Is expressing breastmilk hassle?

[Catlady2202]

I have been EBF my six week old directly from the boob. It was really hard in the first week, but now it’s got much easier. He’s gained so much weight as per his six week checkup but every evening he gets really fussy at my boob whacking it , unlatching and screaming. The midwife said that this is normal and that my flow could just be slower in the evening however we wonder whether I expressed into a bottle and feed him when he gets fussy so I can see how much milk he’s getting. But is pumping a hassle as whenever I look online it just looks like it’s a lot of work?

of course it can also get a tad tiring and maybe it would be nice on a Friday or Saturday if my husband could give him a bottle of expressed milk. I’m not fussed either way, but wondered what other people’s experiences were. I’m more concerned that he’s not getting enough in the evening.

Yes it is.
We have a bottle of formula a day with my first.
2nd we left it too long so she refused formula/ bottles and anything not boob until 10 months

It's absolutely a hassle. Finding a pump you like, getting the right flange size, washing, sterilizing and making time to pump. Because evening flow is slower & pumps are less efficient you'd probably have to do it in the AM as well.

The witching hour is painful though - I combi fed my second for that reason. One bottle of 3-4 oz in the evening to avoid.

For me it was a bit of a hassle, but totally offset by the ability for DH to take a turn of feeds and let me rest. Although I was often pumping instead of feeding I felt some relief in that I had a break from being ‘touched’ (pump aside) so could read a book or scroll my phone for 10 minutes which I felt like I couldn’t do when the baby was on me. All cleaning and sterilizing was DH’s ‘job’ since he wasn’t doing the remainder of feeds, so that part didn’t affect me at all.

I find it a hassle and rarely do it! If he’s gaining weight it sounds like he’s getting enough and it’s probably just the fact it’s witching hour! Once they’re out of the newborn stage it does get easier!

I found it a doddle with DD1, but much harder with DD2. It is ok to use formula for that feed.

Why do you need to express?? Honestly I feel like it's just fashionable to do it! What's the point!!

Total pain in the arse and my DD seem to get plenty of milk from me but the minute I tried to pump nothing came out. I tried about four or five different pumps. It was a very expensive exercise.
Equally, some friends seem to have a lot of success with it

Bf 11 dc... Could never be bothered with the faff of pumping...

Yes it's a hassle. You have to sterilise the bottles and the pump. Pumping with an incorrectly sized flange is uncomfortable. You have to find the time to do it. Pumping is less efficient than a baby sucking and your body doesn't let down as strongly. Hormones in your milk are geared to the time of day. More sleep inducing one's at the end of the day, so you loose out on that benifit if you're giving morning pumped milk at bedtime. It looks weird seeing your nipple get stretched. It sounds weird too. Neither are massive issues in the scheme of things, but I found the visuals and sounds unpleasant! You can also get into an anxious head space about how much you're producing and is the baby getting enough. When with feeding directly you don't see the volume the baby takes, just the output! It can also mess with your supply, creating too much demand and increasing supply leading to more engorgement and discomfort.

The best advice I had on the witching hour was to be skin to skin with the baby before they seem hungry /upset, so that they can feed before they feel their hunger, so avoiding the cycle of them needing to feed but being tooupset to actually feed.

Thanks so much - I will try the skin to skin. I thought as such with all the sterilising and engorgement. It’s bizzare because the rest of the day my boobs literally spray milk like a fire hydrant and then in the evening they feel so soft and babe gets so frustrated and upset :(

Yes, a bit. I got into a routine with DC2 because I donated, but I was glad to wrap it up- less washing up!
I guess it’s important to ask how you feel about exclusive bfeeding. That time of day can often be a trouble for some babies. If baby is acting as if the milk isn’t coming down fast enough, perhaps a change is technique might be something you’d like to discuss on a helpline? I’d probably suggest a bit of breast massage prior to a feed, maybe feeding laying down, or even dangling so gravity helps. But the BfN are great at this kind of thing!

I personally found it was a faff and I could only really do it when someone else was around as I couldn’t hold the baby with the pump on and he somehow knew to wake up and cry as soon as I got it all set up.

Honestly though, it sounds like it might not be the solution for the fussy evenings anyway. My DS was so unsettled in the evenings from about 6-10 weeks, just really hard to settle and it always seemed like he was hungry but then he wouldn’t feed. Seemed pretty common amongst our NCT group too so finding ways to ride it out might help you more. Eg taking turns with partner to try settling, baby wearing, skin to skin, rocking etc.