Does anyone BFing not use a breast pump?

[Quilty]

Just wondering do any of you EBF mums out there feed straight from the boob only, i.e. no expressing and bottles?

Everyone I know seems to express their milk. I don't have a problem with BF in public, (just need to get hang of it more!) so I'm wondering if I really need a breast pump? It seems to be something everyone gets, am I missing the point?

Tried expressing with dc1 and it just didn't work out. For some reason I thought I had to pump to bf successfully. Once I decided to stop trying I was much happier and relaxed. If you do want to express you can always express by hand

I expressed for ds2 almost exclusively until around 4 weeks due to severe pain, appalling latch, mastitis etc.

He's now 13 weeks and hasn't had a bottle for about 8 weeks. I keep thinking I should probably start expressing to get up a stash for nights out and going back to work at 6 months but I really, really can't be arsed. Bf directly is such a piece of piss now and I don't miss expressing At All, despite being able to get a bottle full very easily.

Hopefully he won't become a bottle refuser. I did similar for ds1 and he was happy to take a bottle after a break of 3 months or so, so fingers crossed.

My dd won't take a bottle so tried expressing for her but not much use.

It was a god send when I got mastitis and needed to express every 2-3 hours. Didn't want to get six month old in to a habit of waking for food all night. Similarly very useful when I have had blocked ducts they is only so much feeding my LO will do in one morning!

It can really mess with your supply.

I am on my third baby and only ever tried expressing once, with dc1 - it was a disaster, got out about a millilitre of milk and the next day my boobs were the size of zeppelins [ouch]

I haven't bothered since. But then I've not had to work, or go out, so no need to.

My DS is 17 months old & I am still BF & have never given him expressed milk. It does mean he is always with me, especially as he feeds regularly day & night but that suits my personal situation anyway. Do whatever suits you best

Only after 6 months when I started needing some space (and at 8 months to leave him in nursery), DS hadn't dropped feeds yet but would drink from a cup and I preferred to express than to give formula.

But a different snack would be acceptable for a single missed feed at that age, so I didn't need to express.

I did wonder too at one point whether everyone was expressing, but actually I think it's just that if you aren't, there's nothing to talk about, you just feed.

I didn't buy a breast pump (cheapie 10 quid manual pump), till DS was four months old & I wanted to go out - expressed two lots of 2 ounces and then put it away for months.

Now back at work, I express for the two full days I work, but not for the mornings because he tends to just wait for me. Still using the £10 pump, I don't get enough use out of it to make it worth getting anything expensive. I tend to express from the other breast while feeding DS, seems to help. (I don't express at work, seems to be fine without it.)

I only do so I could go back to work and carry on at 8 months. Now I don't bother as he's a year old and my supply copes ok (I only work till 2 three days a week) and he can have cows milk if he needs it when I'm gone

I have never used a pump, and am on my 2nd EBF baby now.

"It seems to be something everyone gets, am I missing the point?"

Not at all. I suspect perhaps some of your friends have read "The Contented Little Baby Book" or similar, which advocates feeding by the clock, and expressing milk (I forget why). It always seemed like a monumental waste of time and source of stress to me.

Of course there are reasons people need to express (as mentioned on this thread). But if you have no need don't bother!

I did with DD1 so DH could give her a 10pm 'dream feed' and I could sleep. This was good at the time but a pita when she was still stirring and demanding snacks at 10pm very night at the age of two! With DD2 I intended to express but she had tongue tie snipped at 6 weeks and I worried a bottle would mess with her latch after that, and then I just couldn't be bothered. She's 11 weeks now and I've only got 2 weeks until school hols, and I don't want to sit around pumping when DD1 is about and wanting to do things. She seems to go for a fair bit at night without a late feed anyway, so DH just takes her after 8pm and I get in bed then. My mum read something interesting about evening bm containing more sleep inducing melatonin (?) to help the baby sleep and how if you're feeding morning-pumped milk (which is when I'd pump) in the evening it won't have that. Think it was in the guardian.

Like life I do express but not generally for my own DD. I do have a cup of milk for long car journeys so we can time breaks better but she won't take much and tends to get upset. Having struggled to defrost quickly enough on the way to France this week I've also discovered that I can hand express as quickly so may switch to that. I think the existence of pumps makes you presume you need one whereas in fact you don't necessarily even if you need to get the milk out.

If I hadn't needed to express to go back to work I wouldn't have

Thanks so much for all the replies. When I tell people I'm probably not bothering with a breast pump unless it becomes essential I tend to get a "are you mad?" type of response so it's good to hear I'm not!