Tips on expressing

[Stefka]

I am trying to rest up cracked nipples so they can heal but I am struggling to express enough milk for my DS. He is taking about 120 ml at a feed but I can only express about 60ml at a time. I have a good electric pump but can't use it right now because it irritates the cracks so I am hand expressing.

Any tips for getting a bit more milk? At the moment I am resting only one side but I would like to rest the other a bit too if I can get a bit more milk ou.

Hi Stefka

Glad you're still persevering in incredibly difficult circs. I'm sure you'll get lots of expressing experts on here but presumably you've been shown how to hand express by one of the BF counsellors you've had out?

I think it can help to warm the boobs first, knead a little with your knuckles (gently!) and lots of people swear by looking at your DC while doing it. I always get a better/quicker letdown (while feeding or expressing) if DH puts his arm round me too!

I think it's all to do with your hormones flowing when you get good feelings or summat.

If you have a break after first expressing - about 5-10mins and then try again you might get another let down.

Don't know what pump you have but I always took the rubber shields off mine and just used the plastic funnels, since the rubber bits sort of 'caught' on the nipple.

And the other thing is, could you express a bit at a time as frequently as possible - to up your supply but also to build up a reserve. If you can only get 60ml every 3 hours or so, then maybe try pumping every 2 hours (or whenever) and gradually build up a bit more in the freezer, and may also increase your supply at same time. That way you might get maybe from two expressings I dunno, 80 mls and if you keep going for a few days maybe you'll be expressing 60mls at each time, but you'll have enough in freezer to give two lots of EBM in one feed?

I'm sure you're already doing this, but have you tried expressing first thing in the morning - I used to express from one side whilst feeding DD on the other side - It seemed to help get the flow going.

When I was trying to build up my supply before going back to work I used to miss feed a side - basically DD would feed last thing at night say on the left so would then be due to feed on the right, but as I wanted to express I would just feed again on the left. This meant I had lots to express in the morning and could probably get about 8 oz off after a few nights of doing this.

You do have to be careful doing this as could lead to blocked ducts which is the last thing you need at the moment. But may be worth thinking about when feeding is more established if you need to get your supply up.

HTH's

I've read your previous threads and have to say well done for perservering with the breast feeding - I'm sure things will start to get easier for you soon.

Meant to add - make sure you're drinking lots of water too.

marmet technique

the volume of water you drink has little impact on supply. just drink to satisfaction, which in early days i remember feeling very thirsty at times. later on it settled down.