DD has never been BF (personal choice which I don't wish to discuss, so if you are offended please don't read on, or make negative remarks) and my boobs are still leaking milk. Like, if I lie on one side at night - I wake up covered in milk, if I lean over the bath while bathing, i leak, if I let her cry too long - I leak!!! (I'm sure you get the picture..)
This never happened with DS, I stopped leaking after a few days - so I'm just wondering if I should be expressing this milk and giving it to her? Like, would it be worth trying? It's been 5 weeks and I still obviously have something in there, but I don't know anything really about the ways of milk, so thought I would run it past you knowledgeable folk..
If you are okay to express then absolutely my love. It will be still full of all your goodies for her. If you express you will produce more milk as you know so be aware that supply may meet demand - so express as much or as little as you are comfortable with. Good luck.
Mel, there is no reason why you couldn't express and give it to her if you want to do that. Any bm is of benefit to babies, so it would be good for her. It is really up to you. The liklihood is that you won't maintain your supply just by expressing, unless you are really committed to doing it every 3 -4 hours, but while the bm is there, if you want to give her what you have, that would be just fine.
LOL Mel I'm so with you on the leaking - poor Bear gets his back bathed in warm milk every night! Must be doing wonders for his skin! PMSL
yeah if it's there, why the hell not! go for it
If you wanted to express then that's fine, it's not that expensive to buy a pump. If you only express once a day it shouldn't cause problems with increasing your supply to a ridiculous level and it would just take the edge off the leaking.
If you still leak, you could try something like Lilypadz, which are sticky breast pads that create pressure so you don't leak. That CAN affect supply in the early days, I have heard, but that isn't an issue here so go for it.
And this has just reminded me I saw an interesting thing at the chemist yesterday - they have these nipple shells, they are kind of like nursing pads, but they are hard plastic shells and they actually collect the milk that leaks! So you could keep the milk that leaks and not have to bother about expressing or building up a supply you don't want.
They were called Avent Nipple Shells....
I have those too! They're great but for use ONLY when you're leaking and to be emptied straight away because stagnant milk around your breasts is a no-no. Also they look well weird under your top and if you lean over they leak. Great idea but only if you're leaking at the time, not for constant use. I found them great when feeding because I'd collect what was leaking then use the milk for DS's food later.
It's never too late. One of the mums in my Baby Buddies group has recently re-lactated (I think she started at about 3 or 4 mths!)
If you are not wanting to be getting into the habit of expressing then I probably wouldn't start. I would probably only express if it was really uncomfortable. Like Flowerchild said with supply and demand. The more you express the more you will produce.
But no it's not too late
Good luck
Is 5 weeks too late to start?
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