Query with Breastfeeding & expressing at same time

[littlemissbull]

Hi

I'm new to this site and have just had my first baby a week ago via c/s. She struggled in hospital to latch on so I began expressing.Since coming home, with the aid of a nipple shield, she has latched on a few times but we are also feeding her from a bottle with the expressed milk.
My query is how often to now express and how often to try her at the breast. I have been expressing every 4 hours on average for the last week and built up quite a stock in the freezer, usually get around 120mls each time I express. The problem I have is knowing now when to put her to breast and when to express.If I don't express for a long period of time my breasts get very hard/heavy/lumpy-generally very uncomfortable. But also when she does take the breast I'm not sure if she is getting enough.
The ideal I suppose would be for her to be on breast more often than bottle eventually to do away with expressing.

Any help and advice would be greatly appreciated.

littlemissbull

Hi, firstly well done for sticking at it as breast milk is the best for your little one.

I have not had this experience but did have trouble getting feeding established to begin with. You are both learning remember that and after only a week its so new yo you both.

Just a suggestion that you try her at your breast first if she wants a feed, sometimes it takes a few goes to get latched on properly. If its no good then I would express.

I would also contact your midwife asap, mine was rubbish and suggested top up feeding which I didNOT do but she did refer to be a bfing specialist who camr round that afternoon and was really helpful checking the positioning and stayed an hour, watching the feeding. She was really reassuring and gave me confidence that I could do it.

I also found that ringing the NCT bfing helpline and la leach league very helpful.

What I would say is that get all the advice and guidance you can and choose which best suits you and your baby. I had some stupid ideas given to me which I would not have dreamed of doing so be selective and as long as your little one is doing well putting on weight etc you don;t need to stress it as you are doing fine.

Thanks for that Tiggernpooh2. I am due to see the midwife in next couple of days so I will try latch her on at every feed between now and then, see how it goes and then maybe ask the midwife about seeing an expert to watch me like you suggest.

Hi Littlemiss, I was in the same boat.

I tried breastfeeding for a set time, if he wasn't taking any or struggling after about 45 min I would give him a bottle of ebm and then continue to express straight after, roughly every 4 hours, it help to keep your milk porduction up and avoid engorgement, which you are probably experiencing, this usually happens when your milk is starting to get established.

So importantly I will try the breast everytime and only afterward express if it wasn't successfull.

I must add though that I ended up expressing exclusively for 5month out of 8.5 months. He still breastfed occasionally for the first 3 months combined with bottle, but later on rejected the breast for the bottle.

Hope this helps and make sure you get plenty of rest to help restore breastmilk.

Thanks for the replies ladies. It's good to know someone else has been in the same boat! DD has taken a few bf's since I first posted. She feeds usually for about 20mins then doesn't seem to want any more so then I pump the breast she hadn't been on and drain the one she hasn't quite finished. Then when she next needed feed I've tried her on breast but if she hasn't gone on I've given her ebm and have been expressing roughly every 4 hours.

It is a pain and is going to tie me to the house somewhat but I'm prepared to keep at it for the time being because I really do want her breastfed. Someone else on another post said the means of delivery is secondary to the fact they still get breast milk and I think that's right.

Thanks again for the advice.

Jules