Expressing newbie, help please!

[clare8888]

Hi, I've got a 5 & 1/2 week old who has been exclusively breast fed so far but would like to try to express for the odd bottle. Despite reading loads I still have a few (probably stupid) questions

• What time of day is best for expressing?

• How much do I need to express for 1 average feed?

• Do you just warm the milk up by putting the bottle in a jug of warm water?

Any help would be greatly appreciated Clare x

Best time to express IME is after the first feed of the day

2 or 3 oz should be enough

You can express and add to it - will keep for up to 3 days in the fridge IIRC

At 6 weeks, probably 4-5oz.

Best to express when your breasts feed full, for me this is in the morning. I feed DS from one side, then express from the other, and then let him finish off the 2nd breast.

Yes warm the milk by putting bottle in jug of water. You can freeze it if you don't need it now.

I have had trouble all the way with expressing until now finally. I express to give her a midnight bottle feed. I have found that I can only get about 2 oz a time so I express twice a day to give her a 4 oz bottle(she is 14 weeks but really 10 wks as born early). I express after my first morning feed when my breasts are fullest and then at about 11pm to kind of replace that bottle feed...it seems to work out well and she sleeps until 7 am.

Try not to express one hour and a half before your LO's next feed to ensure you don't take any milk away from her next feed.

I always warm is up in a jug of warm water for a few minutes.

I wish I could express while feeding on one side. Just can't get the right postions. Most respect for thos who can :-)

Good luck x

Hi,

I have found that the morning is the best time to express after the first feed of the day. This seems to be when most women feel at their "fullest". You can express any time but I find that I can express much faster in the morning - some mornings I can express 40z in 5 minutes. This would take me well over an hour at night.

I started expressing at 6 weeks and found that my DD would take no more than 4oz but this quickly increased and she managed 8oz at 8 weeks. If you are planning on expressing so that someone else can look afetr your DC then my advice would be to stock plenty in the fridge - just in case. Better to have too much than too little. Have a look at this for info, I found it useful.... www.breastfeedingnetwork.org.uk/pdfs/BFNExpressing&Storing.pdf

You can warm the milk by putting it in warm water or by using a bottle warmer. Or you can take it out of the fridge for a little while to take the chill out of it just before feeding.