I feel silly - breast feeding question..

[Emmiedarling]

I feel like I should know all of this, but I really have no clue! Hope you guys could shed some light...

I am planning to breast feed. I am also planning to express milk so that other people can feed baba and a little bit later, so I can go back to work.

Now, what on earth do you do with it when you've pumped it out?! I presume I will need to buy some storage bags. Then I presume I put it in the fridge.

After that, I have no clue. Put it a bottle - yup - guess that..but then, Do I warm it up? How warm is warm? Is there some special machine?!

What if i'm out and about and I've brought along some expressed milk I want to use? Is there a portable warmer or?

I feel useless!

There is a breast and bottle feeding forum on here that might get more response.

I never expressed to can't help with your first few questions sorry. You can however have a flask for trips out to warm bottle up. Think it is just above room temp, so when you check it on the inside of your wrist you should just feel the it, not hot or cold. Not 100% sure it may have changed things change alot.

Hi I breast fed. When you express I used small storage bottles, which I sterilised first, you then store it in the fridge. To warm it up I put the bottle in a pan of warm water just to take the chill off really. When out and about most places will warm it for you and your baby might not mind cold bottles anyway. Have to say I found using expressed bottle when out a real pain keeping it cold etc. it was much easier just to whip out boob. if you are planning on expressing a lot I would advice getting a breast pump which I personally found much more efficient than expressing by hand. I would also get a variety of tests and bottles as what one baby likes the next hates iyswim. I ended up hardly ever using the bottles as I was Always with ds but it's good to be prepared. Expressing regularly is useful for establishing supply as well. Hth

Teets and bottles

Yep, you can express and put it in either a bottle in the fridge or transfer to storage bags and put them in the freezer.

To warm it back up, most people go with popping the bottle/bag into a bowl of warm water and allowing it to heat gradually.

When you're out and about, many places will have a bottle warmer you can use (cafes and the like). Beware places like Starbucks though, who will insist on doing it for you - this means you have to hover at the counter like a hawk and ask them to keep checking the bottle temperature, as staff get busy and sometimes forget the bottle until it's boiling!!

I would repost this in the forum mentioned above though, you'll get more help there :)

Check out kellymom.com/bf/pumpingmoms/milkstorage/milkstorage/

I expressed straight into freezer bags (not sure about other pumps but the Medela Swing you can do this), then popped the bags straight into the freezer. They keep for ages then (can't remember exactly - check the kellymom link above its awesome for bf info). You can refrigerate too if you like.

If you're planning on expressing a lot then I'd get yourself an electric pump, for sure. I found the manual ones so frustrating.

I bought a cool bag thingy so that when we were out the bags would defrost and then would just pop the bag into a cup of hot water to fully defrost/ warm. It doesn't need to be very warm, imagine it to be body temperature which is what baby will be used to. And bottles/teats are easiest if your baby is happy with them and you have no concerns about nipple confusion - we did and hence we used a feeding cup when she was small, a free flow beaker from about 4 months.

Having said all that, it was such a pain in the arse to feed expressed milk out and about I gave up before long and breastfed her directly. One of the absolute pro's of breast feeding is the fact I could pack lightly when I went out The expressed milk was for when I wasn't there. I accumulated over 100oz and ended up donating it!

I expressed with an avent manual pump straight into bottles if using them that day, or avent storage pots. You've just reminded me though that I have some in the freezer! My youngest is 16m so I should have chucked them out months ago!

I mostly breastfed but did do some expressing for when I wasn't going to be around. You can buy little bags that are sterile and that you can freeze or put in the fridge. I think I got mine in babies-r-us.

I had also invested in a steam sterilizer with bottles/teats and a manual breast pump. Didn't have too much trouble with that but you need to make sure that you 'even' out feeds/expressing, unless, like me you find jets of milk spurting out when you pump from one side... I had to hold a cup over the spurty boob! :)
Like Flubba I expressed into a bottle if using that day, and into storage pots if for next day.
From freezer/fridge, I just stood the storage bag/bottle in a bowl of hot water and kept checking the temperature.

In addition to the other posts... Boots do sterile freezer bags for storing breastmilk. Remember good hygiene practice though - freeze it straight away and defrost it in the fridge. :)

I formula fed but used cartons and straight out of the fridge. Did not heat at all. If you can get your baby to do that it saves so much faff!

omg i have been thinking this as well, spesh the take it out of the fridge and then what Q! OR even the take it out of the freezer and then what!

i will now read everyones responses, thanks for posting this!

Thank you so much - youve all been so helpful x