Need advice on expressing..

SaraLouise

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Because of my little boys issues with latching & feeding I do a combination of bfing & expressing for him. Usually for a feed he will do around 15 minutes on the breast & then I express for 10 minutes & give him that. This is working lovely for us at the moment but at night its a real pain having to express & then wash/sterilize the pump. So I have been expressing some extra for him during the day & putting it in the fridge ready for the night times.

However, I'm finding that expressing the extra bottle really effects my ability to feed on the next go ifykwim. As in, I will do 15 minutes on the right boob, then express for 10 min from the right & get around 40ml & give him that fine, ill put him down & then express for 20 minutes from the left boob for the fridge bottle, but then two hours later when it comes to his next feed both my boobs are still pretty empty & he finds it frustrating ifykwim. I also never know which boob to out him on as I try & alternate as much as possible, and technically it should be the opposite to what I bfed last, but that will mean less time for the milk to regenerate as I have only recently expressed from it ifykwim?

Sorry if this isn't making sense lol, its very late!

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Hun I'd pop him on the opposite to which on you either expressed or BF from last. As far as I know he should be able to get you to let down after he's latched on and done his little suckles etc? Eventually like now with my boob they constantly feel empty but b can get me to let down to start a feed. Maybe it's a matter of practicing. In the beginning milk probably starts flowing as soon as they latch but eventually when your supply settles maybe they need to work a bit harder. Does any of that make sense lol!? Xxx
 
Yeah, I understand. In an ideal world he would just be exclusively booby fed, and I wouldn't have to worry about any of this!

Oh well, maybe one day haha x

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Hun ur doing fab!! If he's putting on weight now can u try just feeding? B dropped a centile and I know the BF support group get really cross that HV obsess so much about weight gain. I just offered my boob more often and even now she prob never goes more than 2 hours without a feed and often feeds a couple of times and hour!?! She's a quick feeder too x
 
^^^wss - could you try him just on breast, even if its offering both breasts at the same feed?? Maybe try that at every alternative feed??

LOs saliva sends better signals to your body to make more milk than the pump does.

Xxx
 
He's just not good at sustained, continuous feeding, he gets soo sleepy! & I know he's still hungry because
if I put him down he's rooting again instantly. Me & OH joke that my boobs must have a sleeping drug on them haha. Its a real battle to just to keep him awake for the 15-20 that I manage. So I don't know I'd going exclusively boob is a good idea quite yet.

I have started dropping a few expressing sessions if he does really well on the boob. Like yesterday he had a 32 minute feed so I didn't bother with the expressing after as when I put him down he seemed really content.

I just worry because we were exclusively boob from day 7-10 (he is day 20 now) and he didn't put on any weight & the midwife was really stern & said that really she should be admitting us back to hospital because he was too small not to be gaining, and I practically had to beg not to be. He's putting on weight really well with the system we have so I'm reluctant to change ifykwim x

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That's not giving u much time a few days in between weighing him!!! They make me cross!!!!! Hun feeding for 20 mins is good, he probably gets sleepy because it's hard work for them lol. My babies have all fallen asleep feeding. Maybe keep going as you are and slowly drop expressing in time. He will get more and efficient at feeding and it will take less time. Remember he'll still be getting enough but be much more efficient xxx
 
And hun try not to worry too much about time and how long feeds are. Remember feed on demand is more important xxx
 
((Hugs)) have u spoken to la leche league. Unfortunately some HVs are really clueless when it comes to weights of bf babies. As long as he's not plummeting down centiles then they shouldn't be making you stress out.

I assume you've been told/ tried the usual tricks of keeping him awake, strip of to feed, blow on his face a little, tickle his toes kinda stuff. X
 
You don't need to sterlize breast milk pumps everytime you use them as breast milk has its own antibacteria in it (I think). I
Tend to sterlize mine once a day and rinse it out between expressing.
 
Yeah all the usual stuff works for one suckle then he's asleep again!

I know about the sterilizing, but I feel weird about it lol. And I think that if I'm washing it up anyway, I might as well chuck it in the sterilizer afterwards, its a good place to store it anyhow.

No I've not spoke to la leche, I wouldn't know what to say haha!

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The advice from my hv and the breastfeeding workshop I went to is that you don't need to sterilize breast pumps. So if it saves you time then don't bother hun. Just wash with hot soapy water. I know it's a pain its all I've done for the last few weeks. I've decided today to stop expressing (I stopped bf last Thursday). Hoping it dries up soon and doesn't soak my clothes too badly! Well done for keeping on with bf and expressing hun, you're doing so well xxx
 
I would breastfeed him in the nights and give expressed milk in the day as your breastfeeding hormones are greater at night that in the day and will keep the supply up.
 

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