Expressing to feed for longer periods...

[abcd1234]

So much for staying away from PF, (smileys wont work for me as Dave has messed up my computer to try and make me stay away from here, plz feel free to imagine the smileys that would be appropriate in this post lol), as usual i need some advice from BFing mummies.

Tally starts at the childminders on Tuesday (eek) and will be there for 3 days a week until after xmas, all 3 days are quite long days and i want to continue giving her mummy milk if i can. We're doing so well with BFing and i'd hate to lose that due to being away from her a bit.

I'm concerned that i wont be able to express enough milk for her for those days. I have no idea how much she'll need whilst i'm gone and atm i'm expressing 6oz in the morning and will express again when i get bk from uni as my boobs will have had ages to fill, i should again get 6oz out (hopefully) and feed her off the other boob when she's back home with me.

Will this be enough milk for the three days? It's about 20 hours overall and i should be able to express about 60oz a week, thats (quick calculation) 20 oz for each day i leave her (that sounds like loads)

Plus will expressing cause my supply to lessen at all? She seems to "starving" by night time atm as i've taken those 6oz away from her, but it's not affecting her sleeping at all so i assume she's getting what she needs, i hope it'll sort itself out soon.

I think i'd actually do pretty much anything to be able to continue feeding her myself, i think i love our cuddles more then she does at times and i'm too damn lazy to be preparing bottles every morning, it's already too much for my brain to take working out how do things when the milk i'm providing will be mainly frozen and need changing from bags to bottle without making my childminders life too difficult.

OMG i'll have been breast feeding for 3 months next monday, and we've made 12 weeks today, YAY that was one of my goals, next i just want to take a month at a time.

Quick edit... Just wondering, i read somewhere that a BF baby should use the slower teats so it's harder for them to get milk out the bottle and they're less likely to get lazy and prefer bottle to booby. Is this true?? Plus if i wa bottle feeding her what teet would she be on now? She's only ever had milk outta the NB teats but i only have one booby bottle with a NB teat the rest are the next size up. God i wish i could jsut take her to uni and feed her, then i wouldnt have this issue and so many bloody questions

 

[clarey]

Sorry hun, dont know if I can help you but didnt want to read and run, CONGRATS at getting to 3 months!!! Thats such a great achievement!
I understand why you are so keen to continue giving her breastmilk, I think the longer it goes on the more stubborn I have got about giving her anything other than mummy milk lol.
I guess you might find that it gets harder to express as she will probably gradually need more while you are away, and pumping isnt as efficient as baby sucking but I am sure I have read other posts where mums who work have said their LOs seem to save themselves a bit until they get home and make up for it when they are together and have a good long feed then, so hopefully Tally will adjust and do this too and it will be a lovely reuniting thing after being apart for the day. Good luck and dont beat yourself up if you find you need formula from time to time!

 

[Sherlock]

OK here is my take on it.

Firstly, I'd do a trial run one day and see how much she takes from bottles. Time it and see if you can work out how many feeds she'll be taking in the time till you feed her when picking her up. Feed her from your boob in the morning as you would if you were going to uni. Note the time. Then do the other feeds from bottles for the day as the childminder will be doing. Check times she has them and how much she takes. Then at the time you yourself would normally feed her in the afternoon/evening after uni then do so from your boob.

My guess at that age you could get away with 4-5 ozs per feed. So express what she will need and a little extra. If she takes about 4ozs per feed, try to leave 5. That's 4-5 feeds per day for the childminder. She will need more as time passes and she grows of course.

I worry that leaving your boobs to fill for 3 days a week will cause problems with your supply. They will adjust to the demand placed on them and your supply may dip. Then when you are not at uni of course the demand will increase again. It's going to cause them to possibly get messed up and therefore affect Tally's feeding from them. I'd be looking to express a few times in the day at least and storing that milk if you can for use in the next few days. I don't think going 6-8 hours without expressing is wise and I'd try to express the times you would normally feed. That way your body has the continuing regular demand in place of the infrequent demand 3 days a week.

And yes, I'd make sure to get a slower flowing teat so she has to still work at feeding. Tally is older now but 3 days on bottles that just let milk pour down her throat without any real effort might mean she starts preferring them.

 

[jills10uk]

the only part i can help with is tell you that my 1 month old hungry monster takes up to 6oz of my milk from a bottle at one time and that will last him 3 hours or so. we got the tommy tipee closer to nature bottles and he does have to suck quite hard to get at it. what ever bottles you use i'd make sure that there is only 1 hole for the milk to come out of otherwise it may come out too fast

 

[beanie]

I went back to work when Seren was 5 1/2 months old and found that my supply was fine. It had stabilised and because I was feeding her more from me there was no adverse effect on my supply. Could you perhaps look at expressing once a day at Uni (talk to someone regarding a private room), even if you throw it away it stimulating your bobs. I did express but not for long as I found it uncomfortable (there were no really suitable rooms for me to go in). Seren also took less milk at nursery then she did from me on the days we were together.

 

[flowergirl]

I am doing exactly the same as you- first day at nursery for Kathryn is this Wednesday!

I have left her for a day at the end of August and she fed strangely to say the least!

6am- boobie feed
9:30am- 7.5oz EBM
1:30pm 3oz EBM
6pm refused bottle because mummy was back and had 20 minutes on the boob!

In short I can't advise about how much milk you will need as I have no real idea either!
I have read that babies need about 18-20oz of milk in each 24hr period so if you can keave 200z a day then that should be plenty!

Kathryn did mange to take three 7oz bottles between 7am and 8pm when she was younger and with her grandma for the day- but grandma is VERY stubborn and probably force fed her!

I'll let you know how Wednesday goes!

oh btw- I only mange to express 3-6oz each day so have been stock piling for months in readiness for my return to work!

 

[flowergirl]

Well first day at nursery went fine. This is what she ate during the day.

070 - boobie feed 8 mins
090- 5oz bottle EBM
11:20- 1oz bottle EBM
13:20 - 1oz bottle EBM
16:15- 3oz bottle EBM
17:45 - 5 mins boobie feed
18:30- 6 mins boobie feed (bed)
210 -1.5oz EBM (using up spare!) and 5 min boobie feed


I sent about 19 oz with her for her time at nursery but as you can see she only had about 10oz which is roughly half of her daily requirement. The rest she must get from me.

 

[abcd1234]

Glad to see it went well for you, Tally's not really drinking whilst at the childminder, she had less then 2oz in 5 hours yesterday she seems ok though and is making up for it when im around her.

I kinda hope she keeps on taking less whilst with the childminder as it means less pressure on me to express.

Last and longest day of the week today, im jsut about to drop her off and i wont see her again until 6 eeek, i hope it goes ok again.

 

[Nicky_Jones]

When Ellie started at nursery she didn't take the bottle well either. Thankfully she only needed 2 bottles whilst at nursery as I reduced my day length so that I could drop her off at 8am and pick her up just before 4pm. She initally only took about 1oz from each bottle. I carried on expressing as much as I could at her normal times (10:30 and 13:30). Overtime the amount she took increased to about 12-14oz between the 2 bottles. Make sure you carry on expressing as much as you can at your normal times so that supply doesn't drop. The only time I had trouble with my supply while expressing was when I became ill (combination of going back to work and all their bugs and illness, and the bugs going round nursery, meant I just got one thing after another). I used Fenugreek for a few days to get my supply back to where it was.

 

[andreag]

I went back to work when LO was 4.5 months and had built up a large supply in the freezer in 6oz bags, which were what we used for each feed. I fed her before going out, then she had 3 6oz feeds during the day, fed her when I came home and at bedtime. I expressed twice during the day at work. We used the slowest flowing teat for newborns. It worked well for a couple of months, but then she decided she prefered the bottle to boob, and by 6 months had weaned off the boob. I would definatly try to express during the day - I took a small coolbag (that you get for keeping cans in) with freezer blocks in to keep the milk refrigerated. There was not a problem with my supply but I think so much bottle feeding did make her lazy.

 

[abcd1234]

Well again she was at the childminders for 7hours and only took 4oz the whole time. She did however take the spare bottle from Dave without fuss as soon as i got her home.

I'm not sure if its the bottles she doesnt want or if she's just not 100% comfortable being with someone new. She seems ok though and i've been expressing every morning, then before i leave on a tuesday and when i get bk, on thursday i expressed again before picking her up, and friday i had to express in the corner of the university car park as i was in agony!! luckily no-one saw and i managed to keep the milk cold so it's been frozen and will be used on tuesday.

She's quite happy atm and hopefully it'll continue, she certainly favours booby, and she gulps down the bottles i give her even though she's still on the newborn teats.

I've got everything crossed that she continues this way!! 3 months of exclusive breast feeding 2mos!!!! I'm SOOOOOO proud of myself lol

 

[flowergirl]

Well done abcd1234!

It certainly becomes more challenging breastfeeding once you have to consider feeding whilst you are away from your LO. Glad it's going well xxx

 

[ASD123456]

Hello,

Only just seen this thread but seeing as I'm kind of in the same situation I though I'd reply.

I go to college on a Monday and Tuesday, I'm there until 5ish on Mon and 3ish on Tues. I usually wait until lunch to express and do this in the toilets at the moment as they haven't sorted out a room for me to express in yet , it's not the best situation but I manage to express about 4-6oz then, which th canteen store in the fridge for me. I then also express during the afternoon break arund 2ish and on a monday I will usually express once more. I use all of Mondays milk for Tuesdays feeds and then express and freeze during the rest of the week for the following mondays feeds.

I leave about 20oz on a monday and 15oz on a Tuesday. I feed him myself at around 8am before I leave, he'll then be awake until 10am when he will have a 5oz feed. Then he will feed again between 12 and 1pm, then will have a sleep and wake for his next feed at 2-3pm. His next feed will be from me, or if he can't hold out on a Monday he will have one more bottle usually just before I get home. I find he will eat the most at lunch time so tend to leave an extra ounce for him at that time.

It's lovely getting home and feeding him because expressing just isn't the same. I use NUK size 1 teats on plain cheapie superdrug wide neck bottles. The flow is pretty slow on them and they're shaped like a nipple (thanks to Sherlok for this piece of advice )

Well done on reaching the 3month mark, you must be really proud. Hope the expressing keeps going well.

Alex xxx

 

[Sherlock]

It's lovely getting home and feeding him because expressing just isn't the same. I use NUK size 1 teats on plain cheapie superdrug wide neck bottles. The flow is pretty slow on them and they're shaped like a nipple (thanks to Sherlok for this piece of advice )

Alex xxx

Ooo good to hear things are going well there with the expressing and feeding I know what you mean about having LO feed from you rather than express. I am always so happy to get home and feed my boy if I've had to leave him a few hours. Nothing like the boob! Glad the NUK teats are working for you. Galen got on well with them when he had EBM in the early days. Same with the dummies.