More questions re breastfeeding/expressing

[Sophie_P]

Can you express colostrum straightaway or do you need milk to come in first?
What is hindmilk and foremilk?
Once breastfeeding is established can you only give baby bottle of expressed at night so OH can help?
How do you know when breastfeeding is established? Is this when baby can latch on with no problems etc.

Thanks. Xx

 

[tweetyfoo]

I can only really help on the expressing front as I exclusively expressed for 11 months.

They recommend that you don't machine express until 60 hours post birth, but you can hand express colostrum for the first few days. Baby will work much better at getting milk flow jump started though, so if you get a latch you shouldn't need to express hopefully.

An expressed bottle can be given any time, but they do advise to wait until bfing is established. Although, from what I know nipple confusion is actually not as common as people think. However, don't miss too many feeds as it will affect your supply.

Foremilk is the watery milk that baby will get first, the hind milk is fattier and more of what baby needs(I hope I've got that the right way around)

 

[Sophie_P]

Thanks chick.
I do eventually want to express as soon as possible so OH can help through the night sometimes. You reccommend waiting at least a few days before I pull the breast pump out?

 

[Sophie_P]

Thanks chick.
I do eventually want to express as soon as possible so OH can help through the night sometimes. You reccommend waiting at least a few days before I pull the breast pump out?

 

[tweetyfoo]

I would say so yeah, thing is in the beginning you will need to feed or express through the night to get your supply up anyway, and trust me you would rather feed than express!

 

[Sophie_P]

That makes sense but this is all so confusing lol

 

[tweetyfoo]

When you've never done it before its all very daunting, but once you see it in action it all starts to make sense. x

 

[Sophie_P]

Is it easy enough to express whilst lo being fed on other boob?

 

[tweetyfoo]

I don't have any experience of it as my lo was unable to latch, but I know others have done it x

 

[EmiLou123]

I would say so yeah, thing is in the beginning you will need to feed or express through the night to get your supply up anyway, and trust me you would rather feed than express!

This!

I expressed for a week when my lo was a few weeks old as I was struggling with bf but it was so hard work I ended up bf instead... breastfeeding all clicked into place around week 5/6 xxx

tapatalking x

 

[Sophie_P]

Thanks hun. What do I do about OH helping out?

 

[EmiLou123]

Good question ha.. my oh doesn't really help out with anything... I do all feeds (including solids as now weaning), baths, nappy changes, bed time routine, night wake ups etc lol.

Maybe you could find something else for your oh to help you out with if he's more hands on?

Only problem I have now at 6.5 months is he refuses milk from a bottle (formula or expressed) so once you do get acquainted with bf maybe express a bottle now and then so your lo will take one if needs be? Xxx

tapatalking x

 

[Sophie_P]

That's what I mean. I will need to express sooner or later as i'll be going back to work when baby is six months old. My oh has already said she wants to get involved with feeding so looks like I may have to just try express once breastfeeding is established.

 

[Claire123]

Thanks hun. What do I do about OH helping out?

A good system we had was I would feed baby then hand her to oh and he would wind and change her and have cuddles, that helped him feel involved xx

Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk 2

 

[Sophie_P]

Did it work? X

 

[EmiLou123]

You will need to build up a freezer supply if you're planning on continuing with breast milk once you go back to work x

tapatalking x

 

[Sophie_P]

Yeah, this is what I've been thinking. Good job we are getting a bigger freezer soon x

 

[tweetyfoo]

Thanks hun. What do I do about OH helping out?

He can help out with all the other things, mostly you will want him to feed you and bring you cups of tea, sort out things like housework, and running errands etc.

Then you can concentrate on getting bfing established and not have to worry about anything else

 

[Clairexx]

Hi Sophie, I did a lot of expressing whilst breastfeeding so that my oh could help, and so that I could get off the sofa and out and about sometimes as he constantly wanted feeding at the beginning. I think if u prepare yourself for the fact that oh can help out, but it will never be 50/50, then it works well. My oh is in charge of nappies haha.. Not the most glamorous role, but HIS role with baby none the less. I often expressed one boob whilst feeding with the other. It's hard to get a lot through expressing sometimes tho. It takes me half hour to get 3 ounces! I started expressing a little a day from about 2 weeks. Don't do it too much or you'll drive yourself mad and may end up with over supply xxx

 

[babybee]

My experience was an odd one - baby was born and in NICU for the first few days. I hand expressed colostrum for her and gave it to her when I could. Once she was able to come out of her cubicle I was then able to try and get her to latch but my milk hasn't completely come in yet. Then on day 4 she was discharged from NICU into my ward and I breastfed her for that day. Next day she was weighed and had lost 12% body weight in a single day. So before we could be discharged home I had to get her up to 10%. I had to combi feed - express, formula feed and breast feed.
At that point my milk had come in so I could use an electric pump. However I was producing small amounts -2 oz from both sides at a time. So I would give her that and if it wasn't enough if top it up with formula. Then an hour later I would get her to latch. Eventually she put on the weight, got discharged and then I moved her onto being exclusively breastfed once she surpassed birth weight 3 weeks pp.

So it was a very messy way to start off!

Therefore I would recommend getting breastfeeding established for at least the first week, maybe even two and then start expressing so your oh can help out. With regards for the feeds she can help you out with, they can be any really! I would just say that you have the best supply in the morning so it's a good time to feed baby and then express. Then use that to feed baby in the evening so she gets to do the bed time routine?

xxx