Antenatal expression...

[lisaalove]

Has anyone done this or thinking of doing this? I'm very interested. I have a doctors appointment tomorrow and am going to speak to her about her thoughts on it!

 

[AmeliePoulain]

I did with DD2 and will do this time

I started at 36 weeks last time on doctors advice.

I have diet controlled GD so that is why I do it. Any particular reason you are interested in doing it?

 

[lisaalove]

I did with DD2 and will do this time

I started at 36 weeks last time on doctors advice.

I have diet controlled GD so that is why I do it. Any particular reason you are interested in doing it?

Last time I just couldn't produce and this time I've been leaking since week 20 so I would like to do it so that even if I don't produce enough I'll at least have a little stockpile for the first few days.

 

[Munchkin30]

I was just looking this up!! It says don't start til you're 37 weeks (obviously if drs advised it though...) and to hand express. I expressed loads for my daughter but never hand expressed. It makes me feel icky. I'd only do it so that if there were latching issues or supply issues early on I wouldn't have to supplement with any formula. I'll probably do it if I get to 38+ weeks and I'm really bored!! I will do it with my electric pump though rather than hand express.

 

[dom85]

My midwife mentioned it to me early on in this pregnancy because I had GD with my DS and didn't produce any milk and she said that the GD was probably the reason which is why they now recommend mums with GD to express a few weeks before baby is due.

I looked into it then and even though I don't have GD wit this pregnancy I still want to try to do it just because I am anxious about not producing my thing this time and at least I know that I will have tried everything this time if I still don't produce anything. From what I read though, don't be expecting to express much milk at all really, it's only a few drops from what I've read which is why they adevise had expression into a plastic syringe because the tiny amount of milk that you might get might not actually be enough to retrieve from a pump as it will just get in the tubes etc in the pump and there's not enough to pour out of it if that makes sense.

 

[lisaalove]

My midwife mentioned it to me early on in this pregnancy because I had GD with my DS and didn't produce any milk and she said that the GD was probably the reason which is why they now recommend mums with GD to express a few weeks before baby is due. d into it then and even though I don't have GD wit this pregnancy I still want to try to do it just because I am anxious about not producing my thing this time and at least I know that I will have tried everything this time if I still don't produce anything. From what I read though, don't be expecting to express much milk at all really, it's only a few drops from what I've read which is why they adevise had expression into a plastic syringe because the tiny amount of milk that you might get might not actually be enough to retrieve from a pump as it will just get in the tubes etc in the pump and there's not enough to pour out of it if that makes sense.

I've been leaking so much that of course last night I did it before reading up on it... didn't know it was a thing till I looked it up afterwards. I must say I'm suprised because of how much I did get. (Half an ounce from each side (which I know isnt a whole lot but I was surprised) though I won't do it again until I've talked to the doctor I found it very interesting concept as I thought I tried everything with my first. Hopefully she'll be on board with it and I will be able to do it once I get farther along, because if I'm producing now I'd rather it not go to waste and it just all leak out.

 

[AmeliePoulain]

Yes I hand expressed into 1ml syringes, even if you are producing gallons of colostrum it is very sticky and can coat pump parts causing issues.

 

[lisaalove]

Yes I hand expressed into 1ml syringes, even if you are producing gallons of colostrum it is very sticky and can coat pump parts causing issues.

Thank you! I wasn't aware of this!

 

[AmeliePoulain]

Some tips that I find helpful was elevating my body temperature a little, so running a shower on my boobs or just wearing loads of layers. It was easier to get it out when I was warm.

I managed to get 14ml by trying every other night between 36-39 weeks. It really made life easier the first 3 or so days with DD2. My GD made my milk a little slow arriving.

 

[dom85]

Some tips that I find helpful was elevating my body temperature a little, so running a shower on my boobs or just wearing loads of layers. It was easier to get it out when I was warm.

I managed to get 14ml by trying every other night between 36-39 weeks. It really made life easier the first 3 or so days with DD2. My GD made my milk a little slow arriving.

How long did you do it for at a time an did you get something the first time you tried or did it take a few days to start getting anything?

I didn't produce a drop last time and I don't want to stress myself out over it if I don't get anything first time.

 

[AmeliePoulain]

I didn't start producing colostrum until 35ish weeks and first tried at 36. I did get something out straight away, most times I got 1ml but sometimes less - so I'd put the syringe in the fridge and try later on or the next day to get it up to 1ml.

I guess I was quite experienced with hand expressing and the weird technique that you sometimes need for getting colostrum out as I had done it for DD1 previously.

I'm not producing anything yet this time - still early days - I wish I was one of those women who leak loads of the stuff!

 

[Munchkin30]

I didn't leak at all with my dd and I haven't yet this time but I fed my dd with no formula til she was 2 so I don't think not leaking means you won't have enough milk

 

[AmeliePoulain]

Yes I'm not a leaky person I don't think! I fed both girls until 15 months and never leaked. Saved a lot of money in breastpads I guess!

 

[lisaalove]

Yes I'm not a leaky person I don't think! I fed both girls until 15 months and never leaked. Saved a lot of money in breastpads I guess!

I'm a leaker but I didn't really produce anything with my son. I tried eeverything I could with him. But nothing seemed to work.

 

[justplay91]

Hi ladies. Huh... I had my son about 6 months ago now. With my pregnancy, I had pretty severe GD. I was medicated with glyburide and my numbers were still high towards the end. When my son was born, it took 6 days for my milk to come in. I tried to breastfeed exclusively for about 2 weeks, and I knew he was never getting enough despite a great latch technique. The lactation consultant recommended I take fenugreek, but that didn't do anything either. I switched to exclusively pumping, all day long, and still couldn't produce much of anything. Eventually, we had to switch to formula because my milk supply would not increase. I wish my doctor or a health professional would have told me that GD can cause issues with milk supply... Maybe I could have tried antenatal expression. Ah, well, there's always next time, I suppose. Best wishes to you ladies, and I hope you have good luck with supply this time around.

 

[lisaalove]

It doubled my earlier response when I backed out of my browser
Sorry!