Those of you who express, when do you do it? I mean how long after a feed?

[spekulatius]

My DD is 6 months now and I'm due to go back to work when she is 9 months. I need to leave expressed milk for her but won't be able to express at work. So I thought of starting now to build up a supply and freeze it. But I have no idea when to do it. She feeds every hour during the day when we are at home and 2-3 hourly at night. How long do I need to wait after feeding her? Could I put her to bed and then pump after 1 hour? How long does it take to express? I've got a manual Tommee Tippee one, only used it once when baby was a few days old as the midwife said I needed to know how much milk she was getting. Was awful, hardly drained anything. Also do I need to sterilize everything if it's expressed milk?
TIA

Can't answe all of your questions but do you really need to express when you go back? How old will she be?

Only 9 months. Worried that its going toess up bf completely as with travelling will be away from her 10 hours on a day shift and 14 on a night shift. Gonna do 30 hours/week, only that traveling makes it so much longer.

Tbh if you're going to be expressing enough for that many feeds I would recommend an electric pump, I was hopeless with the tommee yippee manual one with ds1 and could only ever get 1oz at best in about 30mins, I have a medula swing now with ds2 and it's great - get 4-5oz a time (2-3oz per side) in 15mins.

Sterlising - yes it's recommended, I sterilise all the pump bits/bottles etc each time and ds2 is 12mths now. I store the milk in ready sterilised Bm bags in the freezer.

I personally can't get much out unless there's been a couple of hours since a feed. Could you feed your dd one side while you express on the other - I found that worked in early days.

Personally I think you'll struggle without expressing at work - to keep up your supply as well as for your dd's feeds. I'm working 3days a week (away from ds 10 hrs each day) and i express once at lunchtime. Your employer has to by law provide you with somewhere private to express and somewhere suitable to store the milk.

Once your dd starts taking more solids she should cut down some of her daytime bfs so you should start getting more chance to express.

Good luck

Thanks for that. Doesn't the medula swing cost something like £300?

I saw the Swing on sale in Babies R Us today reduced to £99.99. It's the same price on Amazon if you use Super Saver Delivery.

... technically it was yesterday!