Wanting to exclusively express

[alloveragainchoo]

Hi all
I'm pregnant with 2nd child and I'm hoping to Breastfeed.
When I had my first child I was very young and the support for breastfeeding just wasn't there, so I only managed 2 weeks and was left with blistered nipples, pain and going to formula was a big releif that baby could now feed!
I have very large droopy breasts(tmi sorry) and I was looking into expressing and bottle feeding each feed as I know I will not fail in this like I did breast feeding, just wanted to know has anyone else got experience in this, and can it be done, how did you do it, basically words of wisdom from those who have been there done it.

Nooo! Unwanted clicky link there... this is the sort of thing I meant! www.kiddicare.com/p/Simple_Wishes_Hands-Free_Double_Pumping_Bustier_in_Black_-_L_to_L-Plus.htm?product_id=752453&utm_source=pla&affiliate=KC-google-shopping&gclid=CMm8y5q1ttICFSwz0wodVXUJig&gclsrc=aw.ds

My daughter was born at 30+4 and started expressing straight away so that she could have my milk fed through her tube.

The plan had always been to breastfeed so once her sucking reflex came in I started putting her to the breast. She had real trouble latching on so it was suggested that we try a nipple shield. She latched great but wasn't able to effectively transfer milk using one and had poor weight gain. We tried just about everything and even stayed an extra week in hospital to try and sort it out with the help of the breastfeeding midwife.

Eventually they said she would have to have bottle top ups instead of tube top ups so she could get her tube out and come home. As soon as she had that bottle, she got increasingly frustrated at the breast. It just wasn't happening, so I decided to continue exclusively expressing.

It IS possible. I've been doing it for six months now and plan to continue until my daughter reaches a year corrected age. I have over 1000oz frozen and have just had to buy a small chest freezer because I've ran out of space.

You'll need a good quality double electric pump and to express every 3-4 hours day and night.

There are loads of ofther tips and tricks to make things easier along the way and also to boost your supply - I'd be glad to share them with you or point you to some exclusive expressing Facebook groups I'm part of.

Hope this helps!

Another here to say exclusive pumping is possible but totally insane if you could breastfeed instead. I exclusively expressed and bottlefed dc4 for 9months as he could never latch and it's honestly the worst of both worlds and definitely not 'easy'. I missed all the nice bits of breastfeeding, the sleepy snuggles in the night etc....and had to get up to pump instead, and wash and sterilise and warm milk and wash up again. And going out was so difficult. It's honestly been the hardest thing I've ever done. Pp's have given excellent breastfeeding advice, good luck with it.

In my experience expressing for premature baby was a lot harder than breastfeeding my other baby. It takes so much longer and made me more sore than breast feeding. I'd say give breast feeding another go, it really does get easy if you can persevere through the first few weeks. Most importantly do whatever is best for you and baby though.

You could try Lanisoh before as well as after bf. Expressing & formula top ups helped me get to the point where bf was straight forward & painless. Without them I wouldn't have lasted more than a week. There are pros & cons to every decision & every baby is different. But I found pumping was much more comfortable than bf. My baby has a vice-like gum grip!!!
I had a cold water steriliser & haven't found sterilising to be a nuisance.I didn't rely on pumping for feeding baby though it was more of a way of keeping supply up when I felt I needed a break from bf. I was never able to pump enough to do all her feeds. I did a number of things that go against bf wisdom though. I used nipple shields for a while (helped with soreness but found them a bit awkward) & topped up baby with formula when bf was too painful. I was able to work on getting my supply up so formula feeding didn't end bf for me. There's a risk that these things would reduce your supply but this wasn't a major concern of mine so it was worth the risk for me. Hand expressing took a while to master but i now find it more effective than the pump. Baby definitely is more effective than expressing though. I found bf stopped being challenging around 8 weeks. I found small goal setting helped e.g. I'll aim to do 2 more weeks. I didn't find seeking professional advice very useful tbh. We found that everyone offers a different opinion & it just left us confused & exhausted. I did much better once I went with my gut feeling.