Expressed Breast milk

[typhoonsmum]

Hi all DS is now two weeks old. Have been feeding him expressed breast milk for about a week due to sore nipples and mastitis. Recently I've noticed the EBM is looking more and more like skimmed milk. Doesn't look very thick. Midwife shrugged my concern off.
This evening as I fed DS his bottle of EBM he was restless all the way thru it and screamed for 45 minutes after it. He didn't stop till I gave him a top up feed with SMA.
I know the supply will dry up if i only express but will it get thinner and not satisfy him too. I don't really want to put him back on the breast as the pain from the nipples was unbearable and I would flinch for the first 5 minutes of the feed everytime he sucked.

typhoonsmum, I expressed at work till my babies were a year old and my EBM always looked like skimmed milk.

Hi EBM is thin, How often are you expressing? to keep you milk supply up you will need to express aprox every 3 hours, including twice through the night, and make sure that you drink loads, as regards to sore nipples and mastitis have you received any support to help you with DS's latch/positioning ect, when you have this right BF shouldnt be painful.

I had to express in hospital it def gets thinner over the weeks (started expressing thick colostrum at day three) How long are you expressing for?? I was advised to start by swopping breasts whilst expressing at 5mins/4mins/3mins/1 min don't know reasoning behind this but worked for me ( took ages to express tho'!!!!! hopefully a bf guru will be along soon

I've been giving my dd expressed breast milk for 8 weeks now and my experience is that EBM does look quite thin. I am using a hospital grade double pump and I've had no problems keeping my supply up. I express roughly every 3 hours and I do it once in the night.

Sorry had to go after my earlier post as dh needed the pooter! Are you definitely emptying your breasts at each expressing session? The only reason I ask is that the hindmilk which is richer in calories comes after the foremilk which is waterier as its main function is to quench thirst. If you are not sure breast compression can help. At the end of a pumping session you hold your breast at the back, near the base and squeeze. You get more milk out and IMO that milk always looked a bit thicker.

Your supply won't dry up necessarily - it all depends on how often you pump. I exclusively expressed for dd1 for a year. The milk making hormones are highest in the early morning - so between 1am - 5am (I think) and you will definitely need to pump them. I expressed around 8 times a day (including once at night) for the first 6 weeks. Once my supply was established I was able to reduce this. Have you got a double pump? This will make your life a lot easier - and if you want to exclusively express for a while, it'll work out cheaper to buy a double pump (around £70 for the Ameda Lactaline) than to hire one from the NCT. Good luck!

hi
your EBM? if you let it settle in a bottle, does it have a fattylayer in it,as well as the "skimmed milk" looking stuff?
please don't think i'm being rude here, why are you still expressing 1 week after sore nipples and mastitis?
sore nipples- check positioning(you might already have done this-sorry)- is there a peer support breast feeding group near you, or a nct breast feedign councillor, that could come and see you, will your hv checkt eh positiong isn't contributing to mastitis- the best thing for mastitis is to alter position- underarm works particulrly well, and sore nipples, can you get the baby back on, or are you worried about doing so?

your baby will help with mastitis, the action of babes chin against your breast will help any painful lumps, or massage when feeding-or brushing breast with hairbrush in sweeps towards the nipple- incidently thes also help when expressing.
i am concerned that the longer the babe is away from your breast that re-attatchment may become an issue, i feel it may be wise to re-establish breast feeding if you are able to asap
do you know why you developed mastitis so early on?

speak and try to see a bfc as soon as possible.

Many midwives and hvs do not know how to check a latch properly.

Obviously i don't know how sore and tore up your nipples are at the moment, but with the right support, you may be able to get him back on sooner rather than later. When latch is correct, even pretty cracked nipples will not be uncomfortably painful to feed from.

What are you using to help your nipples heal?

give any of these people a ring in the morning. they will be more than happy to help.

The Breastfeeding Network (BFN) - Supporter Line 0870 900 8787 - The service operates from 9.30am to 9.30pm every day of the year.

La Leche League Great Britain - 0845 120 2918

National Childbirth Trust - 0870 444 8708 - 9am to 6pm, seven days a week.

Association of Breastfeeding Mothers' - 08444 122 949 - Open every day from 9.30am to 10.30pm

Kiskidee great advice, get hold of a bfc if you fancy, they are great.

has the mastitus cleared? or do you need antibiotics?

I used to express every 3 hours & did about 10-15mins each side. after colostrum the milk was quite creamy and goldish in colour but then it did go thinner. it is important to keep emptying your boobs to make sure you get the hind milk which like prev mentioned will leave a fattty creamy later on the top of the milk when left to settle.
(technically your boobs are never empty befoe someone catches me out saying pump till your empty!)

Congrats for keeping up the good work expressing, it's not always easy!

Was put on Trimethoprim for the mastitis and Lasinoh cream for the nipples. It seems to be cleared now but don't want it to come back. I spent the day in bed unable to stop shaking when he was five days old. Don't fancy going thru that again.

typhoonsmum - you really, really need some decent help to sort this out, and to help you avoid your problems returning.

EBM routinely looks quite thin - it is not as fatty as full-cream cows milk or even semi-skimmed.

Someone should be helping you return your baby to the breast in a pain-free effective way.

Expressing long term is a pain in the bum, and in order for it to work you need to do it very often, like mumtoone is doing.

Your midwife should come and see you and get this all sorted out

Hi - your midwife must have known: the composition of breast milk changes, the milk that comes first (foremilk) is looking thin and watery, what follows is becoming thicker. Hope you are not offended, but this milk quality change applies for the mouse, the cow, the camel......it is a natural thing.
Hopefully you can sort your mastitis out soon, it is so painful, I remember it well!

When left to settle in the fridge the milk seems to have three layers. A creamy layer on the top (About a mm thick) then a lot of skimmed milk looking stuff and at the bottom something that looks like water.

that is normal. swish it gently for it to return to normal. to not shake as it will kill the live cells in it.

mine often has a green tinge as well, i don't know if anyone else has found this, and is it normal ?

sorry - thread hijack !!

typhoonsmum, please get someone to check your latch if you possibly can. I know how if feels to dread every feed and mastitis is nasty, but once you get sorted it will be so much easier to feed directly.

There are some superwomen on mumsnet (some on this thread) who have expressed long-term but it really is a big effort and you may well find the top ups overtaking the bm just because of the hassle. With some help it shouldn't be something you have to do.

(your milk sounds completely normal btw - I was expressing for similar reasons at your stage but with expert help I got over it and have been bf for 9 months now )