Expressing Help

[emzilouu]

Hiya ladies, just popping over from the 3rd tri to ask a question. Im 29wk pregnant and mummy to a 19month old son too. I really wanted to breastfeed my little girl but me and my husband have decided that we are going to bottle feed but expressed breast milk instead. I BF my son for 3 weeks and had to stop as I got severe post natal depression and I don't want to go back to that place so decided on ebm so my husband can help out still. We plan on using tommee tippee bottles as we found they are most nipple like after having a challenge trying to get my son to take avent bottles. I still want to breast feed at night time when its my turn to get up. I know I can freeze breast milk, but can it be stored and cooled in the fridge? also how do I go about warming it up? im sooo confused! x

 

[sunnylove]

I pumped for nearly 5 months as my son was in the NICU and we bottle fed him the breastmilk for about 1 1/2 months. First off I will say that it's unlikely your depression was caused by breastfeeding your first child (is there a reason you think that? Just wondering). The second thing I will say is that while I don't discourage it, pumping and feeding baby expressed milk is by far the most difficult way to feed a baby. Not only do you have to wash bottles and heat up milk at 3 in the morning, but you also have to pump every 2-3 hours (including during the night).

It is possible, but I will just tell you that once my son completely transitioned to the breast and we got to exclusively breastfeeding, it was so much nicer and so much EASIER than feeding him the expressed milk. But anyway, this is what we did when we were feeding him bottles. I pumped every 3 hours and we also had a stock pile of frozen milk from when he was in NICU. You have to pump every 3 hours or you will lose supply. Breastmilk stays good in the freezer from 3-6 months and it stays good in the fridge for 4 days. We used a normal bottle warmer to heat the milk.

Your hospital should have a breastfeeding clinic that can give you more detailed information on proper milk storage and pumping help.

 

[emzilouu]

I pumped for nearly 5 months as my son was in the NICU and we bottle fed him the breastmilk for about 1 1/2 months. First off I will say that it's unlikely your depression was caused by breastfeeding your first child (is there a reason you think that? Just wondering). The second thing I will say is that while I don't discourage it, pumping and feeding baby expressed milk is by far the most difficult way to feed a baby. Not only do you have to wash bottles and heat up milk at 3 in the morning, but you also have to pump every 2-3 hours (including during the night).

It is possible, but I will just tell you that once my son completely transitioned to the breast and we got to exclusively breastfeeding, it was so much nicer and so much EASIER than feeding him the expressed milk. But anyway, this is what we did when we were feeding him bottles. I pumped every 3 hours and we also had a stock pile of frozen milk from when he was in NICU. You have to pump every 3 hours or you will lose supply. Breastmilk stays good in the freezer from 3-6 months and it stays good in the fridge for 4 days. We used a normal bottle warmer to heat the milk.

Your hospital should have a breastfeeding clinic that can give you more detailed information on proper milk storage and pumping help.

thank you so much for your reply! My husband went to afghan 6 days after Bradley was born I didn't feel comfortable feeding in public so instead of going out and keeping myself busy I sat in the house 24/7 and 4 walls got to me, my son cluster fed extremely bad too so I think that's why I got pnd. washing bottles doesn't bother me as I have my sons to wash anyway. I had no idea you have to pump so often that will be hard with a toddler!! I still would like to breastfeed sometimes like if were chilling in the lounge and my son is in bed or happily playing and I can just feed her so I don't have to mess with bottles....bottles is more for night time so my husband can help.

 

[calliebaby]

I believe in a deep freezer, milk is good up to a year.

 

[Noo]

6 hours at room temp, 6 days in fridge and 6 months in the freezer is what we recommend.

To excusively pump you'll nee to pump for 20 minutes every 2 hours to build up a good supply then 2-3 hourly day and night for the duration. I think this would be more hassle than BF to be honest. Could you express for 1 or 2 feeds a day?

Cluster feeding is very normal in the first few weeks. It is the baby's way of establishing a good supply.

 

[emzilouu]

I think I may bf in the day time and express during the day for my husband to feed lo when hes up with her and when its me ill bf