Expressing - does it save time?

[Eulalia]

Obviously the theory is that someone else can feed the baby. However I am wondering if all that work with cleaning, steralising and actual expressing does save me time. Feels like I am finding it hard to just sit down and feed ds2 (4 months) some days. I have a 3yr dd and another ds aged 6 who has special needs. Teatime is v difficult obviously and sometimes if ds2 is hungry I am feeding him and taking him off to attend to the other two.

dh does come home quite early - about 5.15pm most evenings if traffic isn't bad so yes he could feed ds if he was hungry then (not much of a routine with feeds). But I feel I have so much to do as it is that that just adds more work to my day.

What do others think? I have the equipment gathering dust as I used it in the early days for ds1 when I had probs feeding and never used it at all for dd as she was a good feeder and I had less children then.

Thanks.

could dh feed the big ones their tea whilst you concentrate on feeding the baby?

ps i am not the person to ask about expressing as i'm too lazy & it's much easier just to stick dd on the boob....

I find expressing hard work! It's all the faff of steralising, cleaning and the fuss. Mind you, my DD is 9 weeks tomorrow and sometimes refuses the bottle so I do think 'whats the point'
I agree about perhaps having your DH get involved in feeding the older ones. It gives him some quality time with the older ones, plus instead of spending time in the day expressing, you can do different things with your kids.

Not only is expressing harder work as you are still spending the time that you would have fed to actually express in the first place, you need to be careful that you do not affect your supply. If you express instead of feed, your breasts will not be stimulated as well as if baby was sucking. So you may feel the effects in your supply.

i did find expressing easier and quicker. I expressed at times when I had antoehr pair of hands around or in the middle of the night, and then during the day jsut propped the dts up with bottles. If I actually breastfed them I would have been stuck there all day, I could never get them to feed at the same time. I can't say I would have done the same thing had there only been one though, and I did have the advantage that I found expressign incredibly easy and could express up to 15 oz in 20 minutes.

I'm currently expressing due to sore nipples and tbh am finding it really easy and a lot quicker - I don't bother sterilising either

I think it depends on a lot of things: how efficient your baby is as a feeder, how easy you find expressing, and your daily habits and routines.

I found expressing a bit useful with DS1, as he took ages to feed, wasn't great at sucking. I gave him a bottle of EBM every day for months and months. It might have helped him sleep longer at night, as it gave him a big feed without having to work for it.

But with DS2, he's been such a strong, efficient, sucker, there's been no point.

I am sure ds3 drinks loads when I feed him but if I use the pump (which is a very good one btw) I get 5 oz max. I'd say feeding is more efficient.

I had to express, firslt when ds was born he refused to latch on for the 1st month, then later when I went back to work.

Expressing is much harder and takes longer than feeding directly.

ditto exactly what chipmonkey said

no I don't think it saves time
I only express for when I want to take my nipples out of the house
if you want to save time then I would suggest a hands free sling feeding solution

I found that it was quicker and easier to just breastfeed, but the easiest and quickest time to express was first thing in the morning when breasts were at their fullest. Usually dh would use this ebm to feed during the night (we took turns!) I found a manual pump faster than the electric type and I'm so glad we got a steam steriliser as the cold water one was tedious to say the least!

Expressing is not easier! Then again I'm an all or nothing girl and have no experience of breastfeeding and expressing a bit...

Unless you have the output of a dairycow (I mean this in the nicest way) , I can't see how expressing saves time. I am speaking as someone who used hospital industrial pumps to express.

Thanks for the responses. Good to know that I am not the only one who can't be bothered with the faff. Much easier just to stick baby onto boob!

TBH I couldn't see dh and the teatime working with the older kids. I actually like to get them fed and cleared up before dh gets home. I don't think he'd cope very well with the kids and I'd just end up being more stressed. He's actually been helping more with ds2 recently usually just sitting him on his lap as a lot of it is just wanting comfort.... and he sucks his fingers too which the other two didn't.

Want to delay solids till 6 months and I htink I've come this far so can carry on a bit longer without bottles, unless I do maybe express a wee bit and give it to him in a cup. You can give them cups from 4 months onwards I think?

depends how good your milk supply is. If you have an abundance and you can get a good supply in say 10-20 mins then fine. If not it will be hard work (I expressed for 9 months for my twins and did not have a good supply and it was tough). Expressing does not stimulate supply as well as breastfeeding.

Also better if you double pump - but that still means you are tied to the machine for min 10-20 mins.

Have you tried feeding with a sling - then you can do other things at the same time (I seem to be recommending that a lot at the moment ).