When and why to start expressing??

[missytequila]

I was told I need to start expressing breast milk at 3/4 weeks in order to make sure that baby won't refuse a bottle at a later stage.

Baby is 3 weeks now, but I am hesitating expressing. Mainly because I just cant be bothered with the sterilising, etc and my breasts are already tender..just not looking forward to the pump as well as baby. Just seems like an extra hassle... how much milk needed for a feed? what time to pump?etc

Husband wants me to express so he can do a feed and help me sleep. And I am kinda worried about having a babysitter at some point when a EBM bottle might be handy so I can leave her...

But can't I just leave it until I am desperate... or is it true baby will refuse a bottle??

What did you do?

if you want your baby to be bottle friendly its definitley worth expressing a bottle and trying it every now and then ( quite regularly as otherwise they loose the habit. there is nothing worse than wanting to go out and knowing your baby won't eat.
however if you're not that bothered about being seperated or getting sleep then I wouldn't worry but if it is an aim that you want to go out a lot of babies really do struggle from going breast to bottle if they're not in the habit.
I found when I expressed it actually gave sore boobs a break as well as some sleep.

Missy my baby is 10 weeks and I haven't expressed yet although we bought a pump to have in just in case. I find the girls in my NCT group go on about expressing all the time and I don't really follow why they are all so worked up about it. I can see the benefits if you're going back to work or need to be away from your baby for a time but for brand new mums I've not yet really understood what the point is. Before avid pumpers start shouting at me, I'm not being critical - I just don't understand why they're all pumping away. They talk about increasing supply and running out of milk at the end of the day. I thought letting your baby feed a lot increased supply, but what do I know? Apparently the honourable GF talks about expressing all the time so maybe that's why everyone does it? I really feel expressing is a mystery akin to childbirth that I am yet to fathom...

I think it's normal for your breasts to still be tender at 3 weeks. Ignore anyone who tells you bfing doesn't hurt. For most of women, it does hurt a bit at first. Or even a lot. In fact, despite what the NCT et al say, I've never yet met a woman who said it didn't make her wince at the start! But it does get better. I promise.

Good luck if you do become a pumper!

Just to add re: refusing a bottle.... I have just started to express at 11 weeks so I can leave DH a bottle whilst I take the dogs out on my own (as can't take DD unless have someone to hold the dogs whilst they are on the lead). DH tried to give her a bottle and DD's having none of it, so now I'm pretty screwed and am having to walk at supersonic speeds as to get back in time so that she is not screaming the house down... not a good sign for when i go back to work in just over a month... I kinda wish I had tried earlier, even if it was just one feed a week with a bottle, but I was far too adamant that I didn't want her to get a weird suck when BFing (don't ask about my obscure reasoning.....). So now I am stuck cruising through old threads to see if any one has any suggestions...

If you have no need to have her on a bottle then don't bother. It is a hassle. I expressed for DD1 at 9pm so that DH could feed her the 10pm feed and I could go to bed. DD2 and DD3 were both premmie so I was a bit over the whole expressing thing by the time they got home after doing it for 5 weeks each and didn't bother after that. I don't think it really affected my quality of life. If you do want to though - it's worth getting your DD used to having a bottle at least every other day from 3 weeks or so. Any later and she may well refuse altogether. if you do want to build an expression into your routine - it's prob best to do it in the morning though, when you have most milk. good luck.

I think I was lucky because dd and ds1 never had any problem taking a bottle once I wanted to stop feeding... so based on my past experience, I would say, don't bother, unless you need to leave baby...
I remember pumping for what seemed like ages and then accidently spilled the bloody milk once I finished, that was the end of the line for me with expressing!
But, not going to lie to you, your baby might be one of those ones who refuses the bottle...
Hmm, difficult one, but I woudn't bother!

We gave a bottle of expressed from about 5-6 weeks old, as I knew I'd be going back to work at six months so needed him to take a bottle. You need to keep giving it though, just once a week or so - we got lax as DS was always great about taking it, left it a month or so and then he got really upset when I went out for an afternoon with a friend and refused to take a bottle from DH.

I started expressing the odd bottle at about 6 weeks as I had an engagement at about 8 weeks that was several hours and a bottle was the only way. I wanted to make sure DD was happy with a bottle without leaving it until the last minute. I think expressing before 6 weeks is I'll advised as supply is still getting established.

Now I express a bottle every night before I go to bed so DH can do the first feed and also because I suffer serious night engorgement if I don't empty out before bed! It is a bit of a faff with the sterilising and bottles but really not that difficult.

I started expressing at three weeks, as I needed to go back to work one day a week. The first week I did every other day, after that DH gave her bottle every morning before he went to work. A word of warning, at first I was able to express 3-4oz in 10mins, as you have alot of excess milk. After the 6week growth spurt, your body stops overproduing to give her just the required amount. I had to work quite hard to get my excess supply back, even now normally get 2-3oz from both breasts vs. 3-4oz from one breast. Have also struggled with the let down reflex since the growth spurt. The mistake I made, I think, was to stop expressing during the spurt as she was feeding so much. I express twice a day, once to give DH the morning feed, the other to build up the freezer supply for when I work/go out.

If it helps - I always only got my dh to feed the baby with a bottle.

I heard that this helps with them not getting confused.

I found expressing a timewasting activity so I did not keep it up.

Also you never express as much as the baby will take from the breast.

I expressed and got my DD on a bottle from 4 weeks once every couple of days - no hassle at all - however at 7 weeks she suddenly decided overnight that she didn't want a bottle anymore. She is now 11 weeks and we have had to persevere through screaming and buying all sorts of bottles and teats - she is now bottlefed through the day and I feed her myself during the evening, night and first feed. She will take the bottle from me - usually 3 bottles of 5oz per day, she still protests when my husband gives it to her - but will take it after making her disgust felt. So whilst the advice is to introduce a bottle from abt 4 weeks to get them used to it - it may work to start with, but they may decide overnight to give up with a bottle as they get more aware!

Introducing a bottle - I don't think that introducing a bottle early guarantees that the baby will take it later. I never bothered expressing unless I was actually going out, and I didn't worry about whether DS would take a bottle - if he hadn't taken a bottle I am sure he would have taken milk from a cup or dropper, and if that failed - it wasn't like I was going miles away the first time I left him. I didn't like the thought of him crying for 20 minutes while I made the journey back home but I thought that this was extremely unlikely.

Timing - I used to express just before I thought DS would want feeding, so that my breasts were at that "feeling full" stage, it seemed to help me get the letdown more easily. Your breasts are never truly empty and the baby will always be able to get milk out so it makes sense to express when it's easiest to do so.

Husband wanting to help - totally up to you of course, if you want to introduce a bottle that he can do, that is fine, but although it seems the most logical way to help, it can sometimes cause more problems/hassle/extra work than it solves. I used to get DP to give DS a bath in the evenings, which was great as I got an hour or so to myself, they got lots of nice skin to skin bonding time (he used to bath with him) and it meant that once DS was out of the bath and dried and in his sleepsuit all I had to do was feed him and he'd go off to sleep.

Pain - it is normal to experience a certain level of pain or discomfort at the beginning of breastfeeding, but it should only be for about the first ten seconds of a feed. If you are getting more pain (or tender, bruised feeling boobs generally) then it would be worth seeking help because sometimes it's just a tiny adjustment to the latch that is needed, but it can make all the difference.

HTH Do ask if you have any more questions!