When can I start to express?

[catwoman75]

Dd is 10 days old and I am enjoying bf (although the 2 hourly feeds through the night are killing me). In the next couple of weeks I need to go to the dentist and to the hairdressers and just wondered when it would be best to start expressing so that I can leave her for a couple of hours. Also, would quite like dh to be able to give her a bottle at night so that I can get some more sleep. Some people say don't for 6 weeks and other seem to suggest getting her used to a bottle by 3 weeks. I'm soooooo confused.

Also, what's the opinion on a formula bottle or expressed breast milk mixed with a bit of formula every now and again. My GP said this would be okay and not to see formula as the enemy if I needed to get some sleep or leave her for a couple of hours.

One final thing - any recomendations for breast pumps - as I will be expressing at some point (just not sure how soon to start)

I left it for 6wks as I didn't feel I'd really 'settled' into feeding till then and didn't want to risk mucking up what I had.
DD took to it fine so long as it wasn't me giving the bottle.

TBH for an hour's local hairdresser/dentist type trip I'd just feed like mad till you left then dash back in time for the next one.

at your GP. Formula isn't the enemy but exclusive bf is significantly less risky even than mixed feeding. Also formula is a fiddle compared to bf, exp at night.

Think about the logistics of expressing for an evening feed before you commit yourself - ideally to safeguard your supply, especially this early and especially at night, you should express at the same time as dd'd be feeding, so it might not actually save you any hassle. Could you get DH to do something else (bath, stories, songs, rocking etc) to give you a break in the evenings?

Have you thought about cosleeping?

FWIW I liked the Tommy Tippee hand pump and found the widely-acclaimed Avent one utter shite.

i did it from 2 weeks. it wasnt easy at first but i soon got into the swing of it. i had the tommy tipee hand pump and found it to difficult. i now use the medela mini eletric and find it much easier

I really wouldn't get into the expressing thing unless you have to (and I expressed at work 5 days a week for 10 months, so I have been there) as it is a whole load of hassle, and could compromise your supply. For hairdressers and dentist, the person who will be looking after your DD can come along with you, take a walk with her, and pop back to you if she needs a feed - certainly not worth the faff for that.

As to the evening bottle - you would need to express at the time the bottle was given to safeguard your supply, so wouldn't get any extra sleep, but would have to express, wash, sterilise bottle and pump etc. What we did in the early days was that I went to bed after DS's 8 o'clock (or whatever) feed, and he stayed downstairs with DH. When he then woke up at 11 (or whatever), DH changed him, and brought him up to me in bed, I fed him laying down, and then put him in the moses basket when I woke up again.

Exclusive (ie nothing other than breastmilk or medicine) breastfeeding has significant benefits over mixed feeding for a number of reasons, so it really is worth it for as long as you can manage. Formula will not get your baby to sleep any longer at night, even if that was what the GP was implying. In fact parents of babies who are bf get 45 minutes more sleep a night than the parents of ff babies.

My dd is nearly 4 weeks and I started expressing about 10 days ago for exactly the same reason as you. I express now 1st thing in the morning (usually after 2nd feed around 5.30am and sometimes again at 10) and get out enough for 2 night feeds, which I put in the fridge and save for the evening. I haven't seen any issues with my supply, which is abundant and if anything it has made me stick at breastfeeding, which I was finding quite hard in the first couple of weeks due to a baby that seemed to feed constantly all day and night. Having a break at night restored my sanity, gave my nipples a rest and without doubt made me much more positive and happy to feed all day.
On a couple of occasions I have tried formula (Aptamil in cartons) when I had to go out and hadn't expressed. No adverse effects to my dd and once I got over the guilt caused by being constantly made to feel like a bad mother if I didn't exclusively breastfeed I realised that you have to go with what suits you. The odd bottle or top up with formula for a baby who is fed breastmilk 95% of the time is not the end of the world as long as you are comfortable with it.
As for pump use the Phillips Avent, which I haven't had any issues with, but have nothing to compare it with.
Good Luck !

Thanks, going to see how things go for a bit longer but will bear all of this in mind.