An idiots quide to expressing for future use please?

[FlossALump]

Basically I have a 7 week old DD and have a few nights out planned for next month, when she will be about 9/10 weeks old. DP on tap to babysit! She has previously drunk bottles of expressed milk ok and is a litle guzzler so I'm confident she will be fine with the bottle. However I worry about expressing milk in that I will short change DD! I know I probably just need to take the plunge and go for it but am a little nervous. I have been considering taking a herbal supplement to see if I can increase supply enough so that I can do this and be sure she will have enough milk. Any opinions please?

You can freeze your milk in a sterile container - then you can build up a supply over a couple of days and go out knowing there'll be more if she gets through one lot and seems to want more. Think the advice is to defrost gently in warm water rather than microwave so may need to give DP some gentle instructions. Or else defrost it yourself the afternoon before you go out and leave it ready in the fridge for them.

invest in some lansinoh breastmilk storage bags and if poss start expressing at a certain time each day (early morning is pref) after giving your DD a feed. Freeze the milk in portions that you know your DD can currently take from a bottle - I freeze between 5fl.oz/ 6fl.oz as that is how much DS can currently take at dreamfeed time.
I did this over 2/3 weeks to build up a 'just incase' supply in the freezer.

Milk supplies are meant to be at their highest in the mornings (hence my morning recommendation). And by doing it at the same time every day - your breasts will start to produce the extra milk for that time of day - so supply shouldnt be an issue. The downside is once you stop expressing at that time - you may have really full breasts but again that will go away in time.

Also the lansinoh bags come with comprehensive storage/ defrosting etc instructions.

second dal's advice - I also had success expressing on one side while feeding on the other but it's a bit of an art and you cna't mn at the same time

morning is best then? I have the bags as was expressing excess supply for a few days. I thought to try and get two 6oz bottles for each night out should do it. So I suppose even if I only get an ounce a day I can still do it in time! Thanks for that, will try tomorrow!

2am is best actually - bet you really wanted to hear that!