Bottle feeding expressed milk...do i need to express my full breasts ever feed time??

[choccywhoccydodah]

DS1 is nearly 3 weeks. have started to express for when i'm out or late eve feed and also i find it less tiring than when he is latched on. have been latching him in the morning on one side then expressig the other side after he's finished. If i then bottle feed him the expressed milk, say at the next feed or whenever, what do i do with my full breast as he would normally empty one at this time!!! they are not sore so do i just leave them being full until i let him latch or express again?? And how long can i leave it with emptying them as i don't want them to 'dry' up!!

The most i would prob feed expressed would be two times in a row if out during the day, so can i then leave my breasts during this time without emptying them???

Please help!! Thank you in advance!! xx

If you are expressing because you are going out with out DS; for example you are out for 4 hours. If you feed before you go (DS then has expressed milk for next feed/s) you would need to express how ever many times he would normally feed in those 4 hours. This would probably be only once if you then fed him when you came home.

If you are expressing and taking out DS and bottled expressed milk with you, can I very gently ask why? Is it because you are uncomfortable or because you will be seeing other people who you know are uncomfortable with NIP?

If you feed DS expressed milk whilst out you will be artificially increasing the time your baby has between feeds (as far as your breasts are concerned) which will tell your breasts to make less milk. So you would need to feed DS when he wanted it and then find somewhere appropriate to pump. I'm assuming here if you are/other people are uncomfortable with you NIP you/they would be even more uncomfortable with you expressing in public

To be honest you probably have enough work at 3 weeks to be doing without expressing/sterilising/bottle feeding when you could be doing it direct. Of course if you feel that would be/is the way forward for you then please ignore my musings

Thanks TruthSweet. It's a bit of feeling uncomfortable when out (ie making sure i have the right suitable clothing on etc without having to spend more on nursing tops etc), and in front of the likes of my Dad/Brother etc.

I also thought perhaps my DP could do one night/late feed which will then enable me to have a sleep but there is no point i guess if i'm going to have to stay up to express anyway!??

Since posting my message i did give a bottle of expressed without pumping anymore and then come his next feed found both breasts were ready to explode (and leaking!!) so let him feed off both and then expresed after he finished, again off both to drain them. This didn't seem too much of a problem albeit i can't really allow them to leak like that in public!!?? lol!!

I used to find that when I gave DD a bottle of EBM or FF, my breasts would leak anyway!

Feeding in the presence of dad etc - I am currently feeding my DS, if I need to feed him when I am with my brother or Dad, I just feed him. They are far more embarassed than me and happily leave the room. I haven't used any nursing tops, a baggy top plus a cardigan will hide everything. Does nothing for your figure, mind. It gets a lot easier with practice too.

If anyone is in my house I feed when I like, it's my house. But DS is too easily distracted now he is bigger so he would wait until visitors have left - he's too nosy

it sounds like you're doing fantastically well, i'm not sure how you can be arsed expressing if you don't have to, i'm very jealous of your fantastic supply.
you'll get the hand of all of this and get to the point where it's easier all round to just feed him yourself, it's early days yet, you're both learning. well done, you're doing great.

It's most definitely handy to be able to express and bottle feed at times but in the early days it's often more hassle than it's worth IME. As PPs have said you need to express the feeds you miss...

As far as clothing goes, I BF dd for just over a year and have been feeding DS for nearly six months and don't own a single BF top. They are horrific! If you wear a stretchy vest under your normal top you can but the vest down under your breast and pull the top up. Hey presto. No tummy or breast in sight at all!

Practicing in front of a mirror will help you see how discrete BF actually is!

Thanks guys!!!

I do seem to have a huge great supply of milk that i can express 4/5 ounces at a time!!??

I BF through the night as usual last night and have just had a bath to find that it was actually a milk bath more than anything!!! For some reason i feel like expressing (and missing emptying my breasts once yesterday) seems to have encouraged my milk to double/tripple!!??

I'm currently waiting for DS to wake so i can let him empty them some more...much longer and i'll have to express a bit anyway as i'm going through pads like there's no tomorrow and walking round the house with great wet patches on my top!! Very sexy!!

It's great to hear all of your advice, i seem to have a very content baby at the mo hence having the time to express/sterilise etc!!

Will see how i get on and maybe just express once a day as i did find giving a bottle at last feed last night meant DS took more milk and went for longer through the night as he would normally rather sleep and have a trickle feed late at night meaning he won't last long before hungry again!!!

Lots of learning!!!!

Expressing will increase your supply as you have now found out (more so I suspect if you already have a generous supply than if you don't).

I will second/third/whatever the vest top under regular top combo for feeding with out showing flesh. Also if you are leaking terribly whilst at home rather than using pads you could try catching the 'run off' in a bottle so you aren't wasting the milk but you aren't encouraging yet more milk to be made IYSWIM. I leaked a lot with DD1 (in fact could leak more sometimes than could pump) so I would stick small plastic containers in my bra to catch the leaks (they actually make things especially for this called breast shells) but I didn't know at the time.