Can I ask a few questions about expressing please?

[deaconblue]

Am an expressing novice despite feeding dd for 6 months (and ds for 6 months 2 years ago) but want to give it a go in the hope that dd might consider taking a bottle when I go out for an evening in a couple of weeks(she HATES formula and won't consider even a mouthful). So tell me the basics:
I think it's best to express first thing in the morning - correct?
do I need to sterilise all the pump bits and the container I intend to freeze it in?
how much should I expect to get out and will that increase if I have a few goes at expressing?
Once the bm is defrosted can it stay in the fridge for a while or does it need to be used straight away?
How long can bm be left out of the fridge for?

If you are freezing the milk I think its a good idea to sterilise everything

If you are pumping instead of doing a feed, maybe 4oz. If it is after a feed, a lot less - its most efficient to hand express if you need to just get one feed together for a one off.
You just need two bottles in the fridge and then hand express after the feed into a bottle. After the next feed express into the other. The before the next time, tip one into the other, and express into the empty one etc. You can prob get 4oz in one day this way.

I always reckoned on 24 hours in the fridge once defrosted. BM will last 8 days in the fridge though - fresh will be OK on the side for a few hours, but frozen should be treated more like formula

I'd recommend buying the Lansinoh freezer bags. They're made specially for milk and have a leaflet inside which gives guidelines about storage, defrosting etc.

In between expressing, I emptied the bottle and then tied the empty pump into a clean food bag and put the whole thing in the fridge to use again later. I'd then wash and sterilise the whole thing ready for the next day.

I was expressing rather than breastfeeding, so can't help re when's best to express. You'll definitely get more first thing in the morning but you may want to be feeding then.

thanks. She only ever wants one side in the morning which leaves me lop-sided and uncomfortable til mid-morning anyway so I thought it might be good to pump one side while she feeds on the other. Will have a look at the freezer bags, sounds like a good idea.

boots also do sterile breastmilk bags too. i think its 72 bags for about £7 or £8 if i remember right.

lansinoh bags are great. Free delivery with code KF1ZZ140

i used to get up and express at 4am if i really wanted to get as much as possible. hard, but used to flood out at that time.

yes, sterilise all the bits of the breast pump.

Some really good tips here. I love Elmmums idea of putting expresser in a food bag in fridge. I will definitely be using that one.
Same as others have said here I find Morning is definitely best. Some recommend expressing before you feed because this encourages more let down for the actual feed. ( You may not need that tip though) After a week you should be able to express and feed from same breast 15 minutes later.

4 0z is the max I have ever got from a single expressing in the morning. That was after a few weeks mind. I think definitely the more you express the more you get.

Others recommend expressing 1 hour after a feed. This could be good for you as l/o's feeding on one side could encourage let down on the other. And, if you are only feeding from one breast your idea of expressing from the other sounds cracking !!