Newborn son. I want to try expressing and work up to BF. Advice please.

[Bloodylovely]

Hi all, I've just given birth to my lovely baby and would really like to provide him with my milk. I exclusively formula fed my other children as I didn't have the confidence to try BF but would love to give it a go this time.

Part of the issue I have is that I have flat nipples so was always embarrassed to ask for advice from midwives. I've decided to buy a pump, try to express and hopefully go from there.

Can you reccomend one?
Any tips?

My milk is coming in now and it seems like such a waste to atleast not try right?

Thanks :)

Really don’t be embarrassed the easiest thing to do is to ask them he midwives.
You can just stick the baby on and he’ll probably suck, they do get the hang of it. Mine had to deal with too big nipples. I never knew that was possible

Good on you for giving it ahi. I exclusively expressed for 3 weeks until my First baby learnt to latch on. It is hard work. You will need to be expressing every couple of hours, including throughout the night. I rented a pump from the hospital which was much more powerful then the ones you can buy, so that might be worth investigating. I'd also recommend finding a local breastfeeding group or hiring a private specialist. Once we got going I found breastfeeding much easier than expressing. It can be hard at first but so worth it in the long run. Good luck!

Congrats! Yes, you can always try. Relax, lean back so your comfortable, let the baby find a nipple themself, let them face you, so neck isn't turned or strained and dont panic if it takes a minute or two.
Maybe it won't work or it might. If not, a midwife can help guide the baby. They will know how to manage flat nipples but I think it's the same technique as babies sort of suction on anyway.

Definitely a million times easier to go straight to BF if you can so please ask the midwives for help or call La Leche League who may have a peer to peer supporter in your area.

I would let the baby start nursing immediately.

Thanks ladies

The community midwife is going to be visiting us tomorrow so I'll have a chat with her about it too.

I wasn't aware you could rent pumps from the hospital, that's something I'll make a note to ask about tomorrow.

Will also look up La Leche League in a mo.

Good luck, agree with other posters much easier to start trying to feed directly rather than expressing - babies get out more than pumps!

Your milk might not come in until day 3-6, and that's fine - colostrum is enough

I used to have quite flat nipples and did use nipple shields for a time to help start us off, but fed both dc until they self weaned

I had flat nipples too before I started breastfeeding. Now I don't! It sorted them out for me.

It was difficult getting started. I had lots of false starts and had to express, after offering baby the breast as it took a couple of weeks for him to be able to latch on, with lots of encouragement and help. We were lucky and had a breastfeeding clinic nearby. I also used nipple shells, which worked well for us - meant that he could start to feed with the shells on and then once started I could slip them off and he kept going.

Best of luck.

Just let the baby sort out your flat nipples for you.

Hey OP! I have flat nipples and have managed to breastfeed for coming up to 9 months now so just wanted to send some encouragement. It wasn’t easy to begin with and lots of people said well meaning things like “babies breastfeed, not nipple feed” but sadly it wasn’t as easy as that. I had to pump around the clock (every 3 hours) to establish and maintain my supply and then use nipple shields (Mam ones worked best for us). Then by about 12 weeks she was big enough to latch without them using some breast shaping techniques (Google the burger hold!) The most important thing was getting plenty of support from our local infant feeding team so if you have access to one where you are, pester pester pester for as many appointments as you need. You can do this!! Good luck to you x

I did this OP. I rented the hospital grade Ardo pump and cup fed until 8 weeks when I transitioned to the breast directly over time. Kelly Mom website and the NCT breastfeeding helpline were great resources for all things nipple. Congratulations on your baby!

There are so many tricks for dealing with difficult nipples. Let the experts help you. It can be as simple as the right positioning or using something cheap and easy like a nipple shield.

And if what you decide to do is pump, that is great too.

Thank you all for the replies and advice

I'm ordering an electric pump and nipple shields from Amazon prime today.

I've been trying to get baby to latch but having no joy as yet, so I've been hand expressing in the mean time to hopefully keep my supply going.

I've gone from being able to express 10ml with alot of effort over the course of 25-30 mins - to being able to express 40ml with ease in half of that time, so I think that's quite encouraging isn't it?

I must say, baby takes my milk in a bottle SO much better than he does the powdered formula. He gets less wind too. It makes me happy that I'm able to give him something. I'll definitely keep at it

I forgot to say, he's still having his formula until I can produce enough to sustain him.

I think it's so much easier to feed baby direct rather than pump when you get the hang of it and sort out the baby's latch and things so keep trying with the feeding and get more help if you need to from a breastfeeding consultant.

The midwives are 100% the best people to ask for hands on advice and support. Please please ask, they’ll see Mums with flat nipples every day and will have supported many in their careers, it’s really not uncommon.
Your update post is really positive, you’re definitely getting there, fab job Mummy
Do still ask though, you’ll be so glad you did.

You are doing great 😊

If you can get help to get him latched you will quickly increase your supply accordingly.

You are amazing doing the hand pumping with a new born. It can't be easy

I found this thing helpful lansinoh.co.uk/products/latchassist-nipple-everter

Aw thanks for the encouragement ladies, it's much appreciated!

I did broach the subject with the midwife during our 5 day check but it wasn't that fruitful a conversation, she just said it would be much trickier to start up now than it would have if I began trying straight away when he was born - but not impossible. I didn't get much advice to be honest but in her defence she was super rushed off her feet with loads of others to see.

I'll definitely look at the resources reccomended on this thread and will take your advice in the interim until I next see a MW on Friday I think it is.

Looking at the lansinoh link now

Ohhh keep going 🙂 I needed to use shields to start with and son was 90% fed expressed milk at one point. Then one day he could suddenly latch without the shields and we’ve been happily bf ever since.

It did take A LOT of persistence and if you have other young kids the time it takes to express could be a challenge... but for me it was totally worth it, he’s coming up for 4m and I love feeding him.

I found that eventually my nipples got pulled into a more prominent shape through expressing and using the shields.

What about offering a breast at the start of each feed and then switching to a bottle when/if your baby gets frustrated? I think encouraging baby to latch as soon as possible is really important, while their instinct to search for a nipple is still so strong.

We did loads of skin to skin and I think that helped, if you’re not doing so already would defo recommend 🙂

Oh PS I couldn’t bf my son at first because he was poorly so also missed those first days getting used to latching etc but we got there in the end 👍

OP I would get in touch with a lactation consultant if you're serious about this. Can't speak for anyone else but I received zero support in breastfeeding from the midwives, their advice was completely off

@JaniceBing

OP I would get in touch with a lactation consultant if you're serious about this. Can't speak for anyone else but I received zero support in breastfeeding from the midwives, their advice was completely off

Second lactation consultant

I had one with my first. She was great. Literally angled babies head better and she latched better.

Also look at Kelly mom. Used to be a good source of advice at least

Well done OP - the hand expressing sounds very encouraging

Agree lactation consultant could be the way to go. Some midwives are great with bf-ing advice but have so much else to do too
Lactation consultants are specialists and might be able to help more

Thanks ladies, lactation consultant it is!

My pump arrived today, I got enough to give him two whole feeds with ease

Super pleased! I'll keep at it every 3 hours especially in the night. I read that 4am is the magic time for some reason?!

Still no joy with latching but I'm doing skin to skin during every bottle and encouraging him to take the boob first. Will persist.

I've been reading up on how to increase supply too, fenugreek seeds keep coming up - has anybody tried them / had any results?

I'm determined to exclusively BF eventually but I'm happy with what progress I'm making with expressing so far.