Expressing

[Nothingisavailabl]

I am expecting my 2nd...I didn't express at all with number 1 - I exclusively breastfed. Number 2's Dad is keen to help with feeds...I don't know why I feel this way but the thought of a machine milking me feels a bit degrading
3 questions really I think:

Does anyone ekse feel this way?

How do you hook up to a machine and express without feeling like a zombie robot?

And lastly, does anyone have any reccomendations?

Thank you all so much x

I had barely heard of expressing before having my first and never considered doing it myself. Turned out I needed to do quite a bit of expressing just to get through the initial feeding problems. I used a hospital-grade double electric pump (rented from Medela) and absolutely hated it - I found it painful, uncomfortable, tiring and humiliating and hated sitting there pumping while DH bottle-fed our baby. Many women find it completely fine, though, so you may have a better experience, and things have also moved on since my time: I've heard good things about the Elvie pumps though they are very expensive. For myself, I got through the weeks of necessary expressing and after that ditched the pump and never expressed again except once to help get rid of mastitis. Again, speaking purely personally I would not express for someone else, even the father, to bottle feed my baby unless I wanted to do that. There are lots of other ways dads can get involved in baby care. Definitely express if you want a break from feeding, but don't do it because you feel you "should". Exclusively breastfeeding is a mother's right and privilege, should she want to do that, imo.

Alternatively, if you do want a break from feeding but don't fancy pumping then you could try one of the silicone vacuum suction pumps that work by catching let-down. Naturebond or Haakaa. They are cheap, no pumping involved, and some women find they can get a lot of milk that way.

I expressed with a top end medela and was soon happily pumping out gallons of the stuff (and secretly feeding it to toddler on her weetabix 🤣)

BUT my baby was in NICU. To get started for the first couple of weeks I had to sit in a quiet room by myself with a photo of DS and smelling his muslin. It was exhausting.

How anyone expresses successfully with a baby to feed as well is beyond me.

My advice is don’t put this added pressure on yourself. Tell your DH to take his precious ego for a jog. You’ll have enough on your plate

realised I’m assuming new babies dad is an arse. He might be perfectly lovely. But still... I wouldn’t bother expressing just because the dad wants to have a go at feeding

I expressed once a day with dc1 so dh could give a bottle when he got back from work and I could have a break for that feed. Used a medula swing which worked fine but yes, I felt like a dairy cow.

Dc2 had a tongue tie and couldn’t latch so I exclusively expressed for about a month until the tongue tie was resolved. Had an Elvie pump and it was fab, definitely no feeling like a cow and as it’s cordless I could still play with dc1 while expressing, it wasn’t a chore really. I actually enjoyed expressing that time because either me or dh could do any feed and it freed me up to be able to give dc1 some time. Shared night feeds in those early crazy days were great.