Expressing - questions from a beginner

[OrangeAnge]

My DS is 6 weeks old and we would like to start to expressing so that my other half can give him a bottle as and when, and so I can go out occasionally! But I have questions...

Firstly, sterilising. We don;t have a microwave so what is the best way to sterilise the pump and bottles? Milton tablets? Or should we buy a small electric one?

Secondly, can you mix milk expressed at different times together? I assume you express and store each lot in a bag in the fridge/freezer seperately and then you can mix them together when needed?

Thirdly, how often should you express? I guess if you do it too often you'll end up producing tons of milk which will be uncomfortable. So how often do you do it?

Finally, how much do babies eat?!!! How much milk should I put in a bottle for a feed? And if they don't eat it do you throw it away or can you put it back in the fridge?

Sorry for all the questions at once but I am a bit baffled! Thanks in advance for your help.

you don't need to sterilise it. have you a dishwasher? that will do, or else hot soapy water then leave to air dry (ie don't dry it with a used tea towel, though you could use paper towels).

in between pumping you can even just keep it in the fridge. breastmilk is naturally antibacterial.

you can add to what you've expressed over 12 hours. so get pot/bottle and express into it. keep adding to it through the day. then if you want you can freeze the lot at the end of the day.

the entire everything you need to know!!

scroll down on that link i gave you for a quick guide to how long you can store your milk

I'm expressing a bit for ds (nearly 10 weeks).

I don't bother with sterilising, just a hot wash in the sink with a it of washing up liquid and not washing anything else with it or stick it in dishwasher on a hot cycle.

I express all that I cn in one day and then freeze that, storing it in the fridge between times. I suspect that really strict advice would be not to do that but to freeze/fridge each lot separately.

I've been trying to up the amount I can express so I've been trying to do it twice a day, I don't really think that it's making me engorged at all.

Ds drank 220mls in 4 hours when I left him for an evening at 5 weeks.

Good luck and don't be disappointed if you don't get much out!

Thank you all for such quick replies. And that link is very useful indeed. I'll give it a go tomorrow.

Mumsnet is brilliant!