Am I unusual to have bf 3 children for (nearly) 3 years without expressing?

[wolvesarejustoldendaydogs]

I bf DS1 and DS2 each for a year, and am still bf 9mo DD.

I don't express at all - tried a couple of times and it took ages to get a tiny bit of milk. I am fortunate in that my lifestyle enables me to manage without expressing - I work from home and have a part-time nanny, so I can break off and take the baby for a bf whenever required.

But I just wondered if it is unusual not to express. The thread about Amazon advertising a 'complete breastfeeding set' comprising pump & bottles etc. made me think of it. I have never bought/used a bottle. Is expressing part and parcel of bf for most mothers?

Yes - you are very unusual. And very special. What an achievement! Well done you!

I could never manage to express anyhting. I had probles BF with DS but managed it for 6months mixed with FF bottles.
My supply was much better with DD but again had no success with expressing at all. It would have been pointless with her though because she flatly refused to take a bottle or cup and I continues to BF until she was 15 months old.

Sorry, buthe, didn't mean to sound like I thought it was an achievement to not express.

To me, expressing is much harder work than bf, so think I am lucky to have been able to avoid it. If I'd had to return to my old job, which was office-based, I'd have had to switch to ff, or mixed, since I couldn't get enough milk out that way. Just wondered if this is unusual.

Beeline, did you work? I wonder how people in this situation manage if they have to be away from their baby? A couple of times recently, it's looked as if I'd need to stay in hospital with DS1 overnight - fortunately they let him out - and I wasn't sure what would happen with DD if they wouldn't let her stay with us.

I think many bf mothers avoid expressing - faff of expressing + faff of persuading baby to take a bottle isn't worth it. Like you I'm SE & work from home, but given 1 year maternity leaves are becoming so common, I would have thought longer term bf is becoming viable for lots of people now.

To stress - not that I think bf is in any way morally superior to expressing, just a heck of a lot simpler much of the time.

I didn't ever express very much as I found it all a big palaver and neither DD1 nor DD2 were at all keen to take a bottle. I did however express for DD1 when she was in SCBU and couldn't feed direct but that was different because it was necessary.

I think it's an important message for new mothers actually - if your baby is healthy and born at term there's no NEED to express. Yes it can be useful sometimes if you're wanting to leave the baby with someone else, or to get them used to a bottle in preparation for starting FF, but it's certainly not ESSENTIAL.

yes, funny, me too. Part of the appeal of bf to me is not having to faff about with bottles and sterilising, and not being able to forget to take milk out with me (I regularly forget all the other necessities).

Wolves - I bought a couple of cartons of ready made formula and a bottle to keep in the cupboard for emergencies such as that - never needed them, but it was reassuring to know they were there so that if I had to go somewhere in an emergency (or went under a bus!), DH would have been able to feed DD2.

I've expressed in the past, prem etc but my ds3 is 3 next month still feeding) and I've not expressed for him. A lot of faff if you don't need to

I bf DD and DS for 20 months each. I didn't express either as I had such a bad experience with expressing when DD was born that I didn't even attempt it with DS. I returned to work after having both children, when they were 8 months old and I would feed mornings, evenings and during the night so they seemed to manage fine without milk during the time when I was at work.

I wouldn't have thought so. I did express for three months between return to arok and cows milk, but I haven't really done it otherwise. Apart from in week two when a doctor made it all go a bit weird, but I have no real insight into what was going on there, I think it was unusual, but might have been really common.

"arok" is, of course, "work"

Bramshott - yes, expressing can seem like another burden to put on people.
I know with DS1 I felt like I'd failed the time I tried to express and couldn't get anything out. Ridiculous, because he was feeding perfectly well and I didn't need to express.

Then, with DD when she was a few days old we had to spend a night in hospital for her jaundice and the doctors made me feel absolutely rubbish for 'not having enough milk' because I couldn't express much (they wanted me to express to see how much milk she was getting). Went back to bf the next morning, and all was well, thankfully, but if she'd been my first baby I might have given up then.

I have never expressed 9mths for ds1 and 10mths and still going strong with dts i never had time to express with the twins as there is never a free boob, and if i did it at a time they werent feeding, when they were younger, i would never have moved! So i never got into the habit of it.

I am now trying to give them a cup, but not that successfully :(

Nope. Actually you're probably quite common. Most women who don't 'have' to don't bother. We had this thread a while ago and many people just didn't express. I've fed for 4 years now (2 dc) and don't express.

I was like you and never understood why people bothered with expressing (I got so little, it took 3 painful sessions while feeding on the other side to get even 4oz with a super duper electric pump) until I saw my friend in action. 5 minutes with the (hand!) pump and she had a full bottle!

I was able to work flexibly too, until my meagre EBM was enough, if I hadn't been able to I would have switched to formula.

Yet I never had any supply problems, obviously making just enough and no more! So in answer to your question I don't know how usual/unusual it is not to be able to express much, but I certainly had that experience too.

Show - I must have missed that thread. Interesting - so much in baby magazines and on TV etc. seems to sound as if expressing is part and parcel of bf - yet sounds as if that's not the reality.

badpoet I wonder if it is that some people just don't respond to the different stimulation of a pump - it certainly didn't feel at all like bf to me. My babies suck quite hard (I think) so maybe they are having to work harder than some others to summon the milk. No supply problems and DD is absolutely massive (about 90th percentile) so it's not a problem, just different.

Well done.

I think the most unusual thing about your situation is that you can work from home, have a nanny and take breaks when needed, to breastfeed. The work situation of many women means that expressing and continuing to bf simply isn't an option - people who work shifts; jobs where you cannot get the breaks that you are entitled to; and not having anywhere to express.

Yes, expressing is a faff and I imagine few people do it for fun.

I did, except for a tube fed when DD2 was born. I found it very easier than expressing, tried once as I wanted to wear a particular dress, and like you didn't see the point of faffing about with bottles for EBM; it seemed like the worse of both worlds.

I didn't work outside of the home though and when I went away, a couple of evenings for the first 2 and a weekend when DC3 was 6 months I left cartons of SMA.

The reason expressing has a higher profile is simply that there are products to sell you!

I BF DS2 and DD - DS2 would only drink it expressed so I expressed solely for 7 months. It was bloody exhausting and I wouldnt recommend it.

With DD I only expressed once (and that was only because there was no other way round it). The first experience put me off!

Don't know if it's unusual but I did it for my 3 DC, for about 18 months each - although the last six months or so were probably just first and last thing feeds.

I did try expressing and managed to get plenty out, but it wasn't something I wanted to do regularly as it seemed to send my boobs out of kilter for a few days (ie make them quite sore).

I didn't work from home at the time but did take extended maternity leave, so was able to bf as and when.