The expressing clique

[popsycal]

I'm Popsy and I am a pumper

DS2 is 6 months and i am bac at work 4 days a week mon-thurs. I express and lunchtime and get around 5oz.......
He needs 2 7oz feeds during the day but i am hoping to reduce his lunchtime feeds as his solids increase.
BEen back at work properly only one week but am having to express during every feed and every time on my day off to get enough.
my boobs hurt

Who else is in my gang

Me ohh can I be in your gang can I???

How exciting never been in a mumsnet clieque before...however i am only a once a day girl - once in the morning 4 oz to last dd the whole day - but she does have big feed morning and night!

Can I join too?
I'm a light pumper right now,but will have to go hardcore in a month or so when I go back to work. have asked about a place to do it (don't want to use the student bathroom with a singlenook! ). Was given a room where corpses are taken for donation ! Not sure i'll manage to get anything out there !

quick question - I didn't use`a bottle with DD until she needed to go to nursery and was a total disaster. How much do I have to feed DS with a bottle for him not to loose the ability to take bottles? and how to figure out what is a full EBM feed?
ta

can i be another light expressing lurker with the possibility of going hardcore soon please?

don't express much at present as at home with DD2 and she won't take a bottle so it is boob or bust for us now (pardon the awful pun/double entendre ).

supposed to be going back into office next month and DD2 to nursery. Don't know how we will manage as she doesn't take a bottle but we'll see. Maybe try her straight on cup I guess

work in all male openplan evironment though so maybe if I can work up courage to point out the expressing problem they'll tell me to work from home a bit longer. Can't imagine balancing a lactaline on my knees in the loo - oh, no power socket anyway - and can't get on with the hand pumps at all

Lua, my ds was regularly taking a bottle till he was 5 months old, at least once and usually twice a week. But THEN he started refusing. He should at that stage have been 3 months old ( he was 8 weeks prem.) A lot of them start refusing at that age, they just decide that they prefer Mum! My other two boys were rarely given a bottle and yet they never refused.

mp, if you're in the UK they have to provide a room and fridge. (I'm not in the UK) No lactaline balancing should be required!

I'd like to join too!

I've recently gone back to work 4 days a week and I'm pumping twice (8.30am and 12.30pm) while at work. I am (proudly) the first person in the large hospital where I work to take up the rights to a private room and fridge etc and hopefully once word gets about it will encourage more Mums to use it rather than stop bf or combine with formula when they come back to work.
I've been managing to get 5-6oz per session using a Medela Pump in Style, thought I would break the motor in the Mini electric so splashed out on more expensive one. Its going well so far, reasonably comfy etc, I have huge breasts (and nipples) as well so I got the Personal fit larger funnel and that has worked out better. Must say I tried hand pumps when I had ds1 and could barely get any milk out at all, my first session on the Medela PIS I got 5 oz in 5 minutes - was on quite a full boob but still quite impressive!

Frances

Don't you just love the name of the "Pump in Style"! I mean , pumping is sooooo stylish!

yeh - it makes me smile [grin

It does come in quite a smart looking black rucksack though - think thats why its called that, the marketing ploy obviously worked on me then!

That was meant to be a

pumped for both my girls when at work (in boss's office) and proudly showed off the results to anyone who was interested. did it for ages, esp with dd1. well done to anyone else who's doing it, it's liquid gold, girls

(used avent hand pump and had to get spare parts from them in the post as it developed a stress fracture after prolonged use Both girls would only drink from Playtex bottles though so used playtex bags to freeze it as avent ones were a bit too small)

Pob71, mine comes in a smart-looking laptop-style case but it had me completely paranoid last week as we had a rep in from a supplier whose display cases were so similar I was terrified he'd go off with my pump, not to mention the liquid gold!

Thanks for the info chip - so what are we supposed to do? given even more as they get older? I was hoping to start banking some milk now....

I have been using the Avent Isis and am truly impressed. I am getting much more milk (easy 4oz) this time, then last time with a medela eletric pump.

Chip - LOL at exchanging carriers - can you imagine the surprise of the sales person whe he/she discovered?

btw - anypne has found a good source of plastic bags or any other good containers for storage in case I do succeede in banking some?
We just got a new freezer, and I am naming the top drawer milk bank ! LOL!

I just use the Avent storage bottles, better to freeze in small amounts. I know Alux got storage bags at a very good price from ebay.

I've another one ready to join to expressing clique.

DS is 5.5mths and I've been back at work full time since he was 12 weeks. I'm lucky to have a nursing room with comfy chair on my floor at work and then store it in fridge in office kitchen. I'm also using Medela Pump in Style. I'm glad I invested in it, because it's faster than the Advent hand pump.

I've been expressing twice a day most of the time but in last week I've been aiming for 3 since I've had a bit of a dip in supply. (Not poss every day but I try to squeeze in an extra one if poss.)

I've never been able to fully keep up with DS on my work days, so he has a bottle of formula. But at weekends/hols I'm able to feed him exclusively and he gets 80% breastmilk even on my work days. Only thing is in last week he's become a total milkaholic and I've had to up the amount of formula he gets... he's ready for solids really. I'll start him at the weekend and that should bring things back under control.

I was aiming to keep b/feeding for 6 months and I'm nearly there.

Meant to say ... I use Pigeon storage bags which are great. But don't know if you can get them in UK.

LadyPenelope, where are you living? (Roughly, not asking for your address!{grin]

I'm in Singapore chipmonkey.

And are the nursing facilities typical for Singapore? Sounds lovely!

Lol Chip re the thought that the rep might have gone off with pump and your boob juice (actually liquid gold sounds much more flash doesnt it!)
BTW the word "pump" makes me laugh anyway considering its usual usage. DS1 (age2.3) proudly announces "Pump" after he does one! tee hee!

No Chipmonkey - I'm very lucky. Most offices have no facilities and this time last year my colleagues were expressing in the ladies loos. But for some reason, just before I went on maternity leave they fitted out 2 small nursing rooms. It's great.

It is strange though, because I don't think it's law in Singapore and although I work for large multinational company, it's not even something the rest of our offices around the globe have. (Although maybe it's a new standard that they are working towards ... I hope so!)

I've very proud of my colleagues too - everyone is very supportive and neither men nor women bat an eyelid as I'm coming and going. The trail was blazed last year by one of my teammembers, and I'm determined to do my bit to show that it can be done.

I was thinking as I was sat expressing at lunch time.....
Why do those of us whose baby are over 6 months and on solids still express......Just interested.....

DS2 is 6.5 months and I am not sure I know the full answer to the question myself.....

I'm not doing it yet popsycal, and not sure if I will manage it due to issues about where I can express at work

BUT, if I do get that far I think it will be because I like bf'ing DD2 and would be worried that milk supply would tail off at the w/e if I didn't express during the week. Also would like most if not all of her milk drinks to be bmilk until she is 12 mths (famous last words). Not sure why...