Planning to exclusively BF, need some advice on expressing

[keeptrying]

I'm due to have my baby boy in April and OH and I have always been keen to exclusively breastfeed, so no formula, for at least the first year. I have a couple of questions that I hope you can help me with. I have a Breastfeeding class next week but I thought I'd ask on here first.

1. I'd like to be able to express occasionally so that OH can bottle feed the baby, or that I can have a little alcoholic drink, I've heard to wait until the baby is at least 6 weeks old, so that your milk is established. What exactly does 'established' mean? For example, if I were to express a bottle to save for later, will there be anything left for the baby if he were to be hungry?

2. When the baby is a few months old, I'd be happy to let someone to look after him overnight, so that OH and I can have quality alone time. How would I go about expressing milk for the duration that the baby is away? Would I have to do it over a couple of days or will my boobs be like a tap by then, ie. express as much as I want, when I want?

I'm really struggling to word what I'm trying to ask! Can anyone shed some light?! xx

 

[purpleslurple]

It's great that you plan to breastfeed - it is really hard initially and you need great determination and support. Don't however set the rule in stone that you won't use formula as you need to see what happens.

Your body will produce as much milk as your baby needs by your baby telling it how much it wants. Getting your milk established means that you have ample supplies for your baby and you get it established by feeding regularly. The more your baby feeds, the more milk your body produces.

Expressing acts like feeding so even if you only expressed and never fed your baby from the boob, your body would carry on making milk.

I am combination feeding and my son is fed from the breast, expressed breast milk from a bottle and also formula. He wants 8oz when he has a bottle of expressed milk and it takes me about 3 attempts during the day to get that much out. Some babies however won't switch between breast and bottle so easily which is why they say to wait until 6 weeks before giving a bottle. Baby has to work at the breast to stimulate the milk but a bottle is instant.

The other thing you need to think about when you say you will leave your baby with someone else is that you will need to empty your breasts if you are away from baby overnight as they will get full and painful.

Hope this helps!

 

[purpleslurple]

Oh and whilst breastfeeding classes will teach you the practicalities, they are often so pro-breastfeeding that they are economical with the truth.....

Breastfeeding DOES hurt in the first few weeks and that does NOT mean you are doing it wrong. A lot of women find getting breastfeeding established the hardest thing they've ever done - me included!

 

[BunnyN]

Breastfeeding didn't really hurt much for me to start with so you might be lucky, but don't count on it . We had other problems with LO not gaining weight but we got through those eventually.

The advice to wait until feeding is established is for several reasons. Like purplesurple said a bottle can make the baby a lazy sucker if you start too early. The first weeks are likely to be a bit overwhelming, you get so little sleep and have so much new to learn and you and the baby are still learning how to work together, adding a new task like pumping can make it harder than it needs to be. You may well have chapped or even raw nipples and pumping can make that worse but after about 6 weeks they will be tough as leather . If you pump too much too early you may encourage an oversupply of milk which creates it's own problems. Babies are experts at getting the right amount of milk according to their needs and throwing pumping into the mix before you both have the hang of it can confuse things a bit. Some women still choose to pump earlier, or have to because of circumstances so it can work for some.

I found pumping hard and only ever got small amounts, some women find it easy.

 

[Mummybexee]

Personally I havnt had any sore nipples, no cracks or bleeding - I have not even had to use any lanolin cream etc and no over whelming pain at all - my LO is EBF and it's been great - breast feeding doesn't hurt me at all and I'm just over 2 weeks in- everyone is different so it's hard to say if it will hurt you/be uncomfortable of not / reading some people's experiences on here scared me into thinking It was going to be hell on earth intially but it's been anything but!

Everyone is different - I plan to introduce 1 express session a day this week and freeze the milk as it can be kept in freezer for 6 months

This way I'm not messing with my supply too much and can build up a supply ready for OH to do evening feeds

They say you should wait untill 6 weeks but I've read a lot of babies not taking to the bottle because they are used to breast - so I'll be starting Oscar next week on a bottle - will then see how he gets on going back to the boob as I don't want to cause any nipple confusion etc

All I'd say is keep an open mind about everything - and just concentrate on getting EBF Sussed first

We took to it like ducks to water and he gained a whole pound in a week however other people I know have really struggled and ended up on formula

Good luck x

 

[mrswoody]

Great to hear you are hoping to bf.
It is hard work initially and you really need to have the determination to keep going and have the support from your oh/family. I remember when I say feeding lo from 6pm through to 1am and it was my oh who helped me through it. If it wasn't for him I would have given up.
Don't totally dismiss formula though-it's not poison and you may find you'll need to rely on it.
I was anti formula but soon changed my mind about it.

Expressing can be hard work and upsetting when you don't get the amounts you are hoping for.

My lo took a bottle happily around 5 weeks but then I stopped with the bottles and tried again at around 4 months and she refused. It took me a while to get her to take the bottle but I got there in the end.

If you start to express you will need to keep at it as your body will produce the milk each day that you have been using.

I hope it all goes well for you, there are lots of ladies in here to help you out with any bfing questions x

 

[AmeliaM27]

If you plan to express regularly it's worth investing in a decent pump - I've just bought a medela swing and it's SO much better than the manual pump I was using before.

 

[BBaby]

I am now 3 months in and still exclusively breastfeeding, so no formula ..... But like others have said go into it with an open mind. I had a jaundice sleepy baby who struggled feeding and there were times when I thought I couldn't go on.

However I'm so glad I persevered! I express an extra feed a day to build supplies and also give lo 1 expressed defrosted bottle a day (and then I pump to replace this feed too) we introduced a bottle and dummy at 2 weeks and had no issues with either. Now I am free to pop out without worrying about feeding.

I would say take it easy expressing in the early days, I went a bit mad trying to build lots of stock lol and ended up with rather engorged boobs! It's a learning curve but well worth it.

There's nothing better than feeding lo in the bath and I have now perfected feeding in bed too with her lying next to me, it's ace!,

Good luck (oh and I agree medela swing is brill) xxx

 

[Esperanza84]

I'm due to have my baby boy in April and OH and I have always been keen to exclusively breastfeed, so no formula, for at least the first year. I have a couple of questions that I hope you can help me with. I have a Breastfeeding class next week but I thought I'd ask on here first.



1. I'd like to be able to express occasionally so that OH can bottle feed the baby, or that I can have a little alcoholic drink, I've heard to wait until the baby is at least 6 weeks old, so that your milk is established. What exactly does 'established' mean? For example, if I were to express a bottle to save for later, will there be anything left for the baby if he were to be hungry?



2. When the baby is a few months old, I'd be happy to let someone to look after him overnight, so that OH and I can have quality alone time. How would I go about expressing milk for the duration that the baby is away? Would I have to do it over a couple of days or will my boobs be like a tap by then, ie. express as much as I want, when I want?



I'm really struggling to word what I'm trying to ask! Can anyone shed some light?! xx

I expressed loads in the beginning wen milk was coming in. It was just too much for my little girl.

My milk supply settle nicely later

Good luck!

 

[Esperanza84]

2. I expressed all the time and froze down. After the first weeks I didn't get a lot of milk expressing (less with a pump than by hand) so I just saved up in the freezer.

 

[Potternutter]

I'm 6 weeks in and exclusively breast feed. I was told I had to wait just 2 weeks before expressing for supply to be established. We were also told by midwife if you want to use a bottle occasionally so you can have a free night you need to introduce it early so baby will get used to it. I've expressed once a day every day since she was 2weeks. Some I put in the fridge to be used that week, some I freeze in special sterilised bags you can buy anywhere. My LO took to it so well- we give her a bottle every 2-3 days so she gets used to it. We use size 2 teats which are a bit bigger so it's easy for her to get the milk and doesn't put her off. Last night my mum had LO for a few hours so we could go for a meal- I took a fresh bottle I had expressed that day, plus one bottle of defrosted milk. This is what you would do if you were leaving LO overnight (with a few more out of the freezer obvs!)

Get some Lansinoh cream now (purple tube) as most peopl have sore/dry nips at first and it is painful- that stuff is amazing and got me through first few days- have barely needed it since!