Expressing milk for the entire day

[Sha4h]

Hi I'm 24 weeks pregnant and I have a hectic lifestyle. I was wondering is it possible to express all the days milk in one go in the morning ( one u get the body used to it of course). I would love to breast feed and would love to hear your opinions and experiences. Thank you.

I don't think that would be very feasible no. Won't you be a bit less hectic once the baby arrives?

No. Your breasts will either refill, so you will need to express again in 3-4 hours, or your supply will collapse if you are expressing only once a day and baby is not feeding from you.
It's honestly quicker to get the baby on to the boob, then you are totally mobile & don't have to worry about sterilising bottles etc.

I wouldn't have been able to do this, I wouldn't have expressed enough In between the feeding, holding, nappies etc. I found expressing too time consuming (and demoralising) and found just breastfeeding much easier.

Sorry no I don't think so! You need to 'ask' your body for milk regularly (either by feeding a baby or expressing) to maintain your supply. While your supply gets established, night feeding / expressing is particularly important.

If you don't mind me asking, what is it that you anticipate being so hectic when you have your baby?

It's great you're thinking ahead about breastfeeding and how it might work for you. You've got a while to go, there's lots of great books or there...womanly art of breastfeeding ; you've got it in you (Emma Pickett) & highly recommend finding a local breastfeeding group to ask as many questions as possible. There is no such thing as a silly question

Not in my experience.

I mostly expressed milk for DS1 after breastfeeding didn't work out, and I roughly needed to express as many times a day as he took a bottle to keep up with his demands. I managed to express most breastmilk first thing in the morning, but certainly not enough for a full day, or even a morning.

Typically you need to express and / or breastfeed multiple times a day to maintain supply - when expressing, I found that my supply dropped if I didn't express every few hours.

Happyheart87, I will be studying at university and working part time. The babi will be with my mum.

Thank you all for your replies. They all mean a lot and are very helpful.

How long will you have off initially when the baby is born?

OP, on phone so can't google now, but I'm pretty sure that workplaces have to provide you with somewhere to express and store breastmilk if you ask.

Not sure if this applies to students at university too, but it's worth asking.

If you can express breastmilk at work / university, this will both help keep your supply up and provide some of the next day's milk for your baby.

OP - that does sound hectic! I agree with PP that expressing regularly at work could be a way to maintain your supply.

If you have time off with baby before you return to work / uni then could you try to build up a supply of expressed milk in the freezer which could supplement what you express when you go back to work...?

The HSE recommend that employers should provide facilities to express and store milk, but they're not legally obliged to do so.