I can't seem to express any more...

[gwenniebee]

Just wondering if anyone has any advice:

My nearly 10mo dd is still bf for all her milk feeds (normally 4 a day). I am going back to work at the end of the month and had intended to drop her milk feeds to 3 a day, one in the morning and one before bed, and express a bottle for her to have at the childminder's. However - I used to be able to express pretty effectively (using a medela hand pump) but when I have tried in the last week to get some "stock" for the freezer I have been really struggling.

I don't really understand why the change... is there anything I can do to help? If I have to I can give her formula for the childminder, it's not the end of the world, but I am worried that she might not take it, and also I had (very stubbornly) been hoping we could go straight from bf to cow's milk in a couple of months' time.

My other problem is that I am due to go away overnight in a week's time. Now, I have enough milk in the freezer for this time, but I am concerned that if I can't express effectively my supply is going to get mucked up - will it?!

Sorry it's got long...

How are you expressing now? Are you doing it while she is feeding, same time of day etc? Hopefully sone lovely MNers will come along and give you some tips, I was always a bit rubbish at expressing

Have you thought of just giving her full fat cows milk from a cup for the one feed? I used to feed first thing, when I got home and before bed with the odd night feed and returned to work when mine were 10 months. Never bothered with expressing or formula, cows milk is fine for a drink at this age for a bf baby as long as its not their main drink.

You might want to discuss all of this with a BFC though, have you got the helpline numbers?

And have you tried a different pump?

Thanks and sorry for the delay answering... I'm currently not really expressing at all as I haven't got a life needed to for ages. I used my medela hand pump before and it seemed to work well. That's interesting about the cow's milk, though - she'll be nearly 11 months when I go back so maybe I can do that.

gwennie I express every day and find I get most expressing one side while DD is on the other. You probably need an electric pump for that though. Mornings are best for me and I aim for about the same time each day. Even then the amount I get really varies. There are a lot of resources on www.kellymom.com

That sounds like a good idea, glorious.