Did anyone choose not to express?

[twizzlesx]

Hi, I will be a FTM expecting my baby in about a months time.

I am planning to breastfeed. I like the idea of also occasionally expressing for if I am away from the baby or so that my husband can do a feed.

However, after reading about the cleaning and sterilising and storing rules for expressed milk I feel quite overwhelmed at the amount of work involved vs just breastfeeding - I'm also a bit anxious about food hygiene as it is and I think I would stress about properly sterilising

Did anyone EBF and not pump at all, if so how did this work - could you ever be away from your baby for more than an hour?

Or is the sterilising process actually okay and I would get used to it?

I hated the bottles and expressing. You can choose not to express I did and when I was ready for them away my husband gave the baby prepare up bottles rather than powder. I still had to sterile them, though but it wasn't hard or very often.

If you do express, it is best to sterilise but much less risky than formula as breast milk has antibodies to kill bacteria. So whilst you should sterilise it is less of a risk.

In over a decade of breastfeeding I had one negative comment about bf in public and that was in another country. I got some dirty looks I guess, but nothing that really bothered me. More smiles and compliments than negativity though, but the most common reaction was indifference, or people didn't notice.
Adverse incidents attract attention, they always do, so it gives the impression that lots of people have lots of trouble bf in public, but actually it's rare that anyone really cares. Not that I dispute that the negative stories are real, and there's plenty of room for improvement in attitudes to bf, but it's unlikely you'll ever be approached OP. "I bf my baby in the park and nobody batted an eyelid" isn't newsworthy, but it is the norm for most Mums.

I bf my first for 18m and never expressed. Went back to 12h shifts when he was 9 months old and he just fed overnight without hassle.

I exclusively expressed for my 2nd as he never latched. I actually much preferred it. Its entirely different to bf and I think the combo doesn't often work and that's why people hate it. I gave myself an oversupply with pumping which allowed me to cut to 3x pumps a day by 4 months old and to have my full frozen supply for 18 months plus donated by 6months so could happily stop. My DH was made redundant so I had to go back when he was 3 months old so pumping gave me the freedom to do so but still make milk...plus we couldn't afford formula 😬.

I ebf and absolutely couldn't be arsed pumping, it's just another job along with the cleaning and sterilisation!

Breastfeeding in public does get easier over time and I'll echo others in that my experience is that no one cares really, probably most don't even notice. If I didn't have to express to get to the 1 year mark I wouldn't bother with it, breastfeeding is way less hassle.

I ebf both mine. Given that it could take a good 20 minutes to express a decent amount of milk I figured why bother I'm either tied to the machine or tied to the baby, might as well just feed the baby direct. With DC2 I ebf but expressed extra for the milk bank. It can be time consuming but not really a faff. I had a steam steriliser but found cold water steriliser much better. Just pop the clean bottle & pump parts in & its sterile in 15 minutes. Can leave it in there all day too so I can pump whenever is convenient without having to wait for it to cool down. Just wash my hands,, get the parts out of the steriliser & get pumping. You need to refresh the water/solution once a day but that's it, its super easy. Congratulations on your pregnancy.

I couldn't express, barely made enough milk for DS. In half an hour I would get something like 2oz.

Just remember how much you can express and how much baby can extract can be very different!

I tried expressing but really wasn't able to produce very much at all!

My baby has no such issues and was breastfed exclusively to 6 months and finally stopped breast feeding as they approached 2.

I EBF and didn’t pump/express/FF.

I couldn't really be too far from her for long. But I also didn’t want to be. Most of the time we were in lockdown! It was quite intense really.

if I had another, I don’t know if I’d do the same, or express/pump to give dad a chance to feed her/give me respite for a bit. If she’ll even take a bottle, of course.

Most people I know either formula fed, mixed fed (formula and bf) or ebf. I don't know many people who expressed regularly. I did exclusive pumping, but it wasn't my first choice! I'd have far preferred to ebf or mixed feeding. If I had my time again I'd probably switch to formula instead of battling on with pumping.

I’m not sure anyone else has picked up the sterilising part but you do not need to sterilise bottles and pump when used exclusively for breast milk.

Pumping didn’t work for me, great milk supply but expressing didn’t yield much and DD wouldn’t take bottle anyway. Didn’t go out for 18 months but really wasn’t fussed as wouldn’t have wanted to leave her anyway.

Yes you do.

I EBF for 6 months and didn't leave my baby to be honest. I had 2 little one at home too so I'm used to not going out much ☺️ at 6 months she took a bottle of formula if I went to an appointment etc

I expressed for my first. Gave in to the pressure from others about being “selfish” not letting others feed, i’d make a rod for my own back, I should give myself a break etc

it’s all bullshit.

expressing is not “having a break”- it’s washing, sterilising, pumping, then someone else sitting on their arse feeding while you run around trying to get jobs done, make cups of tea etc.

for my second I refused. Far, far easier. Everyone else had to bring me cups of tea while I sat feeding, put the dishwasher on, and generally step up. No pumping, washing, fretting about storage.

after the first 3 months end you start to settle into a pattern you can work around. Past 6 months and solids and you can leave the baby for longer days as they aren’t so reliant.

honestly I wouldn’t advise expressing at all unless you really want to for whatever reason. Don’t do it because others tell you you should. It’s a pita and it’s not for your or the baby’s benefit.

No you don’t.

Both La Leche League and Association Breastmilk Medicine both say you only need to sterilise the equipment before first use, hot soapy water is fine for cleaning pump and bottles only used for breastmilk.

I’ve had 3 breastfed babies and never once sterilised anything.

I didn’t express, I tried but gave up after the first week or so after spending what felt like hours extracting about 20ml. We decided on the option of ready made bottles of formula before DD weaned and when DH/MIL were looking after her if I had a break so technically she wasn’t EBF but she was bf probably 95% of the time and I’ve now gone the opposite direction and am gearing up to stop extended bf now she’s nearly 3. She started nursery at 10 months (refused all milk during the day) and my supply regulated reasonably quickly so I didn’t express then either.

NHS advice is definitely to sterilise (other countries differ - I think in the USA they say to just use the dishwasher?)

I never expressed, I hated the idea. I happily breastfed 3 babies, started weaning around 5-6 months and introduced a sippy cup - none of them would take a bottle. They are tiny for such a relatively short time, I look back on my time breastfeeding with great fondness.

I hated expressing, bf can be quite full on without expressing. Baby didn’t really like a bottle (I bottlefed 2 and breastfed 2 babies) I just didn’t have time and they didn’t like the bottle anyway. But everyone is different some people don’t mind and babies are different. Try and see how you get on it’s the only way you’ll know if it suits you.

Congratulations on baby and enjoy those first days and weeks

We were on a feeding plan from a couple of days after DS was born due to jaundice and bad tongue tie so I had to express in hospital. Once we were out, our midwife advised feeding from one breast and using a haaka pump on the other side and using that milk for the top up (plus extra formula if not enough). We did that for 3 weeks and then after we could drop the top ups I still used the haaka to get a bottle a days worth so my partner could give a bottle in the evening and I could get some sleep. I found it really convenient as you could just express at the same time as feeding. HOWEVER, I know lactation consultants don't recommend this as it can cause oversupply. By 3 months I could get 120ml out in one session! Shortly after I stopped bothering as baby was sleeping better and it was more hassle to wash the haaka and store the milk in the night and easier for me to just breastfeed all feeds and took a little while for my supply to regulate again but wasn't too bad. Basically, if you do decide to express, haaka is an easier option than an electric pump but use with caution

Expressing works for some and not for others - hard to plan for

I have never expressed. No I can't be away from my child for longer than an hour but I'm ok with that. He's 6 months old. All the Mums in my group express. They go on about low supply and how many ml etc. It just looks like hard work. They've all gone on formula because they don't have any faith in their own supply.

Also I'm sick of relatives suggesting I express so that they can look after my baby. Fuck off, he's supposed to want his mother and he feeds on demand so he needs to feed for comfort as well as anything.

I understand why women want to but it's becoming a reason to force women apart from their child in my opinion.

Also some Dad's like to feed but I say fuck off mate you haven't got tits.