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expressing questions
Hi ladies,
C is now three weeks old, and I am struggling with the night feeds (an hour, every two hours!) And then having a toddler to deal with all day too so no opportunity for a nap. I was thinking expressing would mean H could do some feeding too.
Also, C was weighed this morning and had only put on 5oz in over a week and since he was already dinky I expected more, so thought express feeding would let me see what sort of feeds he is taking.
So, first of all when did you start expressing? Was baby happy to take it?
When do you express? I *think* he's emptying my breasts at each feed so how do you actually get a decent amount?
How do you store your breastmilk?
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Replies
Posted too soon. Any advice appreciated ladies x
Expressing won’t tell you what he is taking, babies are much better at getting milk than the pump and especially the first few times you will probably find you don’t get much at all (it took a couple of weeks for me to fully get the hang of it).
I’m exclusively expressing so I started right away (not really relevant to you).
Try expressing one boob while he is feeding off the other, or after he has fed.
You can store breastmilk in the fridge for 3-5 days, and in the freezer for up to 6 months. You can add freshly expressed to already chilled or frozen but it has to be less than what’s already there and it only lasts as long as the oldest milk.
I'm expressing for night feeding A. I started at day seven as I just couldn't cope with the lack of sleep. She has one/two expressed bottles a day now.
She seems to be quite happy going from nipple to bottle and back again but we may just be lucky.
I express in the morning when I have more milk it seems. She was happy taking 50ml for the first week but now takes 90ml.
My first attempt was lame but now I can get 3oz if I keep going for half hour while she's feeding on the other.
My MW said that bf babies gain weight slower that ff babies do as long as baby is gaining weight and wetting nappies, I wouldn't worry too much.
Storage wise, exactly what OB said.
HTH
x
I've got the nack of expressing with one hand whilst feeding her with the other. Other times i wait until she is asleep or happlily playing in her bouncer!! It can be tricky if she wants my attention, I&