Expressing milk-when?

[Bekki]

I had a long list of problems resulting from breast-feeding my first which as a result only lasted about 10 days. The list included - engorgment, blocked ducts and mastitis. I have been told recently that this may have been caused by me trying to express milk far too early. I wasn't told by my midwife or anywhere on the breast-pump advice book about waiting until it was all well established before expressing, is this true?

When I was bf I was very engorged on the fourth day and was told by midwife that there was no way he would latch on unless I expressed. For a few days I had to express before every feed. I continued bf until ds was 7 months old and then had to stop cos my milk dried up.

Bekki my midwife also recommended expressing to relieve engorgement in the early days with DS2. For me it was a challenge enough to put the pump together and that was as far as we got as DS2 suddenly began to feed 24/7 and relieved the engorgement himself. I did in the early days end up with mastits (before doing any expressing) due to accidently not opening a front opening bra fully and ending up with some of the bra cutting into the breast DS2 was feeding from, I then quite successfully used the pump to take off some milk before feeding him which helped with the pain.

The best piece of advice I have ever received to help engorgement, blocked ducts and mastitis (had mastitis was both DS1 and 2) has been savoy cabbage in the fridge, pop a cool leaf into each side of your bra, then change if after it wilts for a fresh one, seems to take the edge off things. All the best for this time round! I found having Mumsnet this time has made a huge difference, the encouragement and reassurance I have received on the site has been vital.

Bekki - it is best to avoid expressing until your milk has established for your baby's needs which takes about 3 weeks. If you express a lot in the early days your body produces more milk thinking your baby needs it. Expressing to soften engorged breasts prior to a feed is different from expressing to store milk. The way to avoid blocked ducts and mastitis it to make sure that the bay is fixed and positioned properly to empty the breast effectively ( it is never completely empty though) and to feed on demand - whether that is your or the baby's. If your breasts are really full then waken the baby to empty them rather than letting your breasts get really uncomfortable. HTH.

Breastfeeding sounded so easy, this is possibly the most complicated set of instructions I've ever had to follow. Mix complicated/ mixed advice with pain, sleep deprivation and depression and you've got somebody reaching for the SMA. Hopefully this time round I'll have you lot to give me reminders and reasurrance.

Yes Bekki, ask loads of questions on Mumsnet, this is what I did this time round and I'm sure it helped, loads of well informed, experienced b/feeders on here. I also found it really useful to look at some of the old b/feeding threads, helpful to see others with similar concerns and experiences and how they got through things.

Bekki

I got lods of really good advice from Mears and everyone else here, and I'm still breastfeeding fifteen months later. Even if you think your query is stupid or trivial, just ask, someone will help.

I hate to butt in on this thread but was wondering ..
mears - you say that he breat is never truly empty of milk - how can you tell when they are on the hind milk as opposed to teh foremilk? I sometimes feed for about 40 minutes and then dont know whether to top up on the same side or try the other side? I know it is not an exact science but is there any way to tell?

Hughsie - it is definately not an exact sciebce If I fed for 40 mins on one side I would definately offer the other side. My motto was, if they were fed, given a clean nappy and still crying, I gave them the breast. Saves you making the tea