aim of me getting extra sleep!
BUT it never seems to be enough and oh goes mad trying to calm the baby down and not disturb me but only the boob stops him screaming.

Is there any guidelines on how much a baby should have aprox per feed? He is 3 weeks and 3 oz didn't touch the sides.

Also how long for and when to express? Should I mix milk from different pumping sessions?
A friend said she expresses 10 mins after every feed?


Finally with American style fridge/freeze
What if milk splits in fridge, is it still good?
can we freeze milk for 6 months?
Can we leave milk out of fridge ready for oh's feed in the night?

Apologies if you've heard it all before!

It varies from baby to baby, and it is very much trial and error. maybe try 4Oz and see if he drains the bottle? He could also be looking for comfort. My mum once told me that BFing is an experience for our babies they can touch,smell,see us along side us feeding them.

That said, we need our sleep to function! Has hubby tried a dummy?

I express after the first morning feed because I generally get the most out at that time. I pump for 10 mons on each side and manage 6-7 Oz on average but C is 17 weeks old.

You can mix milk from different sessions but I normally only mix milk pumped within 24hrs of eachother.

Milk will always split into it's constituent parts- watery foremilk and fatty hindmilk. When you warm the milk you will notice it mixing itself, try not to mix it.

From the time pumped breastmilk stays fresh for:

6 hours at room temp
5 days in the fridge- ensure it us at the back of the fridge.
6 months in a freezer.

You can leave fridge cold milk to be brought to room temp ready for a feed as long as you use it within 6 hours.

Hope that helps xx

 

[tweetyfoo]

^wss

 

[l_maclean]

Well answered karate kid - although I was under the impression that you have 8hours at room temp, and 10days in the fridge. I've gone by that, and only once had EBM go off (after 2 car journeys so prob was too hot to go back in fridge!) and no dodgy tummies.


Also the amount, when we first started with EBM Georgia drank twice what I would have expected - 6oz in one go most of the time, after a wee while she go used to it and dropped way down to three. There is a def comfort element to it to start with. A dummy might help as it would let LO comfort suck.
Xxx


On my iPhone - so cant see tickers

 

[cosmicgirl]

My baby deffo uses the boob for comfort.
He will often cry once back in his basket, dad can't comfort him so ill put him on the boob. He'll have the nipple in his mouth but there'll be no swallowing. Just comfort suckling, try and take that away and he goes mad! I don't mind as its normally in the evening when I'm just sat watching tv, I like the closeness too x

 

[Karate Kid]

Well answered karate kid - although I was under the impression that you have 8hours at room temp, and 10days in the fridge. I've gone by that, and only once had EBM go off (after 2 car journeys so prob was too hot to go back in fridge!) and no dodgy tummies.

It's amazing stuff so I am sure it is fine, I just went by what I read on Kellymom xx

 

[Karate Kid]

My mum once told me that BFing is an experience for our babies they can touch,smell,see us along side us feeding them.

Read this back and it makes me sound like I didn't already know this and that I am only BFing for the benifits of breast milk. I'm not though! It just helped when my mum spent it out for me when C was attached to me for near on a week!! Xx

 

[l_maclean]

Well answered karate kid - although I was under the impression that you have 8hours at room temp, and 10days in the fridge. I've gone by that, and only once had EBM go off (after 2 car journeys so prob was too hot to go back in fridge!) and no dodgy tummies.

It's amazing stuff so I am sure it is fine, I just went by what I read on Kellymom xx

I used mother 2 mother websit. It has a lot of great info. Xxx


On my iPhone - so cant see tickers

 

[Kellybean]

I'm adopting tough love and it is slowly working.

I feed Massan for an hour a session and sometimes he screams the house down when I take him off boob when he is just holding nipple in mouth and not eating, I ignore him (knowing he is not hungry) and let him murmur himself to sleep. I'm alone and need my sleep, don't have the energy to allow him to just have boob in mouth as a comfort and I don't want to rely on a dummy (not yet...) he is slowly getting used to it and last night he tried to start crying when I took boob away and he soon gave up, I felt so good then, rather than guilty.

If the milk has separated in the fridge it is still absolutely fine to use, make sure you give it a good shake. Also you can always take the milk out of the fridge when you need it and heat with some hot water (I have a bottle warmer) but not in the microwave, not with breast milk.

5 days in the fridge, never heard of 10 but if it is working then I don't see why not keeping it that long.

I have kept milk out for 5 hours and still been fine.

 

[Karate Kid]

I have always been advised not to shake breast milk but to allow it to mix gently once it has been heated. X

 

[tweetyfoo]

I have always been advised not to shake breast milk but to allow it to mix gently once it has been heated. X

Problem I find is that when I store it in plastic bottles - the good fatty milk sticks to the sides and the only way to get it off is to shake it

 

[Kellybean]

Oh! Oops I always shake as like tweety foo says the fats stick to the sides :s such contradicting advice out there x

 

[MrsT2011]

Run the bottle under warm running water as this helps the fatty milk unstick from the sides x

 

[Karate Kid]

Run the bottle under warm running water as this helps the fatty milk unstick from the sides x

^^WSS x

 

[tweetyfoo]

I will give that a wee go! Thanks girls xx