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Infant feeding

Get advice and support with infant feeding from other users here.

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Original poster

Advice needed - expressing to give me a break

8 replies

maewest · 10/09/2006 10:23

So here's the thing...

I'm exclusively bf my 6 wk old DS, which is going fairly well - he tends to feed every 2.5 - 3 hrs during the day, but can go longer at night, more like 4 or 5 hrs. However I think the sleep deprivation is starting to catch up with me. It's not the feeding that's a prob, more for the last couple of nights the excessive grunting whilst DS settles down (think it's wind) sometimes for up to an hour (he's asleep, just unsettled) which means that I can't go back to sleep.

So I thought I would try expressing (have Avent handpump) but don't seem to be able to get anything. I know I have plenty of milk as DS is generally alert and is gaining weight & growing really well. To add a bit of back story, I had home delivery as have a bit of a phobia of hospitals, but we ended up being admitted when he was 6 days old due to jaundice. Cue 24 hrs of constant feeding and being hooked up to the hosp breastpump so that the staff could top him up with EBM plus another 2 days and nights on a noisy post-natal ward which almost drove me to distraction - but I knew he was getting better and also meant that feeding was well and truly established when they let us out.

I really want to exclusively bf, but would like to leave the house occasionally with out him - not for wild parties, just for things like going to the dentist, optician etc.

Longwinded but... can anybody offer any helpful advice/tips?

OP posts:

Miaou · 10/09/2006 10:46

Mae, are you thinking of expressing so that your dh can feed him? Because tbh I think that if you can't sleep until your ds is settled, then you won't sleep whilst your dh is feeding him, or until he is settled, so you will just make more work for yourself! But I speak as someone who found expressing hard work and never really took to it; other people may be able to offer more help/advice on that score.

Re. the expressing - it takes a while to build up the amount you can express. I persevered for about two weeks,expressing twice a day, and went from 1/4 of a teaspoonful the first time, to about 2oz in the end. However if you are good at it you should be able to get 4oz+ in that time. It does take a while to build up though.

And I must add that sleeping 4 to 5 hours a night at 6 weeks old is brilliant - I was still feeding ds 2 hourly day and night at that age . Chances are these gaps will lengthen and you will start to feel human again; and be able to leave him and get a bit of your "life" back too!

magnolia1 · 10/09/2006 10:48

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Message deleted by MNHQ. Here's a link to our Talk Guidelines.

Original poster

maewest · 10/09/2006 11:26

Miaou - yes, would be so DH could help out. He's been really supportive of bf, and has been really helping out with pretty much everything else, but he is out of the house by 7am and back in around 6pm for work, so during the week he's been sleeping in the spare room so he gets enough sleep to help me out in the evenings.

tbh I'm not that bothered about expressing right now, just want to know whether I will be able to do it in future (oh, and the five hrs seems to be frustratingly between 7pm and midnight, then less settled, I tend to go to bed when DS does these days, just to catch up).

OP posts:

kayzed · 10/09/2006 12:39

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Message withdrawn at poster's request.

jabberwocky · 10/09/2006 12:42

Tons of good advice on this thread. I would also highly recommend an electric pump.

Original poster

maewest · 11/09/2006 08:49

jabberwocky - thanks, have had a quick look, seems to lots of useful info

kayzed - hi & thanks (posted a bit in desperation yesterday, much better night last night so everything feels a lot more manageable)

OP posts:

Gracesmum · 12/09/2006 03:05

hi there i cluster fed my dd at 6pm and 8pm then did a dream feed at about 11pm (feed whilst asleep)and she would then sleep through till about 5am.

re expressing i used to express about a hour after feeding her and pump from the fullest breast (she was one sided feeder). massage boob by stroking downwards with palm of hand then manipulate (twiddle) nipple to induce let down reflex. dh found that bit fascinating & amusing. i used to get 3-4oz at a time. HTH

threebob · 12/09/2006 03:52

The grunting is very bad for sleep isn't it - we had ds in the carry cot on his mountain buggy and I noticed that each time I went to feed him he was further away from the bed - one night dh had pushed him into the lounge!

I know it doesn't seem like it now - but you will honestly be able to go to the dentist and the optician and take him. I fed with him under the cape at the hairdresser and had a physio treatment while he lay on the floor next to the bed (and went to sleep). Receptionists here were actually quite put out if I didn't have him with me.

I didn't get good at expressing until he was around 6 months old - and I only did it to add to food.

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