Breastfeeding and Expressing after feeds

[peanutter]

The more milk you remove from the breast, the more you make ... Remember the ABA is always there with advice for all things feeding-related - including info on expressing and storing expressed milk.

yeah, that!!

and as far as storage goes, just store them in pargels that are the right size for her feeds. and you can store them for a while, to build up a bit of a bank, so the feed that your DH is doing, you can do a full express and store it up.

DH will no doubt *love* being involved in the process

[UsPlus2]

I expressed regulary for the 11 months I breastfeed for that exact reason, my DP loved the times he got to feed DS.

I would express after a feed on both the side he feed from and the side he didnt (when he was little enough not to want both). I was told you could express into the same bottle for 2 feeds (so after feed 1, wait 4hrs then express into the same bottle for feed 2). there are then rules on how long you can keep it in the fridge for, i think its 48hrs from the start of the first feed expressed into the bottle. you can also freeze it (great for growth spurts times ).

be careful not to express to much as it will build your supply up alot. Once DS was home from SCN and I only need to express feeds for DP to do, I would express from the side DS last feed on and say I got 20mls, I would express 20mls from the other side as well and leave it at that, so 40mls in total. I would then offer DS the second breast first.

hope that makes sense.

[studymum]

Use snap lock bags and freeze about 50 mls in each to begin with, lay them flat to freeze. They defrost super quick and you can pick how many you want. Most bf bubs don't drink an awful lot, so you may only need 2 at the moment.

I'd wait until you have established your routine and supply. Sometimes throwing pumping into the mix can stir it up to much. Introducing a bottle to young also runs the risk of nipple confusion, its far easier to drink from a bottle and can create some confusion as to how they are meant to get their milk. Maybe explain to DH that the most important thing at the moment is sorting all this out and then you can move onto ebm at a couple of months for him to have a go.

Easiest way I found to express was to pump on the opposite side to the girls while they fed. It helps with letdown and flow and I usually got more this way. When you supply is established it takes awhile to get a good pumping routine happening, to begin with you will get smaller amounts, until your b00bies adjust to the increased demand. Just remember that if you pump each day, when you stop you will have an over supply, which is a risk for mastitis, so you have to also ease out of pumping as well.