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

Hey Popsycal - glad to hear it's going ok for you. My DD is 8.5 months now and I have just given up expressing at work - have been dong it for the past 3 months but last week I had 2 days on the trot where I had working lunches and couldn't get out to express. My breasts didn't seem to suffer so I've ended up leaving the expressing till about 8pm and now I'm only getting about 4 ounces.

I feel a bit sad cos it means dd will only really have breast milk at night now & I expect my supply will dry up completely soon but then again I'm quite proud I b/f for this long as she's always been really distractable and quite frankly a pain in the bum to feed!

My only advice would be that IME if you want to maintain supply you've got to keep at it - no slacking !

Good luck

Hi popsy,
With my Dd I kept at pumping until about 9 months. Partly because of what magscat said. But also because I didn't want to introduce formula this late in the game.
Oh and yes, I was finaly starting to shed the pounds when I went back to work... So lazy thsat I am, would rather pump for England and eat my chocolate, than go to a gym...

LadyPenelope, thanks for telling me about this thread. It's so interesting - may I join the clique?

I'm savanna and I went back to work full time on Monday. My ds is almost 6 months old and is fully on solids but still loves to nurse at every opportunity. I had to challenge my employers to provide a suitable room as I'd done the research on maternity rights and knew what I was entitled to! I have a Medela Mini Electric - didn't get on with a manual pump I tried due to wrist strain - and I've been able to express about 7 oz at lunchtime and when I have the energy a further 3-4 oz in the evening. I'm not sure how much EBM my ds should have during the day while he is with the childminder - he's been having about 9oz there as well as nursing in the morning and evening. I would appreciate any advice on how to get more EBM from pumping, specifically the Medela Mini Electric.

I use the medela mini electris at home and the avent isis hand pump at work (felt very conspicous with the noise of the medela at work....)

I have actually found it much easier with the hand pump at work. I find I get let down much more quickly and I can relax as I am nto worrying about who can hear. I tend to get around 5 oz at lunch time. Yesterday, I also managed to fit in a second session (during a free period - naughty) and got another 5 oz). I manage to express 14 oz during the day but that include doing it at every feed aswell.....I get much better amounts if I express when i am feeding too. I do feel like a bit of a daisy the cow but it is just for such a short time...as his solids increse, I will try to reduce his feeds and therefore nto need to express quite so much. I work mon-thurs and find I have to express during most feeds over the (long) weekend too......
As to increasing your supply....I find that massaging yourself briefly before expressing helps and changing sides when you stop 'squirting' as much helps too.....
There is some good advice on a webiste somewhere.....let me see if I can find it!

this is about expressing in general

specifically working and pumping

Thank you, popsycal. I will check out the websites you have given me.

The Mini Electric is indeed noisy but it does not bother me at work as no one sees me enter or leave the room I've been assigned for expressing. I work on a computer and my wrist was under a lot of strain when I was using the hand pump so I soon gave that up.

Popsycal, you are still expressing, I am sooo pleased for you!!! Have you hit the bathroom wall yet????

OOH, serah, you're the Olympic Expresser, am I right?

popsycal - what happened to your hand expressing?

mears, quick hijack
In Childbirth, there's a thread on clitoral tears during childbirth and no-one seems to have any answers for beatie's poor friend, could you have a look at the thread, please?

popsycal - just went through archives looking for advice wrt my DD2 who won't suck from a bottle and found your thread from June. Glad it worked out for you. I am going to try some of the tips on there and hope for the best.

I am Chipmonkey... saddest thing is I can still express - DS not ever interested Bugger.

Has he self-weaned, serah? Or just not interested in EBM?

More in the breast Chipmonkey - couldn't get him to latch at all.... spent 8 weeks expressing for him but eventually switched to purely formula as it was just an endless round of sterilising, expressing and feeding. He's self weaning now - just nicked a bit of my toast when I wasn't looking this morning the cheeky monkey!

Just a bit tragic really as I had soooo much blimmin milk - and still can express a tiny bit and he's 9 months old today!

oh tipex I know where you are coming from - and I'm not even back at work yet. you are very brave. I am thinking of chickening out before i even start as it makes me feel so weird.

Go on, i bet they are secretly very impressed (she said lamely, cringing inwardly at the thought of doing it herself)

Go On. head held high....

Tipex, is the Medela really that noisy? Or is it just that you imagine people will hear it. My Isis duo makes some noise but I doubt if you could hear it behind a closed door.

Tipex- I was just like you my first week back to work - imagining everyone could hear the pump. They can't. And you shouldn't care. I've been expressing for about 6 months now and truely I am so over caring what others may/may not think. I express twice a day, 10:30 and 3:30 ish. Get 10 oz in the morning session and about 6 in the afternoon one and I feed ds (9.5mo) around 7am and in the evening and usually once overnight (if he wakes). At weekends I feed baby directly as its easier. He is hardly ever sick (touch wood) and I do think the bfeeding helps in that dept. Also have lost a ton of weight so I'm secretly afraid to stop expressing and feeding in case all the weight comes back on!

Noise is why i got a hand pump for work! On my first day back, i tried to hand express as I was too self conscious....I can do this at home but need the pump to get let down. I only hand expressed 1oz at work......
The avent isis is fab for me for work....I can get 5oz in 15 mins now....getting quicker every day

I have my day off tomorrow but still a round of exrpressing at each feed to build up my freezer again!!

Serah - yes, I am becoming an olympic expresser too

i used the avent pump with ds1 and it gave my RSI!!!
for some reason i am fine with it this time rounbd

Tipex, I just switched on my pump and left it by itself in the dining room. Next door in the kitchen I could hear it if I kept very still and listened but if I pottered around I couldn't. So only the very laziest, not-doing-any-work-whatsoever colleagues would hear it.
Also, make sure that your thumb is behind the "neck" of the pump and that you use your thumb muscles to do most of the pumping, its apparently the strongest muscle in the body! Also swapping hands is good.