people who exclusively express?

[princessellie]

i have been wanting to start exclusively expreesing for quite a while as i am not convinced she is getting enough milk from breastfeeding...she seems to need to feed every 2hrs ish but if i give her 5oz in a bottle (expressed milk) she will take it all and not need feeding for 4hrs

i was wondering those who express, how often do you express? and do you express both boobs or one at a time?

thanks

x

 

[Michy]

I do hun, I warn you it is extremely hard work.

I express 8 to 12 times a day, as you have to mimic the feeding patterns of a newborn to keep up supply.

It takes double the time, because you have to feed, express and sterilise. My LO tends to nap for 20 to 30 mins at the end of a 2 hour period before he feeds again, so that is when I express. You get hardly any time to yourself because as soon as your LO falls asleep you have to express.

I also find it hard to leave the house because you can't really express while you are out and about!

I hired a medela symphony double pump to try and make things as quick as poss, so pump both boobs at the same time.

You also have to make sure you pump between 1 and 4 am even if LO is asleep because this is when your prolactin levels are highest and so you will stimulate prodcution with greatest effect.

This kind of strict schedule needs to be kept up till at least 12 weeks, from what I have read after 12 weeks your supply is established and you should be able to drop pumps which makes things more managable.

I would say consider it carefully, it may seem like an easy option but it really isn't.

and good luck for whatever you decide. xx

 

[princessellie]

thanks hun, well im pretty sure my milk has decreased lately anyway cos shes dropped her night feed which like you said is when the hormone levels are highest so im not feeding at the best time to stimulate more lol, i have worked out that i would have to express 6times in between 8am and 11pm then do a breast-dreamfeed at around 4am so hopefully it will work, i only have a single pump though but at least its electric lol, i wiouldnt have even considered it with my manual

 

[Michy]

Dream feeding at 4am will deffo help your supply. Let me know how you get on. xx

 

[princessellie]

thanks babe

x

 

[Neecee]

I do hun, I warn you it is extremely hard work.

I express 8 to 12 times a day, as you have to mimic the feeding patterns of a newborn to keep up supply.

It takes double the time, because you have to feed, express and sterilise. My LO tends to nap for 20 to 30 mins at the end of a 2 hour period before he feeds again, so that is when I express. You get hardly any time to yourself because as soon as your LO falls asleep you have to express.

I also find it hard to leave the house because you can't really express while you are out and about!

I hired a medela symphony double pump to try and make things as quick as poss, so pump both boobs at the same time.

You also have to make sure you pump between 1 and 4 am even if LO is asleep because this is when your prolactin levels are highest and so you will stimulate prodcution with greatest effect.

This kind of strict schedule needs to be kept up till at least 12 weeks, from what I have read after 12 weeks your supply is established and you should be able to drop pumps which makes things more managable.

I would say consider it carefully, it may seem like an easy option but it really isn't.

and good luck for whatever you decide. xx

Oooh, I didn't know that! I may as well make use of being awake at this ungodly hour then...

 

[tinytoes]

hows her weight? I wouldnt start all teh hassel of expressing unless she's under weight or losing weight. It really does take up lots of time. I did it fora few weeks when LO was small and it took up all my day. If I was out I felt rushed to get back to pump. And I could never pump enough to get a decent stock up - baby drank it almost as fast as I could pump.
Midwife told me I had to pump 5 times a day and more if I could. Both sides. I had an electric ump which did both at the same time.

The best advice a midwife ever gave me for breastfeeding was "trust your body" when I was worried about the amount of milk baby was getting. Your body knows what its doing. Just keep an eye on her weight. When my baby was little he too drank often. I think its just the way it is sometimes, and breast milk is digested fast..
I gave up pumping and trusted my body and it worked! He's now 9 motnhs and a healthy 8.5kilos.

i suppose i just shudder when i think to all the extra work expressing created for me....pumping, steralising...good luck whatever you do!

 

[aidensmommy88]

Ok Im going to be honest with you, I effin HATE expressing...but I do because I know "breast is best" blah blah blah....and for the fact Aiden spits up excessively when I tried to give him formula.. But Aiden drinks the boobmilk 4ounces every two hours, I usually pump every four hours or so unless Im sleeping. I pump both boobs and get approx 3 bottles out at a time so I always have extra until he eats more.. haha. I mean hes only 5 weeks old and has been eating 4 ounces every two hrs since he came home from the hospital.. my wittle pig hope this helped =)

 

[aidensmommy88]

question: whats a breast -dreamfeed

 

[Dona]

I am having to express whilst my little on is in hospital, I am getting 120mls everytime - here is my schedule which I adopted from the drop in breast feeding clinic at the hospital.

Express 6 times a day and do not leave any longer than 6 hrs between every express.

Before expressing you need to massage your boobs for a couple of mins followed by light tickle then a little shake. This really works to get the milk supply going.

At first express for 20 mins - 5 mins on each boob. Continue with this until you get jets of milk. Once you get these, finish expressing when the jets stop.

I also take donperidome.

Hope this helps.

 

[princessellie]

question: whats a breast -dreamfeed

breastfeeding while shes asleep to help her stay asleep longer

x