Expressing help please

[mandymummy]

I am sure this has probably been covered before, but i can't manage to find where. I am pretty new to mumsnet so please bear with me.

I would like advice about expressing milk. My DD is 9 months and happily being breast fed four times a day, the rest is solids which she is really enjoying. However I really want to express milk for her. I want to introduce a dream feed (there's a thread on this in sleep if you want to know why) and for her it needs to be from a bottle or i wake her (again more on the sleep thread).

However I am worried - I have never managed to express very much in one go and the idea i need to produce a feed a day is daunting, especially as DD is now eating solids so I am BF less often. I really don't want to move her to formula (this is a personal preference not a criticism of those who do). I have an ameda lactaline pump and can only ever express from one breast if my DD is on the other. So please please any tips to help this happen?

Hello, here are my tips:

express when your breasts are normally expecting to feed (so for me DS fed every 2 hours except at night, so I expressed 2 hours after he went to bed, when my breasts were thinking he might be about to feed again).

Make yourself let down. The trigger for this varies from woman to woman but I found I needed peace and quiet. Stroke your breast in firm gentle strokes towards the nipple, going round in a circle so you have massaged the whole breast.

Then pinch the nipple as if your baby is starting to suck (I found it helped to do this to both nipples for some reason). For me I also found it helpful to take a deep breath and then as I exhaled, to visualise the milk flooding down through my breasts and into the pump.

Then start pumping. Hopefully you should let down, but stimulating the nipple that is not being pumped can help.

Hope that helps, it's just what worked for me, you need to find your own triggers.

if your baby isn't with you when you are expressing it helps to look at a photo of them.
I found that if I didn't concentrate on the expressing, I got on better and got more milk, faster, so I got engrossed in the telly.

Missgolightly I wish I'd had your advice when I was expressing re the nipple stimulation. I hadn't thought of that.

You might do better with hand expressing - I get about the same as pumping but some women get more. There's a good description of what's supposed to be the best technique here www.lactationinstitute.org/MANUALEX.html

If you have loads of milk in the mornings, maybe pump then? Anyway, the more you do it, the more volume you will be able to get - your bosoms need to get into the swing of it.

I find being upright and leaning into it helps, and I express most mornings when I am feeding DS the other side. I have also found a hot compress helped the let down (I use one of those nice smelling microwaveable bean bag things) and expressing after a hot bath or shower can help too. Also, unlike feeding, it seems to go better if I switch frequently between breasts if I am expressing when not feeding DS. The let down itself seems to go in more than one wave, so maybe stop for a few mins and try again if the flow seems to have slowed down.

These are just things that have worked for me, I can't guarantee they will work on anyone else, but it's worth a go.

Thank you SO much for posting all the information! I now feel like i have some things to try rather than not really knowing where to start!

I did cave and give my DD formula (for the first time ever) mainly because it was that or face the 3am screams which are just awful, i just couldn't express enough for a feed despite several attempts. Since dream feeding her (one night breast milk, two formula) we have not had the screams and are all feeling much happier. My logic was that with more rest and happy feelings expressing would be easier! I really want her back on all breast milk as fast as possible. Her digestion does seem to be a bit upset, which may be formula related? She is pooing much more and sloppier than usual. Does anyone know if this can be a side effect of formula?

So over the next couple of days I really want to give expressing some more time - what is written here makes lots of sense, not least the importance of finding what works for me, so i think this will be an interesting journey....

Def formula can effect pooing - mine normally get more bunged up though. The obvious thing is to see if you can express enough and see if it gets better. On expressing as others say warm is good - I find after a hot bath last thing at night works for me ) and give it time (eg a few days to find the right time so it can build up and don't give up if it some days you don't get so much - can only speak for me but some days I get loads and others less. Oh also the pump can make a difference - I tried a few and find the electric ones the best...