pump!! advice on expressing please xx

[rainbow dancer]

im very lucky and my dad has just bought me the medela swing pump!!. ive been finding it difficult to get baby to latch on properly and sometimes breastfeeding is taking hours!!, the question is has anyone else solely expressed and bottle feed expressed milk?? if so how are you doing it. also how much milk would i be looking at expressing for a feed, lucy is 13 days old. in advance thank you for the advice. im still wanting to use breastmilk and really like the closeness that breastfeeding brings so maybe can still breastfeed at night ?? xx

 

[flexilexi394]

A friend of mine is solely expressing. She does it every 3 hours and gets about 2 oZ each boob and empties both boobs each time she expresses. Her baby eats about 2 oZs and she's 2 weeks old.
When I express I get about 3 oZ each boob and my 4 week old polishes off 5 oZs! I store the rest of the milk in the freezer to build a supply in case I go out or whatever. I'm gonna start expressing one bottle a day for definate if not more, so I can go out and stuff, not without her just today we went to a park and breast feeding was cold as I was sat out side. And night times are a bit wierd and she's using me as a dummy so I'm gonna give her a big bottle of expressed milk to see if that works. Sorry for babbling!

So yeah, do each boob every few hours and feed and see. You can keep it outside a fridge for 6 hours at a time so if they dont finish it you can add to it and feed for the next time withthe original milk. God that was a tongue twister lol. X

 

[rainbow dancer]

thanks flexi thats a great help will try that and see how it goes. i may try and keep the odd feed in as i do like the closeness of it with lucy. i think your idea of an expressed bottle at night is a good idea. i think lucy sometimes uses me as a dummy!!and when you put her off she proper kicks off. i have introduced a dummy which she seems to like (although i was opposed to them before!!). hard work this feeding lark eh!! xx

 

[flexilexi394]

That's just it, it's bloody hard work! And no one can help us do it we just have to get on with it. So I'm indeed gonna try the bottle thing, at least I can get someone else to give it to her. Give your pump a go! I wanna know if it's as amazing as every one says. I have the tommee tippee manual and now got the tt electric which is good, I've heard the medela is really really quite amazing. X

 

[rainbow dancer]

Is there a certain time they say to express of each boob or is it until you get what u need?? Sorry for being thick! Xx

 

[xxbeckyxx]

I express in the morning as that's when my boobs are fullest - I can normally get about 5oz from each boob (if I don't need to 'keep any' for Lizzie lol).
My OH took Lizzie out for the day on Wednesday and took 10oz with him - it lasted her from 9:30 till 5:30 No idea how much she takes from my boob though lol

 

[jennilisanne]

I want to start expressing too, but there's hardly enough time for my boobs to fill up between each feed as it is. Should I do the one she hasn't use straight after a feed?

Can't believe how much she takes. I did express the other day when for some reason my boobs went massive and started leaking, and although I thought I got loads out, when it came to feeding her, she had that, went to breast and finished it then went over to the other . I can't keep up!!

 

[Sol]

I am expressing every few days to build up to every day as I get used as a dummy for hours at night and it tires us both out. Drink loads of water is my suggestion and try expressing int he morning it's hard work with a hand pump but doesn't take long with some practice ) xx

 

[xxbeckyxx]

I expressed a boob that Lizzie had 'finished with' the other day, about 10 minutes after a feed, just to see if there was anything left. It was pretty soft so I didn't think I'd get much but I got 3.5oz. Then I had the other boob for when she next needed feeding

 

[Countrybumpkin]

I have been solely expressing, i reached 10 weeks and completely exhausted physically and mentally if you want me to be honest. Just slowly introducing FF and dropping an express or two, but that is painful, and it just seems to take longer as at mo still producng same ammount of milk. (this only happens once milk is well established). We are slowly moving over to complete FF, but i do feel happy she has had a good start on my milk.

Tips;
No need to express any less than every two hours, but will need to be every two, three and once milk really comes in up to four hours. If over all milk drops over a 24 hour period, then up the pumps for 24 hours again.
Unfortantly this means expressing through the night.
Make sure you empty boobs which will help keep supply up, do this by stopping pump for 30 seconds and starting again once milk flow stops or nearly stopped. Or go to next boob and come back to first, then back to second if that makes sense.
I find expressing all the time you do need to massage boob towards the nipple as i get lots of blocked ducts, plus it helps to empty boobs.
Porridge oats, helps with supply.

I think that covers basic tips but please ask if you have any other questions. I remeber having loads. Google is great a surprising how many others have had to do it.

Hope that helps.