Can someone please give me very uncomplicated answers about expressing??

[Fishpond]

I did see a thread on expressing but it was different to this.

I want to EBF until returning to work when baby is between 8-12 weeks. At that point I will need to have enough to last the baby around 9 hours a day. At what age should I start expressing and freezing, WHEN should I express, how much should I aim to have as "reserve" by the time I start going back to work, do I have to put him on formula until I can have an adequate reserve built up? Help!! It all seems very complicated and confusing.

Hmm, I'm in the US so don't have NCT here but will look up La Leche League. Are there really no easy and simple guidelines for this?

From memory now as my 2 eldest are now 6 and 8, but I worked from thier age of 6 months and 4 months respectively and continued to BF until the were 9 month old.
Have you already had your baby? If yes, you're probably aware that BF is all about supply and demand, you feed/express your body will produce the milk.
I think I started expressing when my children were 6 weeks old, it's usually the time your supply is working well.
I would ALWAYS express at the first feed of the day baby on one breast, expresser on the other, when baby had finished feed I would empty that breast too, bag it and freeze it.
Whenever it was convenient to do so I would similtaneously feed/express at other times of the day.
As the baby got older and began to sleep longer I would express at the time of the 'usual' evening feed and maintain that as a daily routine, your body assumes its still a feed so will continue to make the milk. Bag it and freeze it.
Are you in the UK? If yes, guidlines recommend that your employer should support your continued BF and offer you somewhere quiet and sanitary to express. This is what I did.
Before returning to work I wrote to HR explaining my need to express as a matter of mine and my baby's Health & Safety.
Every afternoon at 3pm I would disappear to the staff room with a DO NOT DISTURB sign on the door and express. My CEO allowed me to refrigerate the milk in the boardroom fridge instead of the staff room fridge amoungst out of date yoghurst and mouldy sandwiches lol.
Once home to baby my breasts would be fit to burst, so much milk and I'd do a similtaneous feed/express.
I sincerely hope this helps, good luck.
Just out of interest, why are you returning to work so soon?

I exclusively expressed for DS up to 19 weeks, so slightly different position to you. There is nothing stopping you starting to store milk as soon as you have BF established. I expressed every 2 hours for the first few weeks, even through the night, and by about week 3 I was expressing more than I needed. Perhaps if you pick a time once you have a feeding "routine" sorted for your expressing session this will let you build up a stash for when you go back to work.

Assuming you will express while you are at work for the following day, if you were to BF in the morning before work, express mid morning mid afternoon and then BF when youget home and before bed and then anoutehr expressing session before you go to bed, you should only need 3 feeds worth for when your DC is in child care? Is there any chance you can get to the nursery to feed your DC through the day?

Expressing is hard work and some women who have no problems BFing can have difficulty doing it. Take things as they come and reassess when the time comes to go back to work. There is nothing wrong with mix feeding if you have to.

KellyMom website is great for expressing advice. I can't link as I am on my phone

Treadmill I'm in the US where maternity leave is shit and I'm a single mother so must work. Of course it's not ideal but I've made my peace and just trying to figure out the best way to go about making sure he will be able to have breastmilk as long as he can.

I may be able to go for one feed in the day depending how long of a lunch period I will have, although it would extend my working day so he would be in childcare longer iyswim? Haven't decided about that yet.

My particular state has no breastfeeding workplace laws so if there is even a staff fridge to use I will be happy.

There might be some stuff here that will help. This BfN leaflet has info on storage times.

If you want lots in reserve I think you'll need to start expressing quite early on before your supply calibrates to your baby's needs, as you'll need to ensure they're getting enough in the early weeks, but also you have spare to freeze. It sounds like hard work, especially on top of establishing breastfeeding, and will probably mean expressing at a few set times each day. Litttle babies feed what feels like all the time, so it may be hard to fit in. some people get on well with expressing from one side while their baby feeds from the other. It would be good if you can find some local support, eg from LLL. The tricky bit with that is, that when you are then suddenly separated for 9hrs a day you will get extremely full (actually this would happen without expressing extra), and will likely need to express to prevent engorgement/mastitis/blocked ducts. Obviously the ideal would be to express every 3-4hrs and keep the milk to be used on the next day you work. If that's not possible, you might need to consider pumping and dumping -if necessary in the toilets.

Good luck!

If you know you are going back early then expressing from when your milk comes in alongside bfing directly may well work out best for getting supply up and running before going to work.

BM will keep in a fridge

Oh if you aren't allowed to use the staff fridge (though I can't see why not!) you can get milk storage cool bags that you could store in your locker/desk drawer. You would need a fair few ice blocks though so you always had some ready frozen in the morning just in case you forgot the night before.

Fishpond - I'm also in the US - it is federal law since March 2010 that employers provide reasonable break time to express milk and a place other than a bathroom to pump. It is not state-by-state. Link here.

sorry - that came out very abruptly! Good luck!

Could you use the guidelines on a pack of formula for an approximation?

As long as you can express at work, then you'll only need 3 days worth of milk stocked (1 day ahead, plus spare for leaving your milk at work/dropping bottles etc).
At 16 weeks (when I went back to work), ds needed 3 feeds at nursery, each of 4oz. I left some frozen milk in their freezer in case he was extra hungry which made me feel better.

I found the easiest way to build up a stock of milk was to hand express a little after each feed - if you keep two bottles in the fridge you can take one out, squirt as much as you can in (at least with wide neck bottles), put it into chill, then next time tip the cold milk into the rest, and repeat.

I wondered if this may be of any use to you?

I went back a little later than you - 19 weeks. The time to start a frozen stash of milk is now. Freeze it in one, two and three ounce bags. If you can only manage to express half an ounce now and then, keep the half ounce in the fridge until it's up to an ounce or two.

I don't think you can ever have too much of a stash. Frozen milk keeps for a year, and in the fridge it will keep for days too. I found it very hard to get my head around the fact that breastmilk is not cowsmilk, it doesn't go 'off' as quickly and is pretty amazing stuff in terms of how long it keeps fresh.

At work I would express three times a day, morning, lunch and late afternoon. I also expressed at 9.00 p.m., 2.00 a.m. and 6.00 a.m. DD had two four ounce bottles during the day whilst I was at work. I would just put it in the work fridge, or keep it in an insulated bag. (I am away from her for 12 hours - 6.30 a.m. - 6.30 p.m.)

It does get easier around 6 months, just take one day at a time. I worked full time from 19 weeks, and breastfed until 15 months without having to give any formula.

You may be lucky and have a baby that does reverse-cycling, that is takes all the food it needs from you during the evening/night time and doesnt' need so much during the day.

One more tip - cosleeping is a lifesaver if you have to work and breastfeed. It meant we all got enough sleep.

I expressed for 12 weeks whilst my son was in NICU and have now combined BF-ing with expressing for when I'm at work for 14 months. My tip would be, check well in advance how well your milk stores. Mine will stay ok in the fridge for 2 days max, and doesn't freeze at all unless it's been scalded first (which apparently destroys a lot of the goodness) - something to do with excess lipase it seems. If you are in the same position, there's no point trying to express and freeze loads now because you'll just end up throwing it all away .

My son has only ever taken a tiny bit of milk during the day though - he just stocks up in the evenings and overnight. If yours does the same, I second co-sleeping, would have been impossible otherwise.