Expressing advice

[Sarahlou527]

Hi all I am new to this and would appreciate some advice I have about a million questions ;-) firstly some background, I am a first time mum to a gorgeous little boy of 12 weeks he is exclusively breastfed and is doing well gaining weight and sleeping through the night. However, I wanted to get into expressing and offering him a bottle as we have a few things coming up that I will need to leave him for and want to know my mum can give him a bottle if he is hungry before I return also to build up a supply for when I go back to work. So after reading hundreds of reviews I went out today and brought a medela swing and calma. It is washed And sterilised and ready to go but I wanted to know can I express now and offer it today? I have just fed him at 4pm so he will be hungry again at 7pm can I express before then and offer it to him tonight? -was going to get my partner to offer as I know he may not want it from me. How will I know if I have expressed enough for a feed? How much should I be expecting to get? I don't want to not have enough- offer it then he need topping up from my boob. Any help and advice you can give much appreciated. Also to anyone who owns a swing can u wash and sterilise tube? It doesn't mention that in instructions. Thank you

Yup, you can express today and offer today if you like. Be warned that you may not get very much if it's your first time as it can take a while for your body to get used to letting down for the pump.

If you just want to give him a go of the bottle then I wouldn't worry about "expressing enough for a feed" or not having enough - it's just for practice and he may not drink all/any of it anyway. An oz or so would be absolutely fine. I never used practice bottles/cups as full feeds, IYKWIM, just used to get partner to give an oz or so when he got in from work and then I gave a proper feed later. Otherwise you'll end up having to express again today to replace the feed as far as your boobs are concerned, or you could end up very sore. Unless you want to give that feed as a bottle every day, in which case you'll need to make expressing and giving that bottle feed part of your every day routine and your boobs will adapt, but I wouldn't do that until you're sure he'll drink it (I personally wouldn't bother, but that is because I am/was terminally lazy).

You'll probably get better results expressing in the morning than late pm so maybe best to start tmw. You might only get a small amount at first but persevere every day and the amount you can pump will increase.

Yes you can wash and sterilise the tube but that is only recommended if it has come into contact with any milk.

The Calma teat is quite an acquired taste so your baby might not like it. Mine didn't but happily took to Avent natural when I tried it so you may need to do some experimenting.

At 12 weeks my DD would take 4-5 oz at a decent feed.

Everyone had different ways of expressing. Some feed from only one side and then express the other. Personally I usually express after DD has gone to bed or towards the end of a long nap when she hasn't fed for a while. I also find expressing after a bath/shower and/or using hot compresses results in a bigger yield.

It's not always possible, but you should try to express at the same time of day as you plan to give the bottle as BM varies in composition throughout the day and evening/night milk contains nucleotides which aid sleep.

Good luck!

I started expressing at week 5 (ish) and my girl is now 11 weeks. Initially I only managed to get about 5-10ml when I pumped as I guess my body was making only what she needed, so I peresvered and now pump about 60-120ml per day over 2-3 pumping sessions. I do this so that I can freeze and store for later and it doesn't cause too much disruption to our schedule.

I only ever manage this in the morning though as this is when my breasts are fuller- after the overnight prolactin peak- pumping in the afternoon/ evening gives max 5-10ml and seems to affect later feeds.

Saying that though everyone is different so I would just experiment- bear in mind it may take a few days for your body to adjust and produce extra milk if you are storing some- and remember that you will never pump as efficiently as baby can drink from the breast so don't panic and think that your baby is going to starve!
and if you are storing in the freezer I would recommend lansinoh freezer bags for milk and store in a variety of sizes from small 30ml to larger 120ml, then you can defrost combinations as you need them- I find it reassuring that if anything happens I have a few days supply on hand that my partner can give without having to substitute formula.

We started giving a bottle every few days when she was 8 weeks and had no problems although I have heard some babies just don't like bottles- we did this just to make sure she would take it if needed. If you have problems then consider a different teat shape or even a doidy cup.

Good luck

Oh- and I was told that baby should be drinking 'roughly' 30ml per month plus 30 ml every feed- so at 3 months your little one may be drinking 120ml (3x30+30) every feed. Although this is only a general guide and you should let your baby guide you. They'll tell you if they want more or less :)

I second Cavort - my dd hates the calma teat and really struggles with it but will happily take the Avent ones.

Thank you so much for all your advice ladies. I have the tommee tippee closer to nature bottles and teats to if he doesn't like calma and to be honest I wouldn't mind as have sooo many tommee tippee n only only calma and at £16 a bottle there not cheap. So I was super excited to try my new gadget and just managed to express 80ml in 10 mins which I will offer to baba at next feed. Another question would be if I got 80ml and kept it in fridge over night n got another 20ml in morning can I mix those together in one bottle to hopefully make one whole feed? Thank again for taking the time to write your experiences

Also with regards to freezing if get 50ml and freeze and another day get 50ml and freeze can I defrost them both on same day and mix together? It's a minefield all this breast feeding ;-)

You can mix expressed milk from different sessions, sure, though you should add cold to cold - so refrigerate the fresh stuff before you add it. And yup, you can put together two bags of frozen milk to make a single bottle no problem.

I agree with leedy. You can add different days or pumping sessions together, just make sure they are at the same temperature- so you could defrost 60ml in the fridge and pump 60ml and put it in the fridge then when they are both fridge temperature combine them. If you do 3 pumping sessions in a day then use 3 containers, put in the fridge and combine later when they have all cooled
Don't put warm 'fresh from the breast' milk into a container with cold milk or you'll get curdling-
I was also told for safety store milk for a max of 8 hrs at room temp, max 5 days in the fridge (don't store it on the door as this has wide temp fluctuation) and max 6 months in the freezer (not ice box of fridge but freezer with its own sealed door) and make sure you add up the fridge time if you are freezing- (so if you store in the fridge for a day then freeze you only have 4 days in the fridge after defrosting)

Also don't forget to sterilise everything you use- which is why I like lansinoh bags as they are already sterile and also have a double seal so no leaks :)

I found this a really useful guide to storing and using expressed milk.

Good luck!

Thank you so much for all your help everyone ;-)