A question about supply and expressing

[lookout]

Ds is 9 weeks old, ebf though we had some teeting troubles up until around the 5 week mark and he was mixed fed, formula and ebm as well as some bf. All good now though. If I was to go out for the morning and dh give him a bottle of ebm, would i then need to express when i got home to make sure my supply stayed the same for the next day? Or does a bottle here and there not affect supply?

TIA

occ, i think you're right re: the sleeping. it might just be easier for the time being to let him sleep on me, at least that way we actually get some sleep. hopefully at some point he'll feel better going to bed by himself all the time, and not just at 8pm!

i have tried a sleeping bag, but he seems to do better being swaddled so i'm gonna stick with that for a while. when he's a bit bigger and the moro has died down a bit we will def use a sleeping bag, they're so much easier for us!

wrt the night expressing, i'm too full to go back to sleep without expressing a bit, plus i need to express some so dh can give that bottle in the early evening. i'm having trouble seeing where else during the day i could fit in the expressing. i can't manage any other positions except cradle and am rubbish at feeding and expressing at the same time. i guess if i could get ds to have a go on both sides, that would remove the need to express, but i have so much trouble getting him to sleep as it is, that i'm hesitant to fully awaken him to feed in the middle of the night! would a nappy change after the first side be a silly idea? i always though the least disruption possible at night?

i've noticed the last few nights that he's only taken 2oz from the bottle with dh(ie not as much as before), then sleeps on him rather than in the basket, for only about 2 hours so there really is something about settling after night feeds that bothers him!

MixedBerries, no worries! Fwiw ds had his tt cut once at 4 weeks and after no improvement a week later had it cut again. It took a good 2-3 weeks after that for him to even start getting the hang of things, so we've only really had a week to ten days of completely hassle free feeding. Hang in there, you're doing great, and I really hope it gets easier for you soon . May very well PM you at some point, thanks! It's always good to talk to others who know what it's like

Carrot-sorry to hijack Lookout- I was just reading the thread and one of he ladies is getting 3 feeds from expressing!! I bf and express so dh can do a feed between (10-2am while I sleep I then get up and either feed or express but like Lookout I need a block of sleep) however, I only get 60 Mis from each boob (2 floz) per express. I go to bed and leave dh with about 210 mls. Will I gradually produce more? (ds is 9 days old and I gave up on y first child as I was told to mix feed and my supply diminished and I'm determined to keep it up this time) TIA

Hi Exquisite. It's me with the super-boobs! I wasn't producing that much at 9 days. It gradually increased the more I pumped day by day. So much so that I have an oversupply (lucky maybe?) which means my boobs are sore most of the time. and pretty leaky still at 8 weeks. Also, I think the amounts expressed do vary from person to person. Anyway, I'm sure Carrot will be on soon with a more informed answer.

Exquisite- 210mls is approx a 1/3rd of baby's daily requirement (babies of 5 days old take on average 700mls a day and babies of 3m take on average 750ml).

You expressing 60mls is very good going and is basically a feed for your baby from each side! So that is definitely not 'only' 60mls :-) You may find you are less able to pump so much as time goes on but that is very normal as your body gets used to how much baby needs it stops making extra (the extra is what you are expressing).

Oh I see well it's only to "cover" one feed and to freeze a little bit in case of emergencies (like having a bath in peace and quiet) I'm quite worried about "nipple confusion" which is what happened with my first so I'm hoping to have only the one feed of expressed milk a day before he gets used to a teat. Am expressing between feeds when I'm feeling heavy and those lumps appear all the way up to my armpits!!

It may be that expressing between feeds is telling your body to make more and more milk. You then get full so need to express more milk to feel comfy again telling your body to make more milk again.

How often are you expressing on top of bfing?

I breast feed between 8-12 times a day and express perhaps every 5 hours...

So removing milk upwards of 12-16 times a day with approx 4 pumping sessions with 60mls each side so roughly 480mls of milk a day over what baby needs.

It sounds like you would really need to speak to either a bfing trained MW (not all of the MW have a lot of training in bfing) or speaking to one of the breastfeeding helplines about ways to not feel so overfull (I'm assuming you don't want to feel engorged in between feeds and would like to dial back on the overproduction).

lookout OK, sounds like you've worked through some options. Whether an nappy change would help is something you'd need to try, to see :) It makes sense really. It's certainly something that does get suggested a lot - to feed from one side, change, then feed from the other so that you don't need to change after the second boob when baby is most sleepy. On the other hand I'm a huge fan of not changing at all overnight unless the nappy is dirty, for max sleepiness.

But, in your situation just that extra jog to wake him may be a good thing if he'll then take a good feed (or even just enough for you) on the other side. But that doesn't solve the question of when you will express. I can't help there of course :( Maybe it would help if you spoke to a BFC in person who could give you some help in positioning while expressing? It may be that an electric pump would be easier if you are BF and EXP at the same time.

Depending on your funds, your local NCT branch may have a hospital grade (ie very quiet) electric pump to hire. It's less likely to wake him than a normal home grade (noisy) electric pump - or - a double-pumping hospital grade pump might be fast enough for you to find time during the day to get enough for your evening bottle.

ExquisiteChristmasCake I can't add to what Tiktok and Truthsweet have said but hope you find a solution soon :)

occ, thanks again for your input. It's actually helped just to 'talk' it through with someone and work out what I'm aiming for. The nappy change worked well last night. He took a bit from the second side, albeit not a lot, and then went three hours til the next feed, which is much more manageable. I also managed to express while feeding so as soon as I put him in the basket I went to bed. I was steeling myself for the grunting etc and it never came . So while I didn't sleep soundly cos I was convinced it was gonna come any minute, it does mean that he can sleep after night feeds! I had heated the bedroom a bit more, don't know if that is what made the difference but I will try again tonight.

He still didn't settle with dh after the bottle though, and was wide awake and crying/whinging until dh came to wake me up 2 hours after the bottl . Might have to rethink it.

Oh well, that's partly excellent news! I'm glad it's helping to talk it through. I've been there myself and having someone to bounce things off helps to make things clearer, I think.

LOL @ lying awake waiting for the baby to wake. EVERY mum does that at some point and then looks back and wonders why!!

Shame about the bottle. :(

Shame for dh, but, bless him, he still let me sleep for 5 hours! I'm hoping it will continue getting better . Thanks again for your help, I'm sure it won't be the last time!