breastfeeding and expressing

[q81]

I am going back to work next week. my baby will be 8 weeks old and i am currently breastfeeding and hope to continue doing so. I have been expressing for the last 2 weeks to get a stockpile for when i go back. My problem is this, in the gina ford book she says to express 1 time first thing in the morning but according to other books i should be expressing about 3 times a day to get up my supply. which one is correct? am completely confused and worried in case i can't leave enough expressed milk.
thank you

I can't think of any reason why you could only express once a day. I expressed several times in order to try to stock up - no probs. But I have avoided reading the gina ford book so I don't know what she might mean...

q81 - Are you going back to work full time? Are you planning on breastfeeding your baby when you are home and having baby fed your expressed breastmilk (ebm) whilst you are at work or all feeds being expressed?

There are some great websites out there with hints & tips on how to express at work:-

www.workandpump.com/
www.breastfeeding.com/workingmom.shtml
milkymums.co.uk/infopages/mainpages/expressing.htm

Here is a great calculator so you can work out how much milk your baby will need. You may need to pump more than one time for each feed (when I was in hospital and parted from my DD3 I was expressing enough for 4 feeds in 6 goes).

I would definitely recommend getting a double electric pump and a hands free pumping bra (or jerry rigging something with hairbands).

Expressing first thing in the morning whilst feeding baby on the other side can be a great way to get the most amount of milk in one go but you would definately need to pump more than the once to get enough for a day's feeds.

i used gina ford but ignored the bits I didn't agree with. I expressed once a day at about 9pm. This gave me enough milk for about 3 feeds so very quickly built up a large stock pile. I did it for about 6 weeks IIRC. There was also a section int he book about building up your supply which required expressing several times a day at the same time as feeding the baby - which I also found to work.

for building up a stock pile, express whenever and as frequently as you want, just what works for you but preferably at the same time each day.

Once your at work, then you need to express for missed meals. In reality, expressing three times at work is not practical, so I express twice (about 12 and 3pm) then once in the evenings.

We're careful on how much is offered to LO throughout the day, i.e. she doesn't drink more just because she likes to suck which means I don't have to express loads more. Worth looking up how to bottle feed a breast fed baby to help avoid strikes and overfeeding. Sorry would put link in, but am currently expressing.

Thanks for all advice. I was expressing several times a day before last thursday adn then just did it once a day. am going to express about 3 times a day from now on again just to make LO has enough.