i'm so stupid

[starlover]

just started expressing some milk for DS. Then realised I hadn't attached the bottle to the pump

So that's why there was no suction!

How is the feeding goin now?

it's improving! took mears' advice to express every 2 hours and it seems to be increasing!
It's like my milk is "coming in" all over again!
managed 110ml this morning, and then 60, 40, 30 and just now another 40
so it's definitely improving.
Am getting tons in the morning as DS has just started to sleep through!!! HOORAY!

ROFL!

Wow that's great! It should keep building up now then. BTW I was told that if you can express at night it is good for your supply as the hormones are stronger at night to make more.

ooh, maybe I should wake myself in night and do some then. Damn, just when I was getting used to a good night's sleep!

I've forgotten what that's like! It might be worth wakign tho, if you want to get it going stronger. I was told I should express at night until 3 mnths and then the supply would be strong enough not to need it.

I got up every nighht for a year to express and used to get at least 12 oz each time. I don;t think I would do that again, but I didn't have anyone to tell me it wasn't necessary

ahh ok then i'll set the alarm!
Hopefully he will start to b/f again soon and then i won't have any of these problems!!!

starlover...that is well impressive! Isn't that after about a week not b/feeding too?
I had trouble getting that much even 4 months into exclusive breastfeeding.
CQ...bloody hell. What did you do? Set up a home dairy?

around 2 weeks now moondog!
I am SOOOOOOO sick of washing the pump and sterilising it LOL
He has a quick suck from me now and then, but gets cross because there isn't enough for a whole feed!

Major major major respect to you starlover!!!!
XXXX

starlover, I don't think you don't really need to wash and sterilise it every time.
I keep mine in the fridge and do it every other time, but I did read somewhere that you only need to sterilize it once a day. I can't find the site now.

thank you moondog! i'm quite stubborn, and when i want to do something i do it! So, like it or not he WILL b/f again

sterilising only once a day?????? where is the link???????

Found it! here

oooh excellent! Thanks kelly!

Ur welcome. I know what it's like having to do this. It gets easier tho. I can get 260 mls out in 15 mins now.
One other tip, do you have collection things to catch the drips ont he other side while you are expressing? I get a good 15-30mls in dris while expressing by using them.

yeah, the breast shells?
Got some Avent ones reduced in sainsburys from £9.99 to 99p!!!!

Yeah that's them. I couldn't think what they were called. Bloody good bargain that, I paid full price in Boots!

i know, i almost got all 5 sets they had and flogged them on here!

I get confused with sterilizing advice - how come we have to sterilize bottles etc yet washing pump bits in hot soapy water is OK? Do we over-sterilise things do you reckon - after all boobs aren't that sterile are they?
I bought a couple of spare flange bits for my pump so that I wasn't continuously sterilizing but maybe I didn't need to. Oh well.
Am managing to express 6-8oz four times a day and give one formula feed at night. Good luck getting Linus back onto the boob, SL.

There is somethign in breast milk which kills bacteria, I don't know if that is why.I don't really understand it all neither!

Ah, that's good to know esp as i've been a lot less rigorous at throwing unfinished feeds as i would with formula as i hate to waste my precious milk!!

nik i was thinking the same! he is allowed to put an un-sterile boob in his mouth but nothing else?
Linus has now taken to grabbing anything within reach and shoving it in his gob anyway, so sterilising is a bit pointless I guess!

I'm in the US, where things are different, but some people do sterilize here. However, the hospital told me not to bother sterilizing anything -- not the pump, not the bottles, not teats, not anything at all. Wash it all in hot soapy water. And yes, you can put the horns in the refrigerator and not do anything else at all as long as you count all the milk as being as old as the first pump (so if you pump at 1 and then at 3, you count the 3 pm milk as being 2 hours old already). It's a bit of a chilly experience though...