expressers, how much can you express? how old is your dc? and has your production improved !

[kittenbaby]

hi these are my questions
how much can you express?
how long does it take?
how old is your dc?
what pump do you use?
how much where you able to express when you started ?

the reasons im asking is because ive only expressed twice only managing to get 2.5fl oz after a good hour using a medela swing dd is 7 weeks old
thanks

[choolie]

hi kitten, what time are you expressing? have you tried different times of day? first thing is morning is supposed to be best as you're rested and milk produced overnight.

I tend to get 120ml or so, but I was getting much mor than this when expressing at the beginning - I'm only just starting to epxress again now (DS 6mo nxt wk) as am using milk for baby rice and trying to get him to drink some out of btl or cup. takes about 10mins. have you tried swaping sides back and forth? i have read posts on here of some ladies who coulsn't manage to get much out at all by expressing. (sorry if that doesn't help much). at the beginning i could get 200ml or so. I use the avent electric pump, which have found fine. have you tried expressing after bath or shower? putting warm flannels on your boobs to help?

[choolie]

by the way, the thing about the best time, i should have added, it can be diff times of day for diff women. i did read somebody onhere suggested middle of night! - i can just about manage the faff in the daytime, but it might work for you!

[TheOldestCat]

HAllo

Not sure I'll help as my DD is much older than yours - she's nine months. I only started expressing when she was six months. Anyway, here's my tuppence worth:

how much can you express? About 5oz at 10am and 4oz at 1;30pm.

how long does it take? Around 15-20 minutes (ie 8-10 minutes each side; again, it's quicker in the morning).
how old is your dc? 9 months.
what pump do you use? Medela Electric Single.
how much where you able to express when you started ? When DD was six months, I would express 5-6 oz three times a day; it's gone down gradually - I now express twice a day when I'm in work.

I've only got experience of my current pump and a Boots hand one - I found I got much less from the Boots one. So if you want to get more, maybe try a different pump?

Am sure some more experienced expressers will be along soon to offer more help.

[macneil]

I expressed for the first 4 months but didn't breastfeed. I was a very unproductive expresser. Initially, I got about 20 mls, that was for a long time (first month?) when I was expressing for 10 mins at a time, 5+5+5+5, alternating breasts. When I got a dual pump attachment, things got seriously better - there's lots of evidence that expressing from both breasts at the same time greatly increases supply and that's what I found - but I still wasn't a great expresser. On average I got about 60ml per pump (2.5oz?), although first thing in the morning I usually got a little over 100ml and last thing at night, sometimes just 30mls. Took domperidone, which didn't change things much, if at all. I expressed 6 times a day, occasionally once at night as well, but I didn't keep that up for long - I was told this was why my milk supply never increased, but I was sleeping so little at the time that I just couldn't keep it up at night - and my last pump was midnight and my first was about 7am. I used to express for up to an hour at a time - because I wasn't breastfeeding, I had to get as much as possible, and the longer I spent expressing the more I got, all the way up to the hour. I'm a pretty bad advert for expressing, I'm afraid.