expressing from day 1??

[MissChief]

• planning ahead for birth of ds2 and TBH b/feeding fills me with horror at memory of how painful & difficult was last time. However, successfully expressed for many months after b/f for 1st few weeks. Has anyone expressed right from the beginning? I know advice tends to be wait for yr supply to get established but would like to hear if anyone managed anyway (anything to avoid the agonies of b/f!). Apologies if this has been done before, but could really do with some advice,suggestions from those who have expressed successfully. TIA.

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misschief why put yourself under pressure to breastfeed and express on day 1, just go with the feeding yourself and try the expressing around day 10 if u really want to do it that soon.it might be hopefully! better the next time around

i didnt express til 6 wks on both mine

thanks - pressure is there though, isn't it? From myself, DH, mws, NCT etc - I'm getting worried having found it so difficult last time. I know I can't/won't be able to get through 1st few weeks b/fing if it's as painful as last time. Therefore keen to hear from anyone who has succesfully expressed early on.

one of my friends has from about 3 weeks I think (something like that thou,) althou it's her 3rd one, and also she had a C section, but seems to have managed ok, I don't know if those two things make too much of a difference thou?

I have found BFing MUCH easier second time round and am more relaxed about it. I BF for the first 6 weeks and am expressing for the night and still BFing during the day.

With ds1 though, I expressed from the outset as he was prem and the hosp encouraged me to do it to get the milk to come through. It did work and was fine though I did give up breast milk sooner because of this, I think. I dont think it is recommended to express from the outset but I suppose you can do it.

Keep bumping this up as Tiktok will let you know what is the best thing to do.

good to hear worked from that early on, strangely I didn't find expressing a hassle, compared to b/f. That's why I'm keen to do from early on if poss.

Misschief - you can express from day 1 but you do not always get very much colostrum. Baby is much better at getting it out . I expressed for 2 of my babies in specail care. Despite having breastfed my first 2 babies, I couldn't get a drop out for days. Luckily neither of them were getting milk at that point (they were on drips), but milk does not always flow when you want it to.

I would advise going to a breastfeeding workshop or speaking to your midwife or a breastfeeding counsellor before delivery and making sure that you know exactly how to get your baby to breastfeed effectively. Breastfeeding should not be agonising if the baby is latching on properly.

thanks Mears - may not necessarily do from day 1 as it were - perhaps my subject title could have been better chosen! Like you say, might try to b/f at v.early stage - say 1st 1 or 2 weeks then move onto expressing. I know what you're saying about getting support- believe me last time asked mws, hv, GP, nct helpline & finally a (v expensive) private b/f counsellor who visited in person - I was either told what I was doing was fine or by the b/f counsellor to take a short break & express in order to recover - did this
for what was meant to be a week but turned into a yr! I just would be hugely reassured to know that/if it is physically possible to express successfully from first couple of weeks then I feel I might be able to get thro the first days or so b/f. I honestly don't feel I can commit to longer - there just wasn't the individual, face-to-face support last time, rather it was pressure
with bog-standard advice which was no more that I could get in the many books I have on babycare, b/f etc. I'm sure there are v good people working out there, just not enough of them and I honestly think successful b/f is pot-luck whether it works without help and whether you can access the help you need - hence the huge number of women who give up early on.

I expressed from day 1 (or think it was actually day 2 !) as dd wouldn't latch on - but did have to express every 3 hours which was quite exhausting during the night as would take 20 mins to express, 1 hour to feed dd and about another 10 minutes to sort out the steriliser and then if dd didn't settle it didn't make for a lot of sleep !

My best friend had to express from Day 1 because her lo was being tube-fed. She had no problems BUT she was still feeding her first one when no. 2 was born, so she had a supply already. However the midwife said "We will probably have to give him formula because you won't be able to express enough for him" and 10 minutes later she rang for the midwife with two bottles full to the top.

I have not read the other threads.

But here is my tuppence worth.

My DS refused to feed, he was very determined (signs of things to come). My self and DH harvested for the want of a better word the colostrum with a syringe type set up and drip fed it to him .

I then started to express and I am so glad I did, FWIW I had enough milk to flood a small village

He was born on the Saturday, I felt progressively unwell over the next few days, I ended up in Intensive care in heart failure on the Wednesday. Between the jigs and the reels, by the following Saturday I had been diagnosed with post partum cardiomyopathy, and I was placed on life saving drugs, which meant I could not breastfeed or express any longer.

Just read this back and it is a very long answer, but in essence what I am trying to say is that in expressing more or less from day one, I had loads of milk.

HTH

God, LGJ - really sorry to hear what you went through - sounds a huge achievement to have expressed at all.

Good to know though poss to express and have a lot from early on - I had no problems later, always too much if anything but wasn't sure if this would be the case from the beginning.

Hope you're both okay now? Thanks for your comments, anyway.