Help with expressing please ....

[Millie1]

I need to express enough milk for my twins who will be 13 weeks old when I have to go away for most of a day. I'm planning to start expressing and freezing now to get enough put away.

My questions are:

How much is a 13w old likely to drink per feed? Is there a formula to tell me xoz per lb bodyweight?

Also, just to refresh my memory .... express, store in fridge to cool, pop into freezer and once I have a container going in the freezer, I can top it up with cooled breastmilk and keep freezing til I have enough in each container (hope that makes sense!)

TIA

[reallyfatcow]

i found the best thing is to express from unused breast whilst suckling other and swapping as baby became tiresome, although milk production is slow at first it will increase after a day or so increasing amount you can freeze. however you will have to reverse process gradualy or you will suffer the unsightly excessive leakage that we all like to avoid ;-) twins i haven't encountered, depends upon wether you feed seperately or simultaneously i would suppose.
most mum's of twins i know have opted bottled so POWER TO YOU!!!!!!
and GOOD LUCK!!!!!

[chipmonkey]

take baby's weight in pounds and multiply by 2.5
This is the baby's milk allowance for a whole day i.e. 24 hours
Divide by the number of feeds per day and you get the amount for 1 bottle.

So if baby weighs 10lb their daily allowance is 25 oz.
If they take 6 feeds per day then they will roughly be taking 4 oz per bottle. HTH

Obviously every baby is different but this always worked for me.

[chipmonkey]

Also Millie, it is best to write on the container how much milk is there because breastmilk expands when it freezes and you might think you have frozen more than you have.
Also the Lansinoh breastmilk bags are great, you can freeze a lot of milk in small amounts and just defrost what you need as you go along.

[Millie1]

Thanks rfc and chipmonkey ... just what i need to know and really helpful.

[Millie1]

Oh yikes ... that means that if both babies are say 13lb by then (which they won't be but let's be generous), I'd need approx 32.5 fl oz per day per baby, divided by 6 feeds (being optimistic) is 5.5fl oz per feed each which is around 150 mls x either 3 or 4 feeds per baby for the day = between 450-600mls each = 900mls to 1250mls total to express in 3 weeks.

Follow that if you can!

I'm really tired so my maths could well be wrong but I've done my sums a few times and keep getting the same answer

[chipmonkey]

That's what I get too, Millie! Do you have a good pump?

[chipmonkey]

actually, if you have 21 days, then it's just 60ml a day that you have to express so not too bad.

[RuffleTheAnimal]

ime, every time ive expressed for one of mine and gone away for a day or night, they have hardly drunk a drop, preferring to throw a big strop wait for me to come home and then latch on for about 10 hrs

youve gotta have some there tho, havnt you? more for the peace of mind of the person looking after said stroppy/hungry baby, than the baby themselves (IME)

[QueenyEisGotTheBall]

i was going to suggest using the lanisoh breastmilk freezer bags aswell as i found these invaluable when i was expressing for my DD i also found that expresssing while i was feeding on the other breast most effective and this also increased my supply aswell which may help you over the next few weeks and i also expressed from the opposite breast in between feeds. i was able to freeze about 10oz per day on a good day and if you have 3 weeks you may be able to get alot more especially as your supply will be large due to feeding two babies at once (i am in awe!! you are amazing to do this) what type of pump do you have?
xx ei xx

[cmotdibbler]

The easiest way to get a freezer stock is to hand express after every feed - no problem at all to get 60ml a day that way. Its easiest if you have wide necked bottles as then you can express directly into them and save washing up.
Sterilise two bottles last thing at night. Chuck in fridge. After first morning feed express from both breasts into a bottle. After next feed, express into other. At some point between feeds, tip one lot into the other bottle. Express into empty one, tip when cool etc.

I used to stand in the kitchen and express by the fridge - really quick and easy to do, and much more effective than pumping when you aren't pumping to replace a feed.

The Lanisoh freezer bags are great - if you put 4oz in at a time and freeze them flat they defrost super quick in warm water. Keep the frozen bags in a plastic box in the freezer though as if they get knocked the plastic bag can break. DH always defrosted them in a plastic bag in case of a split.

DS never varied the amount of EBM he took from 12 weeks to 14 months - it was always 120ml.

[GillianLovesMarmite]

I express every morning with an electric breastpump (amazingly on hire as we are in a sure start area - but I also have a hand pump which is good - as well as a hand ) and freeze the milk in lanisoh bags. This allows me to keep a stash in the freezer for nursery (1 morning per week) and also provides enough for the occasional night out with a friend! I find that doing it every day means that you can do it more easily every day - plus I tend to do any night feeds from 1 side and then express in the morning from the other.
The nct (or it might be la leche league...) have a good info sheet on hand expressing, but you might be able to find something online - I think it's referred to as the 'marmet technique' if you want further info.

[Millie1]

Goodness, thanks for all the tips everyone! I was thinking of getting these www.boots.com/shop/product_details.jsp?productid=1049285&classificationid=1034959&slmRefer=000 to store the milk in. It looks like they can be used with my pump (which is an Isis hand pump) and won't be so messy (for DH, that is ) to transfer into bottles for feeding. Must check outthe Lanisoh bags ... only thing is they may not attach to my pump?? Avent used to do bags but can't see them now.

Pump is, as I said, the Avent hand pump. Haven't done any pumping this time round but with DS1 and DS2 I never seemed to get a huge amount from a single session ... few oz if I pumped whilst feeding.

BTW, do I need to sterilise everything each time? Think I do but I don't have steriliser so end up with saucepan and it always feels messy !

[Minkus]

A big thumbs up from me here for the avent via storage stuff, you can fit it straight to the isis pump and avent teats/rings so you don't need to pour it from one to another. Box should include an adaptor. Also the cups are the exact right size for baby food too later on

[cmotdibbler]

Trouble is with the Avent cups is that they will take forever to defrost - and if your DTs decide not to have every feed and wait for you you'll waste loads of milk if its all defrosted in advance. You can just hold the bad onto the pump, or just pump into a bottle and then decant - which is actually easier when freezing.

Personally, when its milk from the freezer I would sterilise. Your pump can go in the microwave though can't it ? I have some of those microwave steriliser bags knocking around somewhere if you'd like them for free - just CAT me if interested

[Millie1]

Okay, thanks again ladies. Will order both Avent cups and some bags and see what works best ... only plan to put enough for one feed per baby into each bag so DH can defrost exactly what he thinks he needs and no more.

Can my pump really be sterilised in the microwave? It's an old Avent pump ... around 7 years almost. Wow! Didn't even know about microwave sterilising until 5 mins ago !

[Millie1]

Thanks for the offer of the bags cmotdibbler ... that's really kind of you. I'll investigate further re the pump and then let you know if that's okay?

[QueenyEisGotTheBall]

i actually have a full microwave steriliser kit going spare if you would like it millie i was bought one by my mum after i bought one for myself it is yours if you want it i dont have CAT but i can recieve the messages so if you cat me with your email address if you want it i will email you to arrange postage etc
xx ei xx

[chipmonkey]

I have been using avent pumps for 12 years! and you can put the parts into a microwave steriliser, no problem.

[chipmonkey]

Actually Millie, forgot to say, you can still get those Avent bags on ebay, although Avent have discontinued them. But they are not the same good quality as the Lansinoh bags, I found they leaked a lot more.

[Millie1]

Okay, have ordered Lanisoh bags from NCT so they ought to be here in a day or two.

Thanks Cmotdibbler & QueenyEisGotTheBall for the offers of steriliser bags and indeed microwave steriliser. Very much appreciated & very thoughtful of you both. However, mentioned it to my sister and it turns out she has the micro steriliser bags lurking in a cupboard so she's going to let me try those. Hopefully won't need to sterilise for too long so think I would be a waste of the steriliser IYSWIM Queeny - thanks again.