Expressing

[Inwaiting]

Hi all

I'm not sure if there's a breast feeding page?

Anyway my little one is 10 days old and due to one breast being out of action because of cracks I have been giving her a bottle of expressed milk during her night feed.

Is there any guidance on how much this should be? The breast feeding councellor phoned this morning and was very adamant I shouldn't be giving her bottles so soon. But how I'm supposed to keep her going on one breast I've no idea.

When I asked the quantity she said that there is no advice?! And be careful because you can over feed?

I want to keep going breastfeeding and expressing so any advice would be great.

There is an infant feeding page with some really useful and experienced posters. If you look in the "feed the world" topic it's there.

Are you expressing from the sore boob? Why is it cracked? Latch ok??

I had sore nips for about 10 days then the pain eased, it was toe curling!

I used lots of the Lanisoh and also nipple shields but just at night as that's when I felt I couldn't cope with the pain.

Is there a breastfeeding support group near you?? xx

I think the advice is to avoid teats etc for a few weeks in case of nipple confusion. And also the baby can get used to a lovely easy fast flow from teat then refuse to 'work' at the breast being lazy....

Lots to think about....

Hi OP,

I did then same when my DD was about a week old, I had a really bad cracked nip and mastitis (). I basically just expressed as much as I could, which is very little in the early days, and always offered the boob after she had finished the bottle in case she was still hungry.

Congratulations!

If u had twins each baby would just feed off one breast. Your breast will naturally increase its supply to keep up with the needs of the child. That being said, you'll want to keep the other one going by expressing or feeding as well. I hurt for weeks, had bloody worn blistered nipples but they got better when baby and I fixed her latch. Good luck!

Lansinih cream applied before AND after every feed will work wonders on cracking. Apply it religiously. It doesn't need washed off before baby feeds as its pure lanolin so no chemicals etc. And let the sore nipple get plenty of air. And I introduced bottles at 2 weeks with both my boys and they feed for a year each. Just get baby back on the site boob as soon as possible as expressing doesn't stimulate your supply as well as a feeding baby.

And remember breast milk is more nutritionally rich than formula so a formula fed baby might need 4 oz but a breastfed baby might be happy witn 2-3oz of breastmilk. I wouldn't get too stressed about over feeding.

I had problems feeding DD initially and also expressed. I was told 20ml per kg of body weight. Also Google paced feeding, it helps them not to guzzle it and think they're still hungry when they're not. I was also advised to give a dummy after the bottle as otherwise they can continue giving hunger signals when what they really want to do is comfort suck like they would at the breast. we gave a bottle at 2 weeks and apart from initial problems with the latch we managed to get past those (and were due to tongue tie not the bottle!) and her latch is now fine. If anything I think more of a pain is a baby who refuses a bottle because it was introduced too late! HTH

Also I stressed about over feeding and wish I hadn't (subsequently stressed and slow weight gain! ;) ). Now she is 22 weeks and I feed her as much as she will guzzle from an expressed bottle at night to help her sleep for longer ;)

Thanks everyone I really appreciate all the advice. I'm managing to express enough for two bottles a day (60ml per bottle) and she has been taking it fine and coming straight back to me in the morning.

Thanks so much xx

We fed DS bottles of expressed milk from around two weeks, as I was having a bit of pain and quite fancied one feed a day off! We never had a problem with nipple confusion (he's 8mo and still EBF alongside solids). Not to say it doesn't happen, but I think that sometimes the threat may be exaggerated so please don't beat yourself up about it. I actually know several people from baby groups though who have the opposite problem and have babies who refuse bottles, so getting your baby used to a bottle might be a good idea - especially if they are still BF well. Congrats on the baby by the way and hope the sore nipples get better soon!