BREASTFEEDING TWINS-ADVICE ON EXPRESSING

[valz]

Hi Ladies, i need some advice on expressing milk. my midwife advised me not to express until the twins were 3weeks old, that way my milk supply should be well established. So i started expressing this week, but im not sure how often i should do it, i am looking to express to have a back-up when needed so i am still breastfeeding at every feed. can i express between feeds or will this decrease the milk available for the twins at the next feed? they usually feed every 3 hours. i read that breats produce on the demand of the babys but if im expressng in between is this helping produce more milk or using up the feeds? how often can i express a day? any advice would be great?

thanks

Hi - can't really help as my twins are older now and I didn't breastfeed for long, but suggest you post on the multiples board to get more twin mum replies. If you haven't already, of course.

Firstly I'm not sure about 3 weeks meaning milk supply is well established. I always thought 6-8 weeks was more typical. I may be wrong though

I do know that you can express between feeds and this will not affect the milk available for your babies. Removing milk from the breast (by feeding or expressing) will stimulate supply, but missing a feed (ie giving a bottle) can decrease supply. So when they start to drop feeds naturally, e.g. when they start solids, your supply will decrease to adapt to their needs.