Back to work on Monday ... AnyTop Tips for expressing??????

[peachygirl]

I'm back to work full time for 3 weeks on monday (just til the school hols)then I will be at home againfor 6 weeks.
DD is fully BF at the moment and I have been trying to get a little stock in the freezer for her. I'm not getting much out.. 50- 75mls a day at the most. Although I will be missing feeds with her during the day I am concerned I will not get enough out for her to havea full days feed of expressed milk, so ...any top tips????

I'm sure there'll be lots of people with tips for hand expressing etc, but for me, the thing that works is a Medela pump. (Medela tends to be the brand used in hospitals, although they have huge milking machines!) I have the "Swing", which is a bit pricey at around £70, but I can get 150ml in about 15 mins. Try calling the NCT as I believe they rent out hospital grade pumps. You can buy sterile bags to express straight into as well. Also use breast shells, if you tend to leak. This will only be foremilk, so you need to mix it with other ebm, but some people get a couple of extra ounces this way.

Oh, forgot to say that expressing one breast whilst feeding on the other (if you can manage it) is a great way to stimulate flow. Also mornings, rather than evenings as you tend to have more full breasts.

I have the medala mini pump and the bags. which I hahve been putting my measaly stock into. I don't normally leak. I will try to express before I go to work and do a proper feed them if possible at the moment if Dd is in bed she tends t have some.. then a snooze... then a bit more. I will be able to express at playime and then at lunch so will capitalise on the AM milk.
I did ring the NCT but the lady said that I may not get more out with one of their bigger pumps

Express at the same time every day. It really helps build up your supply for those times.

hi peachy, my solution for maximising expressions was: express from side that either hadnt been fed from or was least used roughly about a hour after a feed. i used an avent isis hand pump as i found the medela uncomfortable.
when you come to express, massage breast first to stimulate milk flow, then manipulate nipple with some gentle twiddling! until you feel let down, then pump. at times i could get between 2 - 4oz. first thing in the morning is a good time and just before you go to bed, especially if you know your LO wont wake for feed for a while.
although it is safe to freeze milk, it is worth knowing that it does alter the taste of b/milk when defrosted. research now shows that ebm can now be kept longer in the fridge if at the right temperature. see breastfeeding network website for more details. hope this helps and good luck .

In 1983 when I had daughter 1 I bought a book on breastfeeding and work but I'm not sure if it's still in print. There will be loads on line these days.

One thing I did was never give a baby a bottle so they associated me with breastfeeding when I was there which seemed to help. In fact I've never bottle fed a baby ever.

Then I expressed regularly at work every few hours with a battery pump and it went fairly well once it got going. I got much more out at work than trying to do it whilst feeding or between feeds at home. I always fed just before I left the house and the second I got home.

Xenia you have heartened me I'm really hoping that I will get more out when I'm at work as I struggle to get 100ml sat home.
I have to keep remembering I'm not aiming for a full days worth of milk just hose fedds I am missing.
I'm Ok about DD having some formula now but would raher manage without it.

Don't know if anyones reallly interetsed but the expressing is going really well. I do it at lunchtime and then off one boob while DD feeds of the other at about 4pm . I got nearly 200mls out today.

well done peachy glad its going well.

I am going back to work in a couple of months time and just wondered what you do about sterilising?? I can envisage having somewhere to express and store milk, cleaning and sterilising the breast pump may be a seperate matter.

I sterilise in a microwave at home but there is no microwave at work.

Any top tips would be much appreciated!

I have been told by a specialist midwife that you only need to sterilise a breast pump once a day. The rest of the time you can wash in hot soapy water so you don't need to worry about sterilising at work. You can also leave breast milk unrefrigerated for up to 6 hours. There is quite a bit of information on this on www.breastfeedingnetwork.org.uk.

I have also been advised to take Fenugreek to stimulate my milk supply to make expressing easier.

just spotted you asked this BPC. I keep my stuff in a bag at work I steralise in the morning and then pack everything away. when get home I run the nozzle but through with boiling water, somethines with a dash of milton and then pupm again. I make sure there is no old milk residue left.
medala do wipes to clean your pump and If I had know about them I would have bought them.. I may get some for september when I go back to work after the holidays if I am still expressing then
www.medela.com/NewFiles/cleaningproducts.html