Expressing milk

[Stogan]

Jyst wondering. My DD is 3 days old and feeding great on the breast my only issue is I'm producing enough milk to feed her 3 times over! I've decided to express to help with daddy bonding etc and it was always the plan to do this ASAP but how much should should I be expressing after each feed? I still want to feed her myself when I can do don't want my supply to go dry, is that poss?
Can anyone advise, help at all?
Thanks

Just express what you can at first, as long as its stored properly it'll get used. Then after a few days of daddy bonding feeding you'll get used to how much baby is taking per feed and adjust accordingly..

Your milk supply is still sorting itself out according to her needs so i wouldn't start expressing for a couple of weeks yet. I know it seems like you have a lot, but newborns are hungry and need feeding often because of their little tummies which fill and empty quickly, especially when they have a growth spurt, so you need to make sure you have plenty for her even if you leak a bit in the meantime! Also, at that age giving her a bottle of expressed will also tamper with your milk supply (which increases and decreases according to her need) so you would need to express at the same time your DD is having her bottle with daddy anyway so your body isn't tricked into producing less milk because it thinks she doesn't need it.

When you do begin expressing you could try feeding her from one boob and express from the other either at the same time or just after you've fed her. This means she will get the different types of milk she needs - the fore milk which quenches their thirst and the hind milk which helps them gain weight.

Good luck and well done for BFing. And congratulations!

Thank you for your priceless advice as always ladies, much appreciated x

Congratulations on your new baby!

I agree it's a bit early for expressing as you're still getting your supply established, and it's generally not advised to introduce a bottle for 4-6 weeks in case it interferes with the bfing. That said, do what works for you.

I've always expressed once a day when dd goes to bed then frozen the milk, but I don't feed expressed milk every day. I'd work our how much you need to express, and whether you want to build up a supply in the freezer, then find the times it's most convenient to express. I've been told you produce more milk in the mornings, so it's easier to express then, but this never fitted in for us, as dd didn't like to be put down while I expressed. Whatever you do, your body will adapt and produce milk for it.

I never produce as much milk when expressing as I do when feeding dd, so I need to express a couple of times to leave enough milk for a feed. And, while I'm normaly fine, there's the odd day when I don't produce much at all. So it's always worth having a supply in the freezer.

Thank u so much for your advice every bit of hands on advice is a massive help for me. My boobs are like missiles at the moment producing milk for the whole maternity ward lol !!! x

I remember my boobs being like footballs in the early days and squirting milk everywhere at the drop of a hat (why did no one warn me about the realities of bfing?).

It gets much easier after a few weeks.

MWs advise not to express for 4-6 weeks as interferes with breastfeeding. However, I expressed after a week and had absolutely no problem with supply or my DD getting confused between bottle and boob. You have to do what is right for you. It used to make my blood boil at the weigh-in clinic when I would see poor mothers with newborns sobbing to the HV/MW about wanting to express after 4 weeks because of pain/soreness and be told off quite harshly that it shouldn't be done in any circumstances.

I used to feed from one boob and express from the other as "matana" suggested and it worked a treat. DH was then able to get invovled in the feeding and I could get some much needed rest instead of having to get up for every feed. I breastfed DD for 6 months.