Expressing Advice

[CJMommy]

Hello

DD is 6 weeks old and EBF. I have recently started to express. I have a Medela Swing. I currently only manage once a day and get between 1-3 oz (pump in the morning after DD feeds). How can I get more?

I would like to do one feed via a bottle each day and build up a bit of a stash for nights/days out etc.

What do you recommend? Buy a better pump ie.Medela freestyle, pump more etc

Should I pump before DD feeds,ie. when I'm feeling 'full' and will she still get what she needs if she wants to feed straight afterwards?

I'm grateful for any help or advice

Hi, how long have you been expressing for? Your body over time gets used to expressing (ie. You get a better let down after you've been doing it a while) and so volume can go up. Though 3oz expressing after a feed is good going. Being relaxed, looking at your baby, sitting comfortably, all can make a difference.

The medela swing is pretty good, if you're getting up to 3oz I'm not sure you'll get better using something else. What can work is hand expressing after you have used the machine (into the funnel iyswim), that can get a bit more.

Other than that, if you could express once more in the day, that would obviously help.

Btw I switched from a medela swing to a double expresser when I started exclusively expressing and whilst it certainly reduced the time expressing took, it made little difference to the yield.

Thanks Apuski.
Only been expressing for about 10 days but probably missed 4 days in between so I suppose I need to be patient and do it more often.

Yes, it really works to create some routine and ritual - so try to do it at a similar time each day, try to sit in the same place. My yield used to plummet when we went away for the weekend.

Does your baby feed from one side for a full feed? If so, I was advised to express from the other side at the same time as a feed, ie not at random times of day.
Also, afaik, 3oz is good going, esp when your baby is so young.

She will sometimes feed from both; i do offer both each time. However, what you say vmcd does make sense.

Maybe spend a bit longer on one side, then offer a few mins on the other side, then express til empty?

If you want to give a full ebm feed a day and build up a stash, you'll need to pump more than once a day IME.

My DD was on ebm top-ups because of a rocky start and I had to pump through the day and night. Now she's ebf but I'm building up a stash again (recently went through my tiny stash when I had thrush) and pump once a day for this and get somewhere between 50-100ml a day. I now pump first thing on one side, either before DD wakes or whilst she's feeding. One side is usually enough for her then, but if she wants more, I offer her the pumped side and she seems to get enough. She can certainly get more than the pump can and it'll be creamier from an emptier breast.

If you want to pump both sides in one session, you need to add it in like it's an extra feed.