The ins and outs of exclusively expressing

[bky]

Thought you EPers might find this useful.
A video on maximizing milk production while expressing:
https://newborns.stanford.edu/Breastfeeding/MaxProduction.html

 

[<3 Always]

Hey girls, need a little advise. My little guy is 4 and a half months and I have been exclusively pumping for 2 months. I'm wondering if I have to wake up in the middle of the night to pump in order to keep my supply up. I've been setting my alarm every 3 hours but I'm exhausted.

Another question is does anyone ever have any good advice on how to get him back to nursing. In the beginning I nursed and pumped to give him bottles because he was a lazy nurser and wasn't getting enough. He did well with that but about 2 months ago he figured out that the bottle was faster and wanted nothing to do with nursing. Do I have any chance of getting him back to nursing?

 

[princessellie]

i might be wrong but im pretty sure your supply will be well established now, so you can take a 6hr break inbetween pumps, just make sure you express from 1-3am at some point as that is when your 'something hormoney' levels are highest and will help keep your milk up x

 

[LauraLy]

Thought maybe someone could offer a suggestion???

I am going to be going back to work in 2 weeks and my DD will be in daycare. I have been pumping to ensure she will continue on EBM through a bottle while I am at work. But I am just introducing a bottle and am afraid I may have waited too long? My DH gave her a bottle for the first time yesterday- and while she didn't refuse it all together, all she would do is play with the nipple in her mouth. She had no desire to suck on the bottle. Is this common? Is there a way to stimulate her to suck on the bottle? My DH tried putting breastmilk on the nipple, and he turned the bottle upside down to get it to drip in her mouth. She would swallow what was there- but had no desire to latch or drink from the bottle. He positioned her sitting semi-upright in her swing to feed- so as not to confuse her with the "typical" cradle feeding position- and we are using Tommee Tippee bottles with the slow flow nipples! After exclusively breastfeeding and worrying about everything that goes along with that- I feel so lost and a bit stressed that my DD be able to eat while I am at work! Please help!

Any ideas and suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

 

[princessellie]

can you not buy a breastflow bottle, they are designed specifically to keep the baby feeding as if she was on a boob, my baby has a few bottles a week when im out and she started off with the tommee tippee CTN ones but now only uses the BF ones and took to them with no worries x

 

[shambaby]

Hey girls, need a little advise. My little guy is 4 and a half months and I have been exclusively pumping for 2 months. I'm wondering if I have to wake up in the middle of the night to pump in order to keep my supply up. I've been setting my alarm every 3 hours but I'm exhausted.

Another question is does anyone ever have any good advice on how to get him back to nursing. In the beginning I nursed and pumped to give him bottles because he was a lazy nurser and wasn't getting enough. He did well with that but about 2 months ago he figured out that the bottle was faster and wanted nothing to do with nursing. Do I have any chance of getting him back to nursing?

i have only been pumping for 5 weeks (my little man is 6 weeks old and can't seem to latch properly) and i don't wake myself up to pump. i just wake when he does, and often that means i go from my last pump at 9.30 - 10pm to 5am when he wakes. i haven't found that it affects my supply at all, but i do wake up pretty full and uncomfortable! i think if my baby didn't wake me my boobs would. it does vary from one person to another, so you may find this doesn't work for you, but exclusive expressing is such hard work, i don't think i could keep it up if i was getting even less sleep. i think if it is going to affect your supply you're likely to notice it the following day, and hopefully if there was a problem you could pump more that day and get your supply back up. i'm sure the odd night off can only be good for you x

 

[Chantibug]

I plan to Exclusively pump , THANK YOU for this sticky!!

 

[DivaSatanica]

Well I had my little man 6 days ago and it looks like I'm joining the club of Exclusively Expressing. I have extremely flat nipples and unsuccessfully tried to breastfeed my older children. This time I prepared and bought a pump beforehand. Poor little babe was starving and I couldn't get him to latch despite half hourly attempts for the first few days. I supplemented for a day and a half, till I got a handle on the expressing.

Now he is 6 days old and I'm pumping every time he eats. Is this the best way? Just to pump when he eats so my body will regulate to his appetite? I will do extra pumps if time allows, not much but just to keep ahead of his feeds. Any tips to keep my supply up?

 

[littlemonster]

Okay...I'm not even TTCing, but I have questions...someone told me you can use a pump on your nipples 2 weeks before you deliver so when you go to breastfeed you will have your colestrum..is there any truth in that?

 

[shambaby]

Okay...I'm not even TTCing, but I have questions...someone told me you can use a pump on your nipples 2 weeks before you deliver so when you go to breastfeed you will have your colestrum..is there any truth in that?

you probably can, but there shouldn't be any need - you should get your colostrum anyway. i was producing it at 16 weeks!

 

[littlemonster]

So you don't have to worry about your colostum coming in late? I wasn't sure of that, because I want to breastfeed right away and all.

Thank you so much!

 

[shambaby]

no, don't worry. even if you don't leak any during pregnancy you will produce it ready for baby. some people express and store some in the last few weeks, but there's no need and you probably wouldn't get a lot at first, and hand expressing is often better at first - volumes of colostrum can be so small you lose quite a big percentage of the milk in the equipment if you pump. good luck when you get to ttc.

 

[<3 Always]

Thanks girls for the responses to my questions. I've got my little guy back to nursing and no longer wake myself up in the middle of the night to express and my supply seems to be doing alright. I'm still producing enough to feed him and have extra to put in the freezer.

About using a pump 2 weeks before you are due... I would really ask your doctor. I would be afraid that it would put you into labor (which I'm sure wouldn't be so bad being so close) but stimulation of the breasts causes uterine contractions.

 

[Mama1985]

OH MY GOD! THANK YOU SO MUCH! lol sorry about the capitals! its just with my first I tried to BF but she couldnt latch on and it didnt help that I have weird inverted nipples, erm so I tried to use a breast pump (It was a hand pump thing) and I couldnt get much breast milk out, about 1 oz if I was lucky then 2oz, I didnt have any leaky nipples before I gave birth and afterwards my breasts were fine, no pain no nothing, so with this one I am worried the same thing would happen again but after reading this it makes me feel that if I try to perserver and use your instructions (sorry about the wording) erm I might be able to use breast milk for the lil one!!!

So again thank you!

 

[mummyclo]

Hi ladies, am thinking of excluively expresing and wondered what pumps you are using?
thanks

 

[want2bamom]

iam using the Medela Swing, i love it..ive been using it for the past 8 months and have had no problems! i love it

 

[DivaSatanica]

Hi ladies, am thinking of excluively expresing and wondered what pumps you are using?
thanks

I'm using First Years miPump

 

[shambaby]

i use a medela symphony, which is great - very quiet and gentle, but effective. i think you would have to hire one though - they are over £1000 to buy!!! mine is from a breastfeeding support service attached to my local healthcare trust, so i am very lucky to have it.

the most important thing i think is that you need a good, electric double pump otherwise you will spend your whole life attached to the pump!

just wondering, why are you thinking of expressing? to be honest i wouldn't recommend it if you have a choice, but if it's the only option for you, then i wish you luck x

 

[xnmd1]

i've been exclusively pumping since LO was born , he was bottle fed in the NICU when he was born. i've just gone the last 2 1/2 weeks with a HAND PUMP .. and purchased a medela double electric pump yesterday!

thanks for this thread, i found it very helpful

 

[Farie]

Just out if interest could I switch to exclusively expressing from breast feeding? I have the medela swing and and currently expressing 5-10 oz a day above what LO eats. I've been breadtfeedong for nearly 6 weeks
I've been giving the odd bottle but for various reasons (poor sicking, thrush and vasospasm among them) I'm considering bottle feeding EBM - what would switching over entail?

Will it leave me any time to actually spend with her? Will I be tied to my pump?
I personally really dont want to resort to formula and I'm worried it will end up with that as my supply won't cope?

If it makes any difference she's a hungry baby - she'll happily take 6oz and a booby suck afterwards!

Feel free to be brutally honest, my gut instinct is expressing exclusively won't work long term and we'd end up FF supplementing - am I wrong?