expressing milk

[sharon137]

Hello - I am after a little advice. I am 36+3 preg at the moment, and am planning on breastfeeding my baby boy. This is my first child. However, I want to express milk so my partner can feed as well, and also so that I am able to leave DS with my mum overnight when he is a little older, go to the shops etc without worrying.
I have only recently made the decision to express milk though, and to be honest it was spurred on because I am self-employed and would like to be able to take DS out to clients with me without whipping out a boob if he gets hungry! So because of this I haven't read a great deal about expressing and have no idea how it works. Am I able to express on command? Like, in the morning express enough for the day? Or is that very much wishful thinking? For night feeds, and when we are home together, I am fine with ihm taking the breast. It's just a bit impractical sometimes...

Everybody seems to be different, some women find it hard to express anything, others can express loads whenever they want.

I always found my milk supply was best first thing in the morning, as the baby tends to feed less at night so your supply builds up.I think this is quite common. I never found it easy to get much milk though, but this might be because I only expressed one feeds worth a day, I think it probably gets easier the more you do it.

I also know women find different methods of expressing easier, by hand, hand pump or electric pump. I used an electric pump, but did feel a bit like a cow hooked up to a machine!

Another piece of advice I was given was not to introduce a bottle until the baby has become established breastfeeding, as it may result in them rejecting the breast, but the other side of this is you also can't leave it too long, or they might not take a bottle, which I discovered with my dd who completely refused a bottle and I ended up having to exclusively breastfeed for 11 months until she finally took a cup. My dh used to bring her out to me in the car if I had a rare evening out so I could nip out and feed her!

Good luck with everything, excitingly wonderful (if tiring) times ahead!