 BecM wrote:
Hi,
I'm keen to start doing at least one feed a day (evening/night) with expressed milk, but have no idea how to go about it and I don't want to tell the midwife as I'm not sure she'd be supportive so don't know who to get the basics from...
When should I express?
Will this mean I start to produce too much milk?
How much should I express?
My baby is only three weeks old but I quite like the idea of expressing so I can see, particularly at night, how much he takes.
Thanks |
Give La Leche a ring, they will help you!
Otherwise, here is some advice (I am a breastfeeding counsellor, accredited and liscenced, and I get paid to help mums with feeding, bottles etc etc)
Ok, morning is the best time as you are a bit more "engorged, but I would try to get a bit at the end of each feed.
DONT BE ALARMED!!! if you can't get alot or even anything out, many women can't express alot and it is by absolutely NO means an indication of your supply. Sometimes, it is just that baby is the best breast pump! I really can't stress that enough, the not getting worried thing.
A saying I have is "its a production line, not a storage warehouse!"
Also, "missing" a feed will mess around with your supply, so you need to make sure that even if DP is giving the bottle, you still need to try to express something, other wise your body will think baby dosen't need that feed and make less milk. Pumping other times during the day probably won't increase your supply enough to miss this feed without pumping anyway, IYGWIM. Each feed is "different" and your body makes your milk "different" for the need of each feed, so it is important you dont let your body think you don't need that milk.
This comment you made..
My baby is only three weeks old but I quite like the idea of expressing so I can see, particularly at night, how much he takes
Please, please PLEASE do not get hung up on MiL anount of how much baby is taking. Baby takes exactly how much they need each time, feeding often, unsettledness and other "issues" that make mums think they don't have enough milk are usually a sign of something else - usually growth spurts, wind and cluster feeding in the afternoon and evening. How much you express, like I said is NOT a reliable indicator of how much baby is taking. The BEST sign baby is getting enough is plenty of wet nappies!! You need to learn to trust your gut/instinct and baby that baby is getting enough. Little babies feed often as their tummies aren't very big at all. At 3 weeks, tummy is little bigger than a golf ball and it empties fast. (poosplosion, anyone?! lol)
My personal reccomendation is to wait just a week or so more, till you introduce the bottle, for no other reason than the way a baby sucks the bottle and the breast is vastly different and it can really truely muck up your feeding. By about 4 to 6 weeks, baby and you will probably have breastfeeding sorted out and well established and then it is considered "safe" to introduce a bottle without mucking round with your supply or babys latch and suck.
Now I am expecting a few mums to come on and say oh I introduced the bottle at x weeks and we are fine, but honestly, I see so many mums who have huge problems with latch and suck from doing this to early.
Between 6 and 10 weeks is the window to get baby used to both.
Good luck and well done,and I am sure your midwife would be supportive of you and would probably offer the same advice I have just done, she should support andhelp you which ever way you choose to feed your baby. Feel free to PM me if you want more advice, and I really hope I haven't come off as preachy, just wanted to share my knowledge.!
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