Early (10 days post birth) expressing

[Inwaiting]

Hi all

I'm not sure if there's a breast feeding page?

Anyway my little one is 10 days old and due to one breast being out of action because of cracks I have been giving her a bottle of expressed milk during her night feed.

Is there any guidance on how much this should be? The breast feeding councellor phoned this morning and was very adamant I shouldn't be giving her bottles so soon. But how I'm supposed to keep her going on one breast I've no idea.

When I asked the quantity she said that there is no advice?! And be careful because you can over feed?

I want to keep going breastfeeding and expressing so any advice would be great.

[peaceloveandtwirlywoos]

I exclusively expressed from about 3 weeks to 3 months. I managed to express 150ml from each breast, so I gave him that, and he usually drained it. He never vomited and simply stopped drinking when he was done. Also didn't have a problem going back to the breast after bottles, or switching between them.
Offer as much as you can express and if baby still seems hungry, offer the in-use breast or more expressed milk. Good luck

[babydances]

Sorry to hear breastfeeding advisor wasn't very helpful or sympathetic.
Can u use a nipple shield?
Why do you have cracked nipples? I had mastitis in both boobs with dd and used a nipple shield for a short while until it stopped hurting.

[Lbee123]

My lo used to take about 2.5oz of expressed milk at that age. Then around 4 weeks old he had around 4oz which he still has now at 5 months.

[Lbee123]

kellymom.com/bf/pumpingmoms/pumping/milkcalc/

This might help

[YoginiBump]

I breastfed my daughter (now 7 months) and it was really hard at first as she had tongue-tie. She had it snipped at 10 days old and breastfed successfully for 6 months til I weaned her. Have you checked your little one out for this as cracked nipples can be a sign? Anyway I expressed for the first few weeks as was told by my HV to express every time I would have BF'd (every 3 hours) and to feed 30-70ml a feed. Hope that helps and congratulations and well done so far!

[ceeveebee]

I expressed for one of my twins for a few weeks as she was too small to latch on (she was 3lb and her twin was 6lb!). At that age she had about 30-40 ml but if your baby is a more normal size then I'd think abut more - there was some kind of formula (mathematical not milk!) the NICU told me to calculate the amount based on weight, will see if I can find it xx

[Inwaiting]

Thanks ladies. I think my left nipple is cracked because it was the boob she went on when I first gave birth so it was a lot of trial and error for us both getting her latch perfected etc.

She seems absolutely fine taking breast all day/late night and then one bottle during the night. I know it's discouraged but it's better to keep going with my milk than out of a tin right? I felt like the feeding team had closed the book on me yesterday.

At the moment she's getting between 70-80ml for this particular feed and she seems content. I was just just worried after the feeding team said I can over feed her

[peaceloveandtwirlywoos]

Sounds like you're doing absolutely the right thing if she's content have you tried nipple shields though? DS couldn't latch on to them so I didn't use them, but might help your situation.
Keep on keeping on.

[Inwaiting]

No we've tried two types now and she's just not having any of it. Think they're too big for her

[peaceloveandtwirlywoos]

Fair enough! I couldn't get my bloody nipples into them, I don't know what sort of shape they're designed for, but I'm not it