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Should I buy a breast pump to try and wean a few feeds into a cup?

This is going to sound a bit rambly but H is ebf at the moment which I am happy with but I am thinking of doing a few odd days at work in the next few months and need to be able to leave H. We've started weaning so he can have breakfadt and lunch etc but he still likes his milk, ESP if tired. I've never expressed but I'm wondering if I should get a hand pump and try expressing and giving it to him in a tommee tippe cup? Does anyone have any experience of this? How easy was it? Is he likely to drop all his bf then?

just not sure what to do to enable me to leave him for a few hours!

Replies

  • No experience personally, but I can't see how it would hurt. However I've friends who have ebf and when they leave their babies and leave a cup of expressed milk, they often refuse to drink it and just have a big feed on their return. You may find that he enjoys the comfort of feeding from you when he's tired rather than the milk itself. X

  • I had a hand pump but could not get a drop out. I tried again at around 5 months and still couldn't get anything out, I know others swear by them though. I had an electric one which was easy peasy but a bit pricey if you're not going to use it much.

    I did introduce a few bottle feeds early on and it did cause huge problems for us but if he is used to a sippy cup for water then I can't see why the occassional feed would cause a problem. Does he take water ok from it? He probably won't be impressed at first but may surprise you, he may take it better from someone else rather than you?

  • D would not take expressed milk from anything. Only formula which was a pain as I had no issue expressing.

  • I used a hand pump early on to express but switched to an electric 1 for pumping when my daughter wasn't there. I found that the hand pump was fine when I was feeding my daughter on the opposite side but that it took ages to stimulate my let down when she wasn't there. I work 2 days a week & found that initially my daughter would drink a few bottles of expressed milk at nursery (she was 7 months when I went back) although there were some days when she wouldn't drink any during the day & waited for the evening when she'd make up for it! Electric pumps can be pricey but I'd recommend looking on ebay or facebook selling sites that might have offers on & then you could sell it on if it doesn't work for you.

  • I still have my electric Medela. It's on the for sale board if you're interested. You'd get your money back on resale. Prob best to see if he'll take expressed milk first though. X

  • Daisy

    D would not take expressed milk from anything. Only formula which was a pain as I had no issue expressing.

    same. I thought it was the bottles but we recently tried him on formula and the bugger drank the lot.

  • I would try it and see what happens.  It may work well, it may not.  If he is having some solids and you are only thinking of leaving him for a few hours then I wouldn't worry too much.  If he (or his carer) get desparate, they could always give him some solids instead.  You may find that he will take milk from a cup with someone else if you're not there, but won't do it if you are there.

    My eldest was older when I left her overnight for the 1st time as I had to do a night shift but she was used to having a BF before bedtime.  H tried to give her some warm milk from a cup and she was just not having it at all, so in the end, he made up some milky weetabix, she ate it all up and then fell asleep !

  • thanks everyone - I think I will try hand expressing and see if I can get anything out and then see if he can take it from a cup.  He is taking some water from a cup but its limited so I'm not sure how our success rate will be but it can't hurt to try before I look at anything else.

    LWO - I'll see how the milk from a cup goes then I may be interested in your pump, thank you.

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