Slightly "odd" question re expressing, foremilk and hindmilk........

[TheQueenOfQuotes]

Just off to bed having done a quick expressing session. Just wondered I know when babies drink from the breast they get the foremilk and then the hindmilk.......how do you know (when expressing) that you've got hind milk expressed too??

I mean these days I usually get 2-3oz in total from each breast when expressing, but I'm absolutely positive that DS3 takes MUCH more than that when having a BF (he usually takes 5oz of formula from a bottle!). When I'm only ablt to express those small amounts am I getting hindmilk too??

there is no switch that flicks betwen fore/hind. think of it as slowly changing from a cold to a hot tap.

if the tap has been used recently, there will be very little cold water before the hot comes in.

if it has been a while 2.5 - 3 hrs then a lot more cold water will flow before the hot water kicks through.

yes, expressing is not a sign of how much milk you have so you get less 'hindmilk' in an expressed feed. if you are using a leccy pump, keep pumping for a while longer (5 - 10 mins maybe?) it is possible to get a second letdown. you can see how different the consistency of that milk will be.

btw, your body only makes one kind of milk. it separates into the watery and fatty contents the longer it sits around, unremoved in your breasts.

right off to bed too.

Babies are much much much more efficient at getting the milk out than any expressing machine.
It would take me 30 minutes to fill a bottle to the 6oz mark (and feel that boobs were nice and empty) but DD was full and satisfied after 5 - 10 minutes (leaving me with deflated boobs) ... and she was a gigantic baby that put on weight steadily every week.

ok so if I'm only expressing once a day - and its' been several hours since his last bf does that mean that most of the 3oz I'm getting is only foremilk?

No such thing as 'only' foremilk - it's all good stuff. No way of knowing, QoQ....you may let down readily to the pump, you may have a smallish storage capacity, both of which would mean you would tend to have more cream in the milk than someone who did not let down well to the pump and/or didn't have a smallish storage capacity.

Honestly, it doesn't matter one way or the other!

well yes I know it's all good stuff - i'm just thinking that if some of those small amounts I'm freezing only contain foremilk - they're not going to be much good mixed together in a bottle in terms of filling him up are they??

I do seem to let down quite quickly when pumping though......

I have visions of DS3 lying there slupring away on his bottle (and his does slurp ) thinking "this appetiser is lovely mum....but I really would like my main course now"

Yeah I've wondered this - if I express in lots of little goes, then surely it's mostly foremilk?
LOL at "Where's the main course?"

At the moment I'm not too worried as bottle feeds for him are few and far between so if he doesn't get much at one feed he'll make up for it in others but if I was going to leave him for more than one feed I'd like to be sure he's getting a filling feed of expressed milk iyswim.

well it is a bit like that isn't it (appetiser and then main course )

then dessert...
then coffee and mints...
then another cup of coffee...
then after dinner drink...
etc
(Can you tell the "demand" feeding is getting quite demanding? )

I suppose they think it's a bit like Christmas/New Year......just keep eating