Anybody planning on expressing straight from birth or have experience of this?

[cocopop123]

Hi all,

When dc arrives, I'm hoping to be able to express immediately from birth... I know it's not everyone's choice, but I'd like to be able to keep an eye on how much they're taking and also involve dh and family with feeding.

Just wondering if anybody else is planning to do the same, or if anybody has any useful advice from previously doing this?

Thanks!

My friend did this because she was incredibly anxious about her baby getting enough. I have never met such an exhausted new mother.

Please think again, OP- if you don't have a medical reason for doing this,please don't do it.

I did it from birth until DD was 6 months old.

At first it was colostrum, just a few drops into a dish and then into syringes. (DD was in NICU so had feeding tube)

It wasn't easy, however I managed fine and would do so again if I ever had another baby.

I manually expressed on top of bfeeding for my DS as he had jaundice and wanted to avoid topping up with formula..Although didn't avoid completely. It was exhausting things got so much easier when I could just b feed. Once milk is established it is far easier to express and then involve others.

Unless there is a medical need or baby can't b feed can I suggest you start breastfeeding and see how it goes.

It's hard work but it can work for you if you are organised enough and your supply is good.

I did because DC was prem and in NICU, started by hand and then went onto the hospital pumps.

Def look into hiring one of those, I hand expresses for 6 weeks with a prem baby and no partner so it can be done but I was a skinny shadow of myself when I finally gave in to formula...

I mainly expressed in the early weeks for both dcs due to nipple pain. It's much easier to feed directly if you can.

You can't bottle feed or use a pump with colostrum so you need to hand express and finger feed, cup feed or use a syringe until your milk comes in.

To establish & maintain your milk supply you need to ideally express 8 times a day including at least once at night. Ideally you will express at least every 3 hours day and night.

If you have a very responsive supply then you have to be careful not to express too much as you can get oversupply, blocked ducts and mastitis.

I found that it didn't in the least help in terms of sharing the feeds as if I wasn't feeding then I was expressing so I couldn't catch up on sleep as such.

To be absolutely honest with you, if I hadn't known that I was going to eventually return to direct bf then I'd have swapped to formula. Expressing is the worst of both worlds.

I used a hospital electric pump for a week or so after ds' s birth. I was in intensive care fighting for my life for the first few days, so he missed out on my colostrum.

I had to pump (and dump, due to massive amounts of drugs in my system) every 3 hours. I continued to mix feed when I got home after two weeks, but only for a few days as was exhausted and have a 3yo to look after, too. So switched to full time formula feeding.

eightyyearsonhere how bloody rude to imply you cannot bond over bottles. And that only bottle feeders are guilty of multi-tasking whilst feeding their babie . I've seen plenty of Mums bf-ing and not making eye-contact with their baby, and plenty of ff-ing Mums holding their babies close, looking into their eyes and kissing their heads (myself included).

I don't agree that bottle feeding can't be as bonding, but I am strongly of the view that the necessity of 'giving a bottle to bond' is an utter myth. An involved father is just as bonded with his baby, whether or not he is involved in transferring milk.

I think I must have odd shaped boobs as I've never been able to gaze into my baby's eyes when he's bf feeding. Far easier to do when bottle feeding.

(I also often mn when bf )

I expressed from birth as DS wouldn't latch. It turned out to be a tongue tie but wasn't picked up on until he was 5 weeks old, by the time it was snipped he refused the breast. I continued to express for 4 months, I wanted to keep going until 6 months but my milk supply dropped.

I wouldn't recommend it if you don't have to do it, based on my own experiences. It's exhausting. You'll need to express roughly every 3 hours initially. Then you have to feed the baby, by the time you've expressed and then bottle fed you'll not have long before you need to express again.. You'll have to be awake to express at night while your baby sleeps, so you'll end up more sleep deprived than if you were bf. You'll need to express at night even if your baby is sleeping through. You'll have to factor in expressing when you go out. You'll end up having to juggle a breast pump and a screaming baby. I expressed 6 times a day and still had to give 1-2 bottles of formula because no pump is as efficient at getting milk as a baby is and I couldn't pump enough. Honestly, I'm glad I did it, it felt so important to me to bf and since I couldn't, expressed milk felt like the next best thing, but I can't say I liked doing it.

It's rubbish that you can't bond over bottle feeding, I gaze into ds's eyes as he has his bottles and he holds my hand. Feeding a baby is a lovely, bonding experience no matter how you do it.

Agree with everyone else that exclusive expressing is probably the hardest way to feed a baby and only really done where there is no option to BF.

In terms of the practicalities:

• You will need an excellent pump. Ideally hire a hospital one.

• You will need to hand express for the first few days, to harvest the colostrum until your milk comes in. You need to catch the tiny little dribbles of colostrum in a syringe and feed to baby with the syringe. This is difficult and a lot of colostrum is wasted this way.

MrsD has anyone shown you how to hand express? Hot baths and showers are good to get things flowing.

• You will need to express during the night, much like night feeds, in order to establish and maintain supply. This may be necessary for several months. (So just because family and DH can feed the baby, doesn't mean you'd get a full night's sleep.)

• It helps a lot if you can find (or alter) a bra so that the bra holds onto the suction cups of the pump, so you can have your hands free.

• You are likely to be able to pump most in the morning and least in the evening.

• Look up the rules about freezing and defrosting breastmilk, and how long expressed BM stays good for. (Kellymom has info I believe). Never defrost it in the microwave.

I did it for the first 3 weeks of DS1s life because he was in SCBU and needed tube feeding. I was bloody glad when I could finally just bf. All that expressing, sterilizing was so much hard work.
As others have said there are plenty ways DH can bond other than feeding. Or maybe just express one bottle a day once supply is estsblished if he really wants to do it.

My MIL was always obsessed with how much milk he was getting (and was it enough), until I finally made her understand that if he's coming off the breast satisfied and happy/asleep, weight gain was good, and there were lots of wet and dirty nappies then he was getting plenty. Knowing many ounces that was wouldn't change that.

Similar story to madratlady in that we had a late diagnosed tongue tie and I have very flat nipples and the combination of both factors meant that he just couldn't latch so I pumped and topped up with formula. I couldn't pump enough. At 6 weeks we finally had his tt snipped but by that point we still atruggled and made it to 12 weeks with a mixture of pumped milk and formula. I kept attempting to breastfeed and then pumped and then also fed the pumped milk and topped up with formula. It was exhausting and the worst of both worlds. I wasn't on top of night expressing enough and my supply continued to diminish.

I'm 39 weeks now and really hoping that ds2 doesn't have tongue tie so I can breastfeed properly. But I have bought a super duper pump as well so I'm more prepared this time if I have issues so I can pump as soon as my milk comes in religiously. I'm prepared to do it for at least 3 months if I have to but I'm really hoping I can return the pump for a refund and all goes smoothly. It will make everyone's lives in my family so much easier if me and ds2 can crack it this time! I wouldn't recommend it as a lifestyle choice so to speak but it is possible if you have no other option and a strong will!

Also, even if you get DH or family to feed ebm you still don't get a break as such because you will be needing to express to maintain supply. In addition to that a baby is much better at taking more milk directly that you can express (pumps don't work as well as babies!). I am now bfing 5 mo DS2 and find I can only express a decent amount if I'm feeding him one side and expressing at the same time.

Hey OP,

I did this twice. First baby refused to latch (did after 4 weeks so went to bf) so expressed exclusively.
Second vaby was very premature so I expressed for nearly 6 months. I was lucky that in both cases I was producing syringe fulls of colostrum even before birth!

I didnt get on with the hospital pump, but did use 2 medela swing pumps. It is time consuming. And you will need to do it round the clock for the first few months, which means even more of a broken sleep than normal as you will need to feed baby AND then pump iyswim.

For some reason, expressing exclusively seems to be more popular in the states if that helps with your search for advice.

I'd start expressing before delivery (hand expressing) but speak to your midwife about when this is safe to do (in terms of number of weeks pregnant).
Good luck

Partyconfused I can only assume this could be because of the very short period of maternity leave paid in the USA?

I had to express exclusively for my baby from when he was 11 days old due to a medical condition he had. It wasn't easy at all but it's definitely doable! I think the main problem is keeping supply up. A pump cannot drain breasts as effectively as a baby can and this often lowers your supply. To combat this I used a double pump up to 10 times a day and took herbal supplements to help to milk along. I was able to keep going for 6 months which I considered a great achievement as it was quite difficult.

I would try and ignore people who talk about the special bond that is created solely through breast feeding - I used to hear that a lot. There are lots of ways that you can bond with a baby. Hope it goes well.

Well I multi tasked like crazy while breast feeding- I once did a supermarket shop including putting my stuff on the trolley and packing it while breast feeding!
So the bonding stuff is bullshit- feeding a baby in whatever way is a lovely way to bond. But so are lots of other things- bathing, singing, cuddling.........

to see a typical Mumsnet anti MIL dig in there....

I did this with DS. He would not breastfeed and had a milk protein allergy and refused the special formula. It was hard work and time consuming. I was constantly stressed about my supply and the amount of stocks we had. I was lucky in that I didn't have to express in the night but would produce about 1 litre of milk in the morning! I felt like a dairy cow.

It did get easier as DS's milk requirements waned. I kept going until he was 22 months (I found it too painful to express while PG). I'm now BFing DD and I find my nipples are less sensitive, I can barely feel a let down. I wonder whether the pumping might have done some damage.

See if you can rent a hospital grade double pump to begin with. You can rent them from pharmacies here (I live in Brussels). Double pumps are £200+ I wouldn't want to buy that kind of kit without knowing I needed it.

Kellymom has some good advice. If you google "exclusively pumping" there are lots of sites that have information. Also, make sure you get correctly fitting flanges (the bits that go over your nipple). If they don't fit correctly you can get blisters :(

www.expressyourselfmums.co.uk/ are absolutely brilliant. You can hire pumps from them too.

Wow, that's impressive Hakluyt!

I saw that snidey MIL dig too Mine is fantastic, hate the stereotyping on here sometimes.

Ok. I was not making a snydey anti MIL dig. She generally is a lovely supportive woman, with the exception of the issue if bf which she neither understands or particularly agreed with me doing. I got a lot of pressure to quit from day 1, often citing the reason that you couldn't see how much milk the baby is getting. My point here (and when I discussed it with her) was that it doesn't matter that you don't know how many oz the baby has as long as the baby is thriving.
I received a lot of pressure with this from her and other family members at a time I was struggling to cope with a newborn and the loss of his twin brother. I only mentioned this because the comments she made have stuck with me and I was trying to explain why it didn't matter. I wish I hadn't now. Don't seek to presume I'm a MIL hater from one short paragraph. Like anyone you love in a family they have the capacity to piss you off at times.

Sorry for the thread derailment OP. I hope whatever path you go down works for you.

Gah, ipswichwitch I hadn't even read your post, I was referring to a pp on page 1 (eightyearsonhere) re: MIL remark.

I'm so sorry if I upset you, just crossed wires. So very sorry to hear of the loss of your baby boy too

Touched by the responses to my post. Thank you, I hope op doesn't think I hijacked her thread! I've had a lesson in manual expressing by the bf coordinator at my hospital and my cleft team have provided an electronic double pump. The reason for expressing earlier was to make the first few days a bit easier but I am concerned how difficult it will be long term. I had always planned to bf so the news it would be unlikely was upsetting. We will use ff if we have to but I'm determined to at least give ebf a good go x

Echo what others have said. I had to do this as my daughter born at 32/40 before the suck reflex had kicked in. It was a necessity but the main issues are that all of the pumping/feeding/sterilising means you don't actually have that much time to spend with your newborn. That's now a big regret of mine, she spent most of her first few weeks at home sitting in a vibrating chair while I ran round like an idiot washing up bits of plastic. The second issue is that a pump doesn't stimulate your milk supply in the same way as a suckling baby. Getting up in the night to pump is a killer. I also became very hung up on exactly how much milk she was getting and really struggled with the 'leap of faith' when we eventually moved on to exclusive breastfeeding. Unless it's a medical necessity, it's not something I would recommend. It's much harder work than just sticking your hungry baby on your boob