Long term expressing

[pigletmania]

I express most of ds feeds (he is 10 weeks), as there were problems and had to give top ups, got so used to the bottle that he did not want the breast. I plan to express long term is there anybody out there like me

Hi Piglet
Did anyone ever get to the bottom of your problems with you? I find babies who are keen to switch to bottle are typically those with issues at the breast, which are often the reason for the top ups in the first place - ie the problem is there before the bottle, rather than being caused by....
It's not too late to get support to try and get your baby back to the breast, but yes mums can express longterm and is easier with morale support x
AA

One of my friends expressed for three months before switching to ff.
I rarely express because it is such hard work with so little to show for it!

If your baby has had a bottle, and is used to having the milk easily then you can see why he would reject the breast when he has to work to get it out! Have you got a local bf group you can go to? Long term expressing is very hard work!

I did it for 10 weeks as DD wouldn't latch. The main problem in continuing was that my DD started sleeping through the night and therefore I stopped getting up to pump and because of this I got severe mastitis in 1 boob. My supply in that boob never returned to normal and therefore I could not make enough milk from just the 1 boob. There also comes a point when getting out, meeting friends, doing other activities rather than pumping is important for your wellbeing. My advice is to get a dual hospital grade pump if you havnt already as that halves the time spent pumping. It would be a hell of a feat to continue to pump for an extended time IMO. I can't imagine it's possible with 2 DC at all.

I would add the main reason I did it was that some people and also the general 'google' consensus was that eventually my DD would be able to latch. Well that never happened! If I knew that was a certainty I would probably not have bothered with the expressing.

I did it for 10 months for DD. She just wouldn't attempt to latch. It was hard work at first but once my supply was established it just became part of the routine. When I had a good supply I could easily get out and about just making sure I pumped before and after I went. It is doable although I found all the HV very negative about it all. I was sad that I didn't make it till 12 months which was my goal but a mixture of going back to work and going on holiday and forgetting my pump meant I stopped just before.

I expressed for a year because ds had problems latching on. Like busyptocrastinating once supply was established it was just something I did.
I did have a good supply and found expressing very easy though -to the point where I used to do an extra bottle a day for my niece who was mix fed.

I have recently started feeding EBM only and am intending to do so long term. DD was having difficulty attaching, lost weight and despite some effort and willingness just didn't get the hang of BF. I've accepted that getting food into her is paramount and that now we're using bottles (after using cups and syringes while trying to establish BF) ther's probably no going back.

I used a great pump in hospital - Medela symphony - have bought the smaller Freestyle rather than hire one of these. Can double pump and works well, very quickly. I found the standard shop-bought ones useless.

Hi analytical, once ds got used to sucking from the bottle he started to fuss e erytime I put him to the breast, it just seemed easier just to pump and give ds BM in a bottle. I would love him to go on the breast and express sometimes, but feel I have probably gone to the point of no return as he is now 10 weeks and it's abey too late. I am glad to read of some long term expresses on her, my sil has done it for 9 monts. I don't express at night when asleep, but do early in the morning and express about 7 floz of milk, like som somebody has said they go ou and do all the normal things as supply is established. Just express a lot before going out and when I come back

My spectra hospital grade type pump is the biz, it also allows you to double pump too

I did it for 13 months as couldn't get DS latched. With hindsight, I wish I had got more help getting him latched but we got on fine in the end. It just became part of my routine as Busy said. Harder when he got more mobile - trying to pump as he demolished the room!

I did it from when DD1 was 8 weeks until she was 11 months and am now doing it again with DD2, who is 7 months. with DD1 it was due to thrush making feeding painful then DD wouldn't feed from me, with DD2 it was through choice for convenience. I find expressing easy and like the flexibility of other people being able to feed DD2 (e.g. so I can spend time with DD1). I fed DD2 until about 12 weeks with an evening bottle of expressed milk, I do miss the snugliness of breastfeeding and am glad I got to enjoy it with DD2 in a way I never did with dd1,as every feed hurt.