Does one HAVE to express the milk?

[TrippleBerryFairy]

I was expressing till my newborn started bfeeding properly. He is now breast fed only, no bottles and I am wondering whether I should still be expressing the milk? I do seem to have quite a lot of it and am a bit worried whether relying on the baby to empty the breasts is not going to lead to some problems with the breasts. Advice appreciated

no need to express unless you are planning on storing it for a night out ar something similar. baby will take what is required and feed more when he needs to increase your supply. expresssing will only increase not decrease the amount you produce.

I expressed a couple of times when DD was first weaned so that her solid food would taste more familiar but she never had a bottle. As Nightshade said, your body should just make the right amount of milk that your baby needs.

Agree with the others, I would just bf on demand as your baby wants it. Not sure how old your baby is now, but milk supply can take a while to settle down, especially if you've been expressing too. I found that I stopped having to wear breastpads after about 6 wks, but some women leak more (or less!)

If you find your breasts are making too much at the moment during this transition period, you can express off enough to feel comfortable (but no more, or you will stimulate more milk). Otherwise, it would be best to leave off all expressing for a while so the supply/demand can settle down. If you want to express and give bottles later on you can, though I have never found a need for it with DS2 (8m).

Well done on getting your son fully breastfeeding

Thanks all. My baby is only 12 days old- the breasts felt enormous while I was in the hospital and expressing! Guess I might have tried too hard and overdone that Now we're home and they're nice and soft so it seems like the baby is doing a good job at emptying them. Little sucking machine he is