nickilubs said:
Before I say more, remember that the fact I am doing this proves my insanity, it is not necessarily something that you would want to consider in the slightest.
Until she was 5 months DD was exclusively fed expressed breast milk. Then I started introducing one feed a day of formula (out of 6 feeds). Now she is 6 months she still has 6 feeds a day but now 2 of those are formula.
MIL bought me the Avent Isis IQ uno after 4 weeks so that meant a lot less wrist pain! A week or so ago I realised that I had no intention of stopping with the expressing so I should get a double pump. I called the NCT advisor and was recommended the Ameda Lactaline dual pump. It only cost £85 (most double pumps are £200) and it is amazing! I express 350ml in the morning and another 350ml in the evening and that gives DD 4 bottles of breast milk with only an hour or so of expressing per day!
If you want to continue expressing for some of the feeds remember that there is a supply and demand issue with milk. I think you said you ended up expressing hourly - that would mean your body would be trying to make milk hourly and I think that might be what caused the mastisis. I could be very wrong though as I have never had it. Try to get more in one sitting rather than lots of little feeds perhaps. Also remember as you move her on to formula that you can't just give up, you'll need to drop feeds bit by bit or else you will cause more breast problems. I think the advice is to give up one meal and then wait 3 days to a week before giving up another.
If you want to continue expressing I strongly recommend you get an electric pump. The medala ones are supposed to be so noisy you can't hear TV. I let my friend who has a medala hear my breast pump and she was shocked at how quiet it is. Don't get me wrong, it's not silent, but I don't have to turn up the TV either. The Avent electric one was OK but not as good as the Ameda dual electric pump (which can also be used as a single electric pump) and they are the same price. The suck power on it can be very very gentle or suck your nipples off! At least I'm guessing that's what would happen if I put it on full suck.
I put it half way which is a lot more powerful than the Avent.
