Advice on expressing - last attempt at keeping up with BF

[Stefka]

After sobbing my way through yet another feed last night I knew I couldn't stand to put him back on my left breast again. So I am going to try and express from that one and alternate a bottle with my less sore side to see if I can get this crack to heal. I am hoping my least sore side will hold up so that I can stand it.

I have a hand pump - it takes ages and I was up half the bloody night with it but I guess that is just what it is going to take. I only seem able to get about 30ml every time - how do I know if that is enough for him?

Aso how can I tell the difference between when he is hungry and just wanting comfort. I had fed him recently and he started crying and I was about to feed him again when he found his thumb and five minutes later he was asleep!

Thanks!

Where can I get that stuff from? I looked in boots but didn't see anything.

I am alternating ibuprofen and paracetamol at the moment. Everytime someone comes to visit me I ask them to bring pain killers!

Hi Stefka,

You can get Citricidal in health food shops and prob Holland and barret. The Exspore tablets I got online - put them in Google.

How are you doing?

How are you doing now? I know what it is like, I went through hell and back when I was b feeding my DS. Struggled on with what I can only describe as agonising feeds until he was 10 weeks old (totally ridculous when i look back now) and then I hired a double pump from a medela pump hire agent - it was the lactina pump and it was amazing! I could express both sides at once 4 times a day (an dnot at night) and got enough milk to feed my LO all his feeds. The pump was so comfortable and didn't hurt. my nipples did heal but I never actually mamanged to get my DS to feed from me after that but it didn't matter because he was still getting my milk and he seemed happier to have it from a bottle. Incidentally has anyone checked to see whether or not your LO has a tongue tie? The only reason I say it is because this is what my DS had and this was why he couldn't latch on properly, the HV finally spotted it when he was 6 weeks old and he had it snipped.
hope things are going ok. Don't forget that b feeding has to work for both you and the baby so if you are really struggling make sure you get some help from your HV, gP or b feeding counsellor - the NCT have a good telephone help line plus local b feeding counsellors.

Nipple shields really helped when I had this problem Avent make silcon ones, They were really good, John Lewis stock them...good luck

I had to exclusively express until ds1 was 13 months old so it can be done!

Some tips on expressing:

Make sure you are relaxed and well-hydrated

Have a really good double electric pump. I used an Ameda Purely Yours and it was fab.

Use breast compression when pumping. So you hold each breast as you pump and apply firm but constant pressure.

You can pump straight into freezer bags if you get ahead and save yourself a step with bottle washing.

With ds2 I was determined not to go down that route again. But he really didn't want to take my left side as the nipple was flatter. It was a maddening 8 weeks of using nipple shields and mainly the rugby hold on that side. Also, lots and lots of lansinoh! I also found that putting those really small ice packs (like you might use on your wrist or something) right inside my bra for a bit felt nice. Those gel things are good too. Get the ones that are re-usable (medela, I think?). The one-use ones didn't feel as good.

One of the nurses in the hospital gave me a small bottle of sucrose to put on the nipple to make it more appealing to him. Not sure how much it worked though. I have also heard of someone putting teething gel on sore nipples to numb them but have never tried this myself.

Good luck, I know it can be so frustrating.

Hi Stefka,

You OK??