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Parenting

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Original poster

expressing milk

21 replies

greenzebra · 03/04/2011 16:04

Hi my little one is due in may, Im going to breast feed, but my husband wants to feed the baby also. So we have bought a expressor.

Was wondering if any other mums on here have been in the same situation, is it easy to express, does it work well or do you just end up breast feeding?

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DrSeuss · 03/04/2011 16:17

Works fine. Means you can get a full night's sleep now and then! IMHO, that will help you to keep up the BF as you will get a night off now and then!

Octaviapink · 03/04/2011 16:20

It may well seem like very hard work at times, but worth doing. Not just for nights, but if you want to go out on a Saturday morning shopping or something for example! If you don't get much at first don't worry - that's because baby isn't taking much so you haven't got much. It gets more plentiful!

misdee · 03/04/2011 16:21

personally i would wait until baby is 6-8 weeks old and your supply has swettled before expressing for feeds.

i express 80% of my babies feeds as he has latch issues (tongue tie and lip tie). its hard work.

but it is also handy as dh has been looking after ds this week as i've had to be doing other stuff.

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Original poster

greenzebra · 03/04/2011 16:26

interresting, im glad these are all positive comments. I was at my NCT antenatal classes and the teacher said that expressing milk was very hard and she made out it was hardly worth it.

Saying that if dads wanted to bond with the baby then take it for a walk instead.

Did you guys use a electric or hand pump?

OP posts:

misdee · 03/04/2011 16:27

i use a manual atm.

thinkingkindly · 03/04/2011 17:21

I found expressing almost impossible; friends found it really really easy. It depends on your milk flow. Some friends hand-expressed (using no pump). I was astonished because it used to take me an hour to get half a bottle with a manual pump! I would probably have done better on an electric pump.

I wouldn't express because your dp wants to feed the baby, tbh. There are plenty of other things he can do to look after the baby - and you. You will find that the baby feeds very erratically (and very very frequently) in the first weeks. They quite often cluster-feed in the evening (you literally sit on the sofa feeding on and off for about four hours!). Going with the flow for the first six weeks is what gets your milk supply established.

lindy100 · 03/04/2011 17:52

I used a handpump -wore one out, so got another!

For about two-three months I expressed evry day so DH could feed DD. He liked it a lot, I didn't. Not because it wasn'te asy - I always got a good 7ozs out - but because I would invariably fall asleep in the evening, then DH would wake me up to express at about 10pm, then go to bed, leavin gme downstairs knackered.

Sounds silly, expressing so late, but I didn't know when else to do it.

It is nice, did enable me to do a few days of work, and DH and DD beenfited a bit, I think. But I'm not going to do it so regularly this time round - only try to keep two or three feeds in the freezer. DH can do the bathing instead this time!

polar515 · 03/04/2011 19:58

I have just stopped breastfeeding after 6 months. I did express at first, but it took me so long to get anything out and spending extra time expressing seemed to defeat the point of trying to get a break. I wasn't anti formula, so when I did want a break, we gave an occasional formula feed. As I was still breastfeeding 90% of the time, I didn't see this was compromising this really, but obviously depends how you feel about exclusive bfeeding. Would def get an electric one though Good luck

notanumber · 03/04/2011 20:01

Yes. Do it. Absolutely 100% do it. I expressed daily for nearly a year with both of mine. Once you get into the habit of it it really is no trouble.

My tips are:

If you haven't already done so, get an electric pump. Don't piss about with the manuals, just stump up the cash and get a Medela Swing. They are minimal effort and very efficient. Easy to clean and sterilise.
Get into a routine of expressing. My DH used to leave the sterilised equipment wrapped in a clean muslin on the pillow next to me when he left for work so that I could do it in bed every day before getting up. My friend always expressed during Eastenders.
Expressing is a bit of a fag so get your DH to share the burden. The lactation is your job, the cleaning/sterilising/plugging it in/reminding you that you need to do it is his job.
Little and often is better, so don't stress it if you're not getting gallons. If you get 50mls that's fine, pop it in a milk bag and freeze it. If you're doing it regularly there will be lots in the freezer so it'll be no problem for your DH to grab three or four little bags and defrost them in one go to give the baby a feed. Plus it's galling when you've filled a bag with a bumper amount and the baby only drinks half a millilitre of it.
It's a supply and demand thing. Don't panic too much about expressing too near a feed time etc. You're not stealing milk from the baby by expressing. If you express daily then that becomes part of the daily quota your body will make. Clever, innit?

It is so worth doing. It's good for your mental health to know that if you need to get away to fall into an exhausted sleep or go out and get plastered with your friends while DH takes his bloody turn run an errand etc, you can. Some days I used to open the freezer and stare at the pouches of frozen milk and mutter, "that is my passport to freedom" .

monkoray · 03/04/2011 21:01

interestingly i would say the opposite to notanumber's first point. i'd say get a manual pump. I had both and the electric one was so slow and you still have to hold the thing on so its not like you can get on and do something else while its doing its thing. I found with the manual pump i could get work it much faster and get a ful bottle pretty quick. I also found my boob responded instantly to the manual one where as the elctric somtimes didn't stimulate milk to flow. And the sea; was easier in the manual than the electric. BUt i had a tommee tippee electric so maybe notanumber's brand was better.
If you do wait a few weeks for your milk to be fully established before starting to express you might want to consider getting your DC and DH started immediately with bottle feeds of formula. Despite my DS being bottle fed for the first 3 days of his life (due to low blood sugar and needing to know exactly how much he was drinking) we waited until DS was 2 months before introducing expressed milk in the evenings. DS really struggled at first to get used to the bottle feeds and it was quite stressful for DH. I think if we'd started to use both bottle and boob from the beginning it wouldn't have been so difficult. We did persevere though and it was the right decision. It was so nice for DH to be able to do a feed and so nice for me to have a break
Another thing to bare in mind is once you start expressing you basically increase the amount of milk your body will produce, so if you then miss an express, its a bit like missing a feed and your boobs will fill with milk and be incredibly uncomfortable. So if you start expressing you'll need to either keep it up, or wean yourself off it slowly.
If you do freeze your milk, use it quickly. We tried freezing it and it didn;t last the week. Also - and this is going to sound gross - taste your milk or get your DH to taste it so that when you do have defrosted milk you can taste it to see if its gone off. Breast milk tastes really odd and if you don't know what it should taste like you won't be able to tell if its on the turn.

MoonFaceMamaaaaargh · 03/04/2011 21:09

i expresse a lot to donate rather than for ds...there are lots of ways for dads and lo's to bond that don't involve making even more work than is inherent in having a baby!

Just wanted to add a few bits of info, you may have them but better twice than not at all.

It's recommended that you avoid bottles at all for the first 6wks as it can cause nipple confusion, making it hard for the baby to latch on to the breast.

As mentioned above in the first couple of months you are establishing your supply and so should avoid missing feeds...if you are away from the baby try and express when theyheight.normally feed! this is particularly important at night when the hormone responsable for milk production is at it's height.

Lastly what you can express is no indication of what the baby can extract.

Good luck

DrSeuss · 03/04/2011 21:11

Moonface, tell me more about donation. How do I sign up, please?

notanumber · 03/04/2011 21:18

DrSeuss - UK Association for Milk Banking is your first port of call. They're based at Queen Charlotte's in West London, but will link you with your nearest hospital which has a milk bank.

They're fab - so helpful. They used to send a man with a van to come and collect mine every two weeks!

MoonFaceMamaaaaargh · 03/04/2011 21:18

x post. Re what monkoray says about the taste of bm, this can change for some when the milk has been frozen, it's not off, scalding it sorts that out if yours is affected. If you ask on the bf/ff board people will have more info.

Some babies do have trouble taking a bottle, but as said some reject the boob, i guess you just have to figure out which would be the worst out come for you?

MoonFaceMamaaaaargh · 03/04/2011 21:22

Thanks notanumber Dr seuse if your local bank aren't help full (i've heard tales) do "shop around" i donated to bank that wasn't my closest. They literally traveled across the country to collect milk for poorly premies.

notanumber · 03/04/2011 21:30

Oh, one thing though - they only accept new donors who have babies under six months. They will take your milk up until your baby is one though, if you fit this criteria.

Just to save you the effort of enquiring if your baby is older than six months

misdee · 03/04/2011 22:01

and if your baby is older than 6months and you want to find a home for ebm, then try humanmilk 4 human babies on facebook. they link up donors and recipetants on there, based on trust etc.

PenguinArmy · 04/04/2011 05:34

expressing is fine, if it is for you and what you want. To often people end up doing it because they feel they should let DH do it and the pressure of trying to fit in an express once a day can be a PITA.

kirrinIsland · 04/04/2011 05:49

I'd recommend it. It took me a while to get going with it but now it's fine. I have an Avent manual pump and it's very straight forward to use. I've never felt the need for an electric one. I just keep a stash in the fridge and then I know I'm free to pop out for a bit or just have a lie in occasionally :) definitely store it in small amounts though, so you don't end up wasting it.

ninedragons · 04/04/2011 05:58

I am using the Avent pump with DD2 and love it - if you buy the electric one, it has the kit to convert it to a manual one for when you're out and about.

I prefer it to the Medela Swing I had with DD1, or the Medela Symphony I rented for the first three weeks this time around (plus you have to buy a kit with the Symphony, which was 67 fucking quid for two plastic bottles, two funnels and two lengths of rubber tube). I find the Avent gets a lot more out, but suspect that it's a personal matter of boob shape.

willali · 04/04/2011 10:29

I expressed for both my children for different reasons, found it really easy with an electric pump (I had MASSES of milk!!) and felt that I was giving them the best food in a way I felt more comfortable with. The first had jaundice so I was encouraged to express in the hospital to ensure enough milk was going through to flush out the bilirubin. I had not liked the day or so of BF prior to that (felt it was a weird sensation) so this suitedme fine and we carried on with MW blessing for many weeks thereafter at home. Second was very prem so HAD to express for tube feeding. Again carried on after we got home and she was so tiny that we had several weeks supply in the freezer from the hospital plus fresh supplies! I think it is a geat way to get others involved in feeding, helps sleep and allows you to get out and about. Go for it!

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