this is a god send as exclusive expessing isnt something thats spoke about where i am for some reason so thought up until now that i was the only one doing it as though its was little invention of my own id come up with, such a relif to hear theres more of us. i had a terrible experience first time round with my son, resulted in being hospitalised with weight loss at 2 week old due to poor milk supply and attachment difficulties which resulted in 9 weeks of feeding routienes consisting of breast feeding, expressing and topping up with formula at every feed. this time around, my son was born at a birth weight of 6lbs 13 oz on 2nd april and took to breast feeding right away. my first was so drowzy for 2 days due to pethediene getting through to his system in labour so it got of to a difficult start. my newborn has not lost any weight, after a few days his weight was 7lbs 4 oz then a week later 7lbs 15.5oz all while breastfeeding. and today a week later hes 8lbs 14oz
however i found it extremley overwhelming i never seemed to move he was feeding sometimes hourly. my nipples where cracked sore and bleeding, and i was finding the entire thing daunting. i was getting tearful, attachment was excrutiating leading to anxiety at every feed knowing 10 or 12 times a days id be putting myself through this pain, as i was getting anxious to position him right or to rry and avoid pain he was becomming upset and fretful taking about 10 min to latch on and off, so i decided to pump and bottle feed him breast milk where much happier and its working better. ive been doing this for 5 days now after expressing once a day a few days before to freeze a stock up. he feeds around 8 - 9 times in 24 hours and either before or after a feed i express to match his feeds so the boobs still think this is happening and to keep my supply on demand. i xpress around 5 - 7 oz of milk each time for 8 - 9 pumps in 24 hours.
the annoyance at present is the health visitor and breast feeding support people who are trying to get me cornered it feels in to getting him back on the boob. despite the health visitor finding me in floods of tears for an hour last week with the breast feeding and now seeing how happy i am expressing is liasing with breast feeding support to get me back breast feeding again. its as though breast feeding has become compulsary and the two teams are making phonecalls behind my back about me, whats the big deal, im expressing about 8 times a day or more and feeding him my breast milk as is stated to be preffered just so my son and i are more content at feed times and my son and husband etc can help, i exclusivley breast fed for 3 weeks and hes done nothing but gain weight. right now im loving this routiene but the phonecalls and being pressured and pounced up on insisting they visit to get me back on the boob is tiresome and depressing. they tell me this way will cause my milk supply to dip and come to a stop. i ask when this will be expected to happen and today i was told within a few days. is this scare mongering as each day that goes by i express that bit more i express between 2am and 3 am so i have that important express time and on reading this thread many of you have done it for 10 weeks or more.
lets keep up the good pumping ladies
He had horrible sores and I started pumping to give myself a break - and because he actually fed properly from the bottle. The pediatrician told me not to get him back directly on the breast till we're both clear because I'm taking too long to clear up while he's fine now. So, I got a Medela Swing to tide me over till we're both clear and he can start at the breast again (having regular meetings with BFing Consultant, so not worried about that) 
