Some ( stupid! ) questions about expressing

[Cydonia]

I'm a bit new to all this, have looked on a couple of websites but can't seem to find the information I'm after. DS 1 is almost 3 weeks old and breastfeeding is so far going well. I'm aiming to do it until he's about a year old, but may stop a bit earlier when he's weaned, not sure yet. About expressing...is it possible to just do this occasionally, for example if going out for the evening and wanting to leave a bottle for DP or babysitter? Or going out for the day where I don't want to BF in public, eg have a christening to go to where I think BF may be tricky?( not confident about doing it in public!)
Also if you're not feeding baby yourself I guess your boobs still produce milk? So would I end up leaking everywhere when it came to the time I would normally feed? Will DS get confused getting both boob and bottle?
Finally, I read that you don't need to sterilise bottles etc for expressed milk, is that right? Doesn't seem right to me!
Thanks for reading!

Hi. My dd is now 10 weeks old and I have no regularity to my expressing. She wont take a bottle but will take a cup and if she's out and about with her dad she's happy to go for 3 to 4 hours without a feed so I tend to express maybe once every week. And usually just one session to get 6oz or so. Personally I think I do it so rarely that it hasn't affected my supply at all. I cant be bothered to do it more regularly!

You don't have to express regularly, but it just gets easier (because you have more practice) if you do.

You will get to the point where your boobs don't overflow if they don't get emptied regularly. I can't remember when this is, though, but a few more weeks yet for you, I think. You should get more confident feeding in public, too, once there's less fumbling to get DS latched on etc.

I would sterilise a bottle for such a little one - EBM is amazing stuff, but can't see it sterilising a bottle...!

Good luck

I don't know if you've come across it yet but the website www.kellymom.com is an absolutely INVALUABLE resource for any information to do with breastfeeding. Just google 'kellymom' then whatever you want to find out about and the wonderful kellymom will invariably produce the goods. Try this for starters.

This might also help if you do decide you want to use a bottle while breastfeeding.

Ah thanks, not seen that website before.