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Expressing for all feeds?!

Since my baby is still on a breastfeeding strike I am now expressing for all feeds after he is only taking a few sucks and then pulling off screaming. I've tried everything to lure him back and I think I will have to admit defeat soon and stop trying as its not great fun for either of us!! Does anyone express for all feeds?? I'm wondering how you go about it as it seems to be taking over our entire days and I want him to get to 6 months solely on breastmilk if we can. I'm hoping it will get easier when he is weaned as he won't need quite so much but any ideas for the next 2 months?!!

Replies

  • Thank you, I'm trying him on me every feed and when he is sleepy. He just fed for 10 minutes and the doorbell rung and he wouldn't try again! He has stopped feeding in the night now but I'm wondering if that is more due to the fact that he is not hungry as he is having bigger feeds due to a bottle in the day?! That 10 minute feed has made me determined that he can do it so will continue trying and expressing ..... I even pumped in the back of the car the other day whilst hubby drove down the motorway .... safe to say romance is dead in our relationship due to my frequent pumping!!
  • i know 2 people who expressed for every feed from day one. one gave up after 4 months, the other lasted until 6 months. it is possible. i wouldnt want to!!! have you tried the rebirthing thing?
  • Put a post out for lawso if she doesn't reply here.

    She's expressed all her LO's milk for months.

    B x
  • Try doing an fao for lawso, mrs calopa and tink-a-belle as they all did exclusive expressing or pretty much that for 6 months or so. They're your best bet for advice.
    Good luck with it. And hopefully the wee one will take to the boob again soon!
  • Thank you so much ladies!

    Tink-a-belle, you've given me hope! I will email now!

    I don't understand why he has suddenty rejected me, gutted! We also use the TT bottles. He latches on and then only tolerates so long. He has got a slight tongue tie so has never been easy to feed but never to this extent. He has now developed a chest infection so I'll have to stick with the bottles for fluids for a bit but am hoping he may use me for comfort and I can lure him back!

    Calleigh, sorry excuse my thickness .... what do you mean by rebirthing? I blame the lack of sleep for my recent thickness!
  • have not tried t, meanad will explain more. but as i understand it, you get in the bath, have someone put baby in the bath with you and got from there. lol. ill find the link, im really not much help. http://www.llli.org/llleaderweb/LV/LVOctNov99p99.html
  • Great, thank you! I will try everything! This pumping business is a nightmare, he spends his life watching me pump and sterilise at the moment, not great! He was started on gaviscon last week but is fine with bottles albeit slow so not convinced its reflux, think he has just got fed up of working so hard with a tongue tie!
  • Hi there, my LO is approaching 9 months and as the others have said, I've been expressing all his milk feeds since he was 5 days old. Basically we were admitted back into hospital for loss of weight and they needed to see what milk he was taking, so it was either FF or expressing. I chose expressing as I hoped to BF but he became very lazy and would only take the bottle.

    It is very time consuming and if you can get him to latch back on, then I'd say it's certainly worth a try. Having said that, I actually think I probably wouldn't have breastfed for as long as I've pumped because this way, I can easily leave him with other people.

    It certainly does get easier with weaning, my DS was taking 1200ml+ which suddenly dropped to about 500ml after we introduced food. I gradually reduced my sessions and I'm now down to just 2 a day.

    The only time my DH gets to see my boobies now is when they have a pump attached to them LOL!!

    Any specific questions you have please feel free to ask, as I'm sure you can tell, I love talking expressing xx
  • Another one who exclusively expressed all feeds for DD until she was 6 months old!

    we tried breastfeeding but DD was tounge tied and by the time we got that sorted I had lost confidence in breast feeding and was getting all confused trying to get DD latched on and expressing etc!

    To start off with I had to express about 10 times a day to increase and establish my supply. I notice my supply increase over time. I was using a double pump at the time which was lent to me by the breast feeding counsellor I was seeing. Once my supply was established I was able to reduce the number of times I expressed to about 5 or 6! You need to do one of these expressings over night.

    Eventually I got my expressing down to 3 times a day (once when I got up, once mid afternoon and once when I was going to bed). I was only using the medela swing by this time as I had to give the double pump back and it was taking me a hour each time. I was able to get between 10 and 15 oz per expressing session (from both breasts).

    It was very time consuming though and one of the reasons I stopped was I was finding it difficult with weaning and preparing food for DD. I felt I was constantly tied to the house feedind or preparing feeds!

    I really wish I had managed to crack breast feeding and I think if we had I would still be going now!

    If you are going to exclusively breastfeed then definitely invest in a double pump. The only reason I didn't is when I had to give the double back when DD was about 2 months I wasn't going to carry on with the expressing so couldn't justify the expense lol. I am so glad I did carry on though until DD was 6 months old and I am very proud of myself!

    Good luck with what ever you decide x
  • Thank you so much MrsCalopa and lawso! To think I used to turn the tap on if I had a wee within hubby's earshot!!! Now its quite normal for me and him to be sat on the sofa watching the TV on full blast because my pump is in action!!

    I have borrowed a Medala swing from the HVs as I only had a TT electric one. I hired a double pump weeks ago which was brilliant so may hire that for the next couple of months and then stick with the medala swing once he is weaned. Hoping I can hold off weaning until 6 months.

    What do you do when you go out etc? I've pumped in the back of cars etc (classy!) but it takes a good hour to get a full feed so its not practical in all situations! He actually fed from me for a good 5 minutes this morning but then hasn't been interested since! I've tried the muslin over the head trick but he sussed me out! x
  • Hi CW,

    Maybe you could try a sling? Sometimes when i'm out i put DD in a sling (i've got the mamascarf) and that stops her nosing, maybe worth a go.
    Expressing is so glamourous isn't it, i even had hubby massaging my milk out for me the other day when i felt a blockage!
    Sounds also like the tongue tie could be a problem, certainly was for us, i wish they'd sort it out at birth. Maybe you could see a Lactation consultant for help, here is the website i used http://www.lcgb.org/index.html
    I hope you find a solution x x
  • Thanks for that Minieggs! Isn't it glamourous eh?! Think hubby would be glad if I put them away for good now, hes sick of the sight of them ... as is lo apparently!! I'll try that link now. x
  • Lol, i can't wait to put them in a bra and keep them there!
    If you want some more info about the lady i saw you can email me x
  • "Now its quite normal for me and him to be sat on the sofa watching the TV on full blast because my pump is in action!!"

    Made me laugh out loud - yep, we've been there and done that, so many times!! And I have loads of videos that I took of my DH and LO playing, where you can hear my pump in the background!

    One of the hardest things about pumping is that you do have to plan your day around it. In the early days I didn't venture far and made sure I was home in time for a session or if I was near friends/family then I'd arrange to pop to their house to do it. As I got more confident, I'd just take my pump everywhere. I have a very small, portable double pump (medela freestyle) which I've found very useful.

    Most of the time it's been in the back of the car. When my mum was in hospital, I was given a little room to pump in while I waited. I have pumped while watching a cricket match. I've pumped in car parks all over, shopping centres, hospitals, football stadiums and I've expressed mid-flight on an aeroplane. I even contemplated pumping while driving but thought better of it and never dared to do it.

    I always carried a huge pashmina around so that I didn't have my bits on display! The worst thing though is that people don't realise sometimes and want to engage in a conversation and you feel like shouting at them to leave you alone.

    Good luck with the bf'ing and I HTH xx
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