Expressing experts - is it really this hard/ time-consuming or am I making a meal of it?

[TCOB]

So I'm back at work 3 days a week, goig full-time in a few weeks. DD is being looked after by family/ DH whilst I work, and so far we get away with about 4-5 ounces expressed for her as I can feed her 9am, 12 noon and 5pm - but this is going to end when I go back FT and she is in nursery. Realistically, what should I expect/ aim for in terms of expressing? Will I be able to do 8ozs for her each day? How many times a week should I express? Is there a good time to do it? Am I being totally ridiculous to think I can do this or am I setting myself up for a fall? And will it always make my nipples feel really strange???

I went back to work FT when DD was 4 months. At 11 months, we're still going strong :)

At 7 months, with weaning we cut her down to on lunchtime bottle. The let her catch up when I got in. Would feed at 6am 8am (so clusterfed before I left) and then 6 and 8 pm to give her enough to get a few hours shuteye before she woke.

islandbaby, I do find the hand pump more tiring, but it only takes about a quarter of the time compared with an electric for me so it's not too bad. (Plus I wasn't doing every day.)

I can only manage 2oz at a time like piprabbit, and that is only if dd is feeding from other breast at same time. That is with manual pump, I'm guessing that could be improved upon with hospital grade elctric double pump but I just can't afford one! I personally only express when dd is feeding, firstly because when she is feeding the other breast tends to let down and leak anyway and I can get more out, and secondly I just don't have the time to sit down and express on top of the times I have to sit down and feed her!

I also find that I can get way more in a shorter time in the mornings than I can as teh day wears on.

Good luck, hope you manage it! Perhaps get a really decent electric pump and express in the morning, while lo is feeding and to keep at it as much as possible from now onwards as it seems the more you do it the more you get! Thing is you might increase your supply so much you end up leaking/engorged at work!

What I didn't say is that I express at the times I would expect DS to feed at, if I were with him. It's not necessarily about increasing supply, more about getting used to pumping regularly, finding what works for you. If you specifically want to increase supply, then more often is better, as the emptier you can keep your boobs, the clearer the message to your body to make more.

Thanks so much for all the advice/ experience, I'm feeling like I might be able to do this - or cope if I can't - so will be giving it my best shot inthe 4 weeks before I'm back FT.
Plastic I want your boobs (in a purely platonic way of course!!). Tried expressing late morning and mid-afternoon today, plus popped back in to give DD boob x2 in afternoon (I know, bad move - I work from home but I HAVE to stop doing this ). My boobs definitely fill up more but still not getting more than about 4ozs in about 15 mins in a really good session - still with an Avent handpump (which has developed a squeak, great, now least discreet expressing in the world ever). I'm getting an electric one from my friend on Friday and cannot wait to give it a go.
Penguin - we are now clusterfeeding intensely in the morning, night (whoops) and evening so I think my supply is just about to go BERSERK, The breast pads have had the dust blown off them...

I found I could get very little out with a handpump after ds1 was six months. With the Ameda lactaline I could get 10 oz+ in five-ten minutes.

Like you I went back 3 days/week when ds1 was 7months, pumped 2x a day at work, getting enough for 2 x feeds at nursery. Fed on demand when I was with him, dropped to one pumping session a day when he was around 9 months. I didn't go back full time until he was one, and I stopped pumping then, but I managed to keep him in enough EBM to not give formula, and he then breastfed morning and night until gone 2 years.

Moral of the story: buy electric double! (I should be on commission!)

I couldn't pump at all with a manual - but with the Lactaline, I could pump 8oz in 10 minutes no problem. Breast compressions at the end and hand expressing the last bit makes a difference