Bottles and bits and pieces...

We were finding b/feeding a bit of a mission as I can't get both babies latched together so was feeding one at a time pretty much 24 hours a day. So I am now expressing using a double electric pump and feeding them by bottle.

But Maya never had a bottle. So I have a couple of questions...

Whats the best way to heat the bottles. ATM I am using a bowl of hot water, but is it worth getting a bottle warmer? How long do bottles take to warm up in the warmer thingies?

And for those of you who have expressed, did your supply increase? I'm expressing enough at a go to feed both babies, but I'm worried my supply won't increase as their appetites increase. And is it better to express a smaller amount every couple of hours, or leave it say 3-4 hours and do one big pump?

The midwife is coming to visit so I'll ask her my list of questions, but it's always good to know what others have done/are doing...

Emma there are "Milk Flow" tablets which are from that natural range of stuff that can help increase your supply. I took them and noticed an increase when expressing.

I got mine from Hardy's Healthy Living in 2004 - i'm sure it is still the same name.

They are (I just had a look for them and found them) Naturo Pharm (the ones with the sun flower as the logo) Woman's Milk-Flow tablets. So all natural and ok for you. It was my MW that suggested them to me.

Hi Emma,
I expressed all of Ella's feeds from 1 month on, as I had latching issues as well. I found that until about 3 months expressing every 2-3 hours was enough to cover her, and from then on I did it about 4 hourly. My Midwife advised me that if I ever needed to increase my supply that I could do it by expressing until the boob was empty and then pumping it for a few minutes afterwards. It seemed to work quite well as I had heaps of milk.
Also I used an Avent Isis pump which has a silicone cover with 'bubbles' that massages the milk ducts to mimick a baby's suck (apparently!).
I also just warmed the bottles in hot water, the lady at Baby City told us bottle warmers were a waste of money

We just boil the kettle then stand the bottle in the hot water (in a bowl/jug). Takes a minute or so for the milk to warm to body temperature.
We did this with expressed milk and have done the same since switching to formula.

When we have twins in the unit we usually offset their times by half an hour so that one wakes half an hour later, and by that time, mum has had time to feed the other one, which can work really well. one baby on one side and the other baby on the other side, then next feed they swap sides, also means that *hopefully* you won't be feeding 24/7, but atleast having a little break between feed times.

For expressing, generally every 4 hours is good, morning and night - sounds brutal, but if you leave it during the night, by morning the hormones will have hit a lull and you are basically starting at the bottom of the hill again, building up supply during the day and it just dives again at night, so express after feeds to empty the breast but if babies are having good feeds there won't be much left to express.

At the beginning 5 mins a side is usually more than enough, but at your stage, 10 mins or so each side is prob good, and if you find at the end of that time you still have more to give, then go for another 5 - 10 mins again. If you are are wanting to increase milk supply - go for increasing frequency, not time, pump more often some women find every 2 hours for a day or so helps (during the day, but stick to 4 hours overnight) however, the most important thing to realise is that you need to feed bubs first.. so always AFTER feeds. not between, or before, cos baby feeding stimulates milk supply FAR more than any pump can. When you are doing the more frequent pumps, it may feel like you are having a pitiful amount, but overall, throughout the day when you add it up, it will be more.

Edited by mum2paris