Expressing Breastmilk by hand?

pinkclouds

skintchick wrote: »

That's great, I'm glad that worked for you. But I think it's important to make mums aware that expressing early can affect your supply and that we (BfN) do not recommend it. Obviously, in your situation you had to weigh up the risks of that versus the need to feed two, and decided to express, and that worked for you, which is great, but overall, for most mums, expressing before 6 weeks is likely to have an effect on longer-term supply.

Perhaps that *is* true for the majority but this type of advice (and the advice to avoid bottles/teats for the first... whatever length of time it is, I've since forgotten... because of "nipple confusion") made me *very* anxious about expressing and bottle feeding in the first few weeks. Personally, I found it to be a needless fear that I could have done without. Expressing the occasional feed when I had sore nipples in the early days was wonderful and allowed me to go on as a (very) long-term breastfeeder. (We're talking toddlerhood, here.)

pinkclouds

donteatthat wrote: »

for me a lot of the advice I was given (from outside the hospital) and had read about not using pacifiers, nipple confusion etc scared me unnecessarily as in reality (for me and I suspect many others) it was not an issue and is overly alarmist.

Just spotted this bit. Totally agree with the above.

MadDogWoman_2

I agree with going with the flow and going to groups pre-birth, certainly helped once DD was here.

All babies are individuals, some will struggle with interchanging between dummies and bottles others won't.

My DD wasn't one that struggled, she actually needed a dummy as she wanted to comfort suck without the milk so was getting frustrated with the milk, introduced a dummy at 5 days old. She also expressed, I tried both manaul and electric pumps. Manual in the early days at home didn't do too bad. I switched to electric on my return to work as I needed speed.

I fed my DD until a pre-schooler too.

pigpen

skintchick wrote: »

That's great, I'm glad that worked for you. But I think it's important to make mums aware that expressing early can affect your supply and that we (BfN) do not recommend it. Obviously, in your situation you had to weigh up the risks of that versus the need to feed two, and decided to express, and that worked for you, which is great, but overall, for most mums, expressing before 6 weeks is likely to have an effect on longer-term supply.

Unless the baby is unable to nurse at birth for whatever reason then it is better to express by whatever means necessary to stimulate supply and get the best you can into the baby. I didnt find it had any effect on my supply later on and fed until they self weaned.. DD3 was nearly 3, DD4 was 2 so it isnt impossible.

tankgirl1

My DS was born prem, and couldn't suck - he didn't even have a bottle until he was about 3 or 4 weeks old - he was fed by a tube - I remember his first 'meal' was about 1ml bless him!

The scbu loaned me an electric pump, which meant he at least got his colostrum. However I found it really hard, had a rubbish flow and got hardly any milk. I was dried up by the time he came home at 6weeks

heretolearn_2

I never managed to express anything although breastfeeding was fine, although I didn't really persist with trying.

On the odd occasion we wanted to give him a bottle, we just gave him a formula one. He drank it ok. As it was only now and then it didn't interfere with breastfeeding.

Alwaysthebusybee

Thank you for all of your advice, I know someone who had to formula feed until her supply came through properly so I am not against that Anything that makes for a happy healthy baby that is well fed

I will give it my best shot and hope for the best - I will be signing up for the free breast pump (and any other freebies I can get).

I appreciate knowing your backgrounds as it has given me a wider idea of what to expect - Thank you!!

superbabe612

When I breastfed I used a breast shell on the side my baby wasn't feeding from. (It comes in two halves slotted together; one half looks like a shallow plastic bowl and the other half is the same thing with a hole cut out of the middle to place over your nipple.) It 'caught' the milk from the other side and I'd freeze it and store it for the babysitter to give to my baby.

I found I leaked so much during a feed that I didn't need to express using a manual/battery pump (which were very good, I used the Avent one).

Good luck!

marywooyeah

superbabe612 wrote: »

When I breastfed I used a breast shell on the side my baby wasn't feeding from. (It comes in two halves slotted together; one half looks like a shallow plastic bowl and the other half is the same thing with a hole cut out of the middle to place over your nipple.) It 'caught' the milk from the other side and I'd freeze it and store it for the babysitter to give to my baby.

that sounds like a good product, maybe OP could get one?
I breastfeed my son til he weaned off at around 2 and a half. with expressing I used to squeeze as if I was using a piping bag, and after a few weeks I could get out an 8oz bottle in around 10-15 mins, but at first it literally used to take all day to squeeze out a bottle! if you keep at it the milk flow gets quicker and comes out easier - it does spray everywhere though! congrats on the baby x

fawd1

if I were you I would beg steal or borrow an electric breast pump. I got mine from freecycle by placing a wanted ad there and it is currently doing the rounds with my friends as they all wanted it. There is simply no comparison, and I say this from only having used a manual pump the first time. Even with the manual pump, expressing would take an age and yield little results. The electric pump was fast and super efficient. Also, I would say ignore the advice about nipple confusion. Both of mine were absolutely fine with breast and bottle as long as I made sure that I didn't bottle feed more than once in succession if you know what I mean. every baby I know who's parents avoided bottle feeding until 6 weeks then refused to take a bottle, whereas mine where always happy with both.