tweetyfoo
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My Guide to Expressing
I have been exclusively expressing for near on 13 weeks now, and think I have a lot of wisdom to pass on.
There have been a few ladies going down the expressing route recently, and a lot of questions asked and I thought I'd try and help anyone that I can. What happened for me may not happen for everyone, but hopefully sharing my story may help.
First thing you should know about expressing is that it is bloody hard work, especially in the beginning. Its double, sometimes triple the workload of breastfeeding. A lot of people don't realise just how hard it is - I went into it completely blind and its a miracle I've stuck to it
Getting Started - My experience
When you first start expressing its incredibly difficult, and it can be quite easy to become discouraged. Personally I had pretty much no milk for two days, Aaron was hungry but not too upset, so I decided to perserve.
Day one, I wasn't getting anything at first. I found hand expressing very difficult, and no matter how many times I was shown I couldn't get the hang of it. I massaged pretty much constantly to help things along. Eventually I started getting "globules" of colostrum - I was literally scooping them up with my pinky and rubbing them into Aarons gums. By day 3 I was getting up to 5 - 10ml hand expressing, as my milk had started coming in.
I was expressing every three hours, and giving Aaron whatever I had, it wasn't "enough" but the mw's monitored his blood sugars, and thankfully they stayed high enough to allow me to continue expressing. I soon got into a routine, I set my alarms on my phone to remind me to express. I had no sleep in 5 days by this point, but expressing was the only thing that was helping me get over the shock that my baby boy came with an extra little surprise I think.
After 3 days I was allowed on the pump, I started single pumping, 5 mins per boob, and was getting 10-20ml (which I thought was AMAZING), I then started double pumping and was getting more and more each time. By the time I left the hospital on day 5 I was getting on average 50ml in 10 mins.
These are the things that have made expressing easier for me
1. Get comfortable - Have your pump set up somewhere comfortable, so that everything is ready to go. I have a nursing chair set up in Aarons room with the pump next to it - I just have to plug myself in and away I go.
2. Timing - First of all, get an egg timer that counts down the time. The amount of times I started expressing and forgot to look at the clock, and ended up stressed that I wasn't expressing for the right amount of time. Leave this timer next to your pump. Start off at 10 mins per session. As baby starts demanding more than you are giving him, go up in 2-3 minute intervals. Check your boobs to see when milk stops flowing - and try to express for 5 mins after that point. This will trick your boobs into giving out more milk
3. Distraction - There is nothing worse than watching the clock tick down - its soul destroying! Have a book, or tv or something to watch that will make time tick that little bit faster. I have commondered DH's iPad and watch tv on it. Downton Abbey is my current series that I'm working my way through!
4. Baby Time - Expressing lacks the baby-contact that bfing gives you automatically. Make time for skin to skin - I particularly enjoy having a bath with Aaron. Try to express with baby near you - if Aaron isn't having a nap I will take him up with me and put him in his cot, sometimes we will have a cuddle but its a bit fiddly!
5. Handsfree - Get a tubigrip and cut two holes in it for your pump, this means that you can have dinner, that long awaited cuppa, feed baby etc while expressing. You can buy expressing bra's off ebay, but I think £16 is overpriced and my tubigrip from poundland does exactly the same thing!
6. Fridge - This is a bit of an investment, but I bought a tabletop fridge to keep upstairs just for breastmilk. Going downstairs for nightfeeds to get milk was adding so much more time to my already full schedule. It was one of my best buys - but a little steep at £100ish
7. Pumpsets - if you can, get 2 sets, one to wash and one to use. I put my one in use in the fridge between expressing and use it for 24hrs before washing and sterilising.
8. Frequency - In the beginning you must express a minimum of 8 times in 24 hours to get your supply established. After about 6 weeks you can be a little bit more lax about it. At 10 weeks I cut down to 6 times in 24 hours. You must express between 12am-4am in order to keep your supply up.
9. Volume - don't get hung up on volume too much! I used to worry so much that I wasn't keeping up with his needs, at one point I wasn't, and now I've had to buy a second freezer to store milk in as I have too much.
Expressing needs to be a priority unfortunately, many a time I've had to listen to Aaron cry for food, but I needed to express as the bigger picture was to be able to feed him in the long run. Housework etc needs to be dropped in favour of expressing.
Going out and about is possible. Initially I was concerned that I wouldn't get anything done in a 3 hour window - but it is 8 times in 24 hours, not every 3 hours. This allows you to have a bigger gap in between one of your sessions.
Take your pump out and about and use local bfing rooms to express in. I have got into the habit of checking out any mother and baby rooms of places I go to, checking if they are suitable for expressing. As long as you have somewhere to sit, you are all set!
Sorry its turned into a bit of a Bible! I hope I've helped
Tx
I have been exclusively expressing for near on 13 weeks now, and think I have a lot of wisdom to pass on.
There have been a few ladies going down the expressing route recently, and a lot of questions asked and I thought I'd try and help anyone that I can. What happened for me may not happen for everyone, but hopefully sharing my story may help.
First thing you should know about expressing is that it is bloody hard work, especially in the beginning. Its double, sometimes triple the workload of breastfeeding. A lot of people don't realise just how hard it is - I went into it completely blind and its a miracle I've stuck to it
Getting Started - My experience
When you first start expressing its incredibly difficult, and it can be quite easy to become discouraged. Personally I had pretty much no milk for two days, Aaron was hungry but not too upset, so I decided to perserve.
Day one, I wasn't getting anything at first. I found hand expressing very difficult, and no matter how many times I was shown I couldn't get the hang of it. I massaged pretty much constantly to help things along. Eventually I started getting "globules" of colostrum - I was literally scooping them up with my pinky and rubbing them into Aarons gums. By day 3 I was getting up to 5 - 10ml hand expressing, as my milk had started coming in.
I was expressing every three hours, and giving Aaron whatever I had, it wasn't "enough" but the mw's monitored his blood sugars, and thankfully they stayed high enough to allow me to continue expressing. I soon got into a routine, I set my alarms on my phone to remind me to express. I had no sleep in 5 days by this point, but expressing was the only thing that was helping me get over the shock that my baby boy came with an extra little surprise I think.
After 3 days I was allowed on the pump, I started single pumping, 5 mins per boob, and was getting 10-20ml (which I thought was AMAZING), I then started double pumping and was getting more and more each time. By the time I left the hospital on day 5 I was getting on average 50ml in 10 mins.
These are the things that have made expressing easier for me
1. Get comfortable - Have your pump set up somewhere comfortable, so that everything is ready to go. I have a nursing chair set up in Aarons room with the pump next to it - I just have to plug myself in and away I go.
2. Timing - First of all, get an egg timer that counts down the time. The amount of times I started expressing and forgot to look at the clock, and ended up stressed that I wasn't expressing for the right amount of time. Leave this timer next to your pump. Start off at 10 mins per session. As baby starts demanding more than you are giving him, go up in 2-3 minute intervals. Check your boobs to see when milk stops flowing - and try to express for 5 mins after that point. This will trick your boobs into giving out more milk
3. Distraction - There is nothing worse than watching the clock tick down - its soul destroying! Have a book, or tv or something to watch that will make time tick that little bit faster. I have commondered DH's iPad and watch tv on it. Downton Abbey is my current series that I'm working my way through!
4. Baby Time - Expressing lacks the baby-contact that bfing gives you automatically. Make time for skin to skin - I particularly enjoy having a bath with Aaron. Try to express with baby near you - if Aaron isn't having a nap I will take him up with me and put him in his cot, sometimes we will have a cuddle but its a bit fiddly!
5. Handsfree - Get a tubigrip and cut two holes in it for your pump, this means that you can have dinner, that long awaited cuppa, feed baby etc while expressing. You can buy expressing bra's off ebay, but I think £16 is overpriced and my tubigrip from poundland does exactly the same thing!
6. Fridge - This is a bit of an investment, but I bought a tabletop fridge to keep upstairs just for breastmilk. Going downstairs for nightfeeds to get milk was adding so much more time to my already full schedule. It was one of my best buys - but a little steep at £100ish
7. Pumpsets - if you can, get 2 sets, one to wash and one to use. I put my one in use in the fridge between expressing and use it for 24hrs before washing and sterilising.
8. Frequency - In the beginning you must express a minimum of 8 times in 24 hours to get your supply established. After about 6 weeks you can be a little bit more lax about it. At 10 weeks I cut down to 6 times in 24 hours. You must express between 12am-4am in order to keep your supply up.
9. Volume - don't get hung up on volume too much! I used to worry so much that I wasn't keeping up with his needs, at one point I wasn't, and now I've had to buy a second freezer to store milk in as I have too much.
Expressing needs to be a priority unfortunately, many a time I've had to listen to Aaron cry for food, but I needed to express as the bigger picture was to be able to feed him in the long run. Housework etc needs to be dropped in favour of expressing.
Going out and about is possible. Initially I was concerned that I wouldn't get anything done in a 3 hour window - but it is 8 times in 24 hours, not every 3 hours. This allows you to have a bigger gap in between one of your sessions.
Take your pump out and about and use local bfing rooms to express in. I have got into the habit of checking out any mother and baby rooms of places I go to, checking if they are suitable for expressing. As long as you have somewhere to sit, you are all set!
Sorry its turned into a bit of a Bible! I hope I've helped
Tx
) 
