Exclusive Expressers

Thanks Eej. It's terribly hard struggling with BF'ing and flat nipples isnt it? My DD gets so frustrated on the L side yet doesn't on the R side..... so it must be the flat nipple. No other explanation. My LC believes that no matter what nipple you have, you can b/feed easily but I don't agree!! My LC is fantastic but just that i don't agree with what she says in regards to flat nipples ;)

I do hope so much that I can exclusively BF and if I don't, I don't know how long I can express for because it takes up so much time!!! I am so inspired though by all of you in here, It's wonderful :clap:

Hi girls....Just wanted to let you know that I have now stopped expressing!!:redface:
The long journey has now come to an end but I am very proud to make it to 9 months!!

I think you are all doing an awsome job and don't give up!!! There is light at the end of the tunnel!!!:D

Expressing can be a touchy subject for some but for those who have experienced it be proud and help educate others!!!

I will pop back to this thread from time to time and help with any advice that people may need but for me my expressing journey is over( sighs)

Good luck and more power to you for those that are on the same journey I just had!!!!:clap:

xoxoxoxoxoxo

Renstar - welcome to the thread! I'm sooo with you on the "you should be able to feed just as well with a flat nipple". I never managed to get DS to attach without a nipple shield, and I remember only too well the time consuming attempts to feed, then bottle top-ups, then expressing... then start all over again! I'm crossing my fingers for you that things improve soon :hug: I think you're doing a fabulous job.

leesha - oh congratulations to you! :clap::clap::clap: nine months is an absolutely FABULOUS achievement and I only dream of making it that far. You should be so very incredibly proud of yourself! Do you mind if I ask how your decision to stop went, and what helped you make up your mind? It's something I think about, and it's such a difficult decision to make, so I'd love to hear about someone else's experience. So saying, if you don't feel comfortable saying then I totally respect that too. You've just done so brilliantly!

I go through patches where I get sore nipples (even though apparently I've never had damaged nipples) but sometimes they just seem more tender and sensitive when I express... and I start to wonder just how long I'll keep this up. 6 months is getting very close for us now which is great. I think my DH always thought that 6 months was the gold standard, but of course I don't think that... but certainly some days I think I'd like to plan ahead and set the date at which I'll stop. So Leesha, your post certainly got me thinking.

It's also interesting as I have some days where I think I should have tried harder, and what on earth will I do next time? And equally there are other days where I hear my snuffly snorty little boy snoring away and I know that continuing to try to BF would have been a disaster for us. Some people tell me think it's so amazing what I'm doing and it almost embarasses me (even though it's nice to hear) because for us it is just so much easier than trying to BF was... and so much more efficient too! Since I've been able to double pump with the handsfree bra it's just amazing what I can do simultaneously - chop veggies for dinner, feed DS, talk on the phone, have a drink.... you name it and I've done it while pumping! My mother rings me up and hears the sound of the pump in the background. Recently she was at some social function and someone was talking about their daughter giving up BFing. And she told me how she'd said rather proudly what her daughter was doing. It was such a nice story for me to hear. But i digress, what I was going to say is that for those who express f/t without double pumps and handsfree bras, I don't know how you do it - I'm truly in awe!

Anyway, once again it's late at night and I'm waffling! I'm sending happy pumping vibes out to you all, this special little group of us, and hope it's all going well for you.

Leesha - you must feel a bit of relief knowing you no longer have to spend so much time expressing yet at the same time really sad about it? :hug: GOOD ON YOU for doing it for 9mths, you are a champion :clap: :clap: Must be so proud of yourself and rightly so.

Belfie - thank you for the welcome. Not sure how long i'll be in this thread though as i'm not really exclusively expressing however most of the time I am. Now and then offering BFeeds. I would like to exclusively BF my DD soon. My LC won't let me wear nipple shields, she is against them and says it will affect my milk supply?!Seeing as I've already had trouble with milk supply dropping I have to be careful I guess. Although not sure how true that is.... I'm sure some ppl use them and don't have probs.

I expressed at 1am and got 130ml (in 20mins!) and again at 5am and got 130ml!!! I'm soo happy with my effort and that was with my Medela Swing (wish it was a double pump!!!). :dance: I can finally start storing EBM in the freezer and today bagged 400ml worth of milk to put in the freezer, yeah!!! Finally getting ahead of my DD.

Hey Ren.. Glad you found the thread.

Belfie.....

My decision to stop was a hard one as I felt I was letting DS and myself down! Then I had a hard think about it and told myself that I had reached my goals and surpassed expectations, so stop putting pressure on myself and make the decision!!

DS had made it through major surgery at 6 months and I beleive he recovered brilliantly due to the EBM!!! Then I just kept thinking I will go one more month, then one more month and I went another 3 months!!!

DS is now down to 3-4 bottles per day and the night time(7pm) bottle was a formula one. So only having 2-3bottles of EBM and my milk started to drop off. I tried expressing more often again but nothing would bring my supply back up!

I pumped morning and night only until one day I just said that's it! I am going to stop now as I can't pump enough. I had given him the best start to his first nine months of life that I could and I felt great about that!!

I tell you what tho I can't believe I pumped for that long and now it is so nice to have my time for me now instead of every spare couple of hours I was sitting on the pump! But I do miss it sometimes which I find weird but it had just become a part of me and my daily routine!!

So I really stopeed because my supply was slowly dropping back and man could I pump!! Each boob would pump 150mls in 15 minutes!!!!! Then it dropped off to 50mls each boob and that took half an hour!!!

You will just know when it is time or your body will let you know!!! Keep going as you are doing a great job!!!

Leesha, its amazing what you have done! I think your EBm would have helped DS get through his surgery for sure.
I am trying to decide what to do now. I am getting really tired of it but just keep going, my goal was christmas then 6 months so now anything past that has felt so good. But now we have made that 6 months I feel I have to have an end date or another goal to reach but I don't want to put that pressure on myslef because if I can't reach that goal I'll disappoint myself.
Its tough!

eej don't put the pressure on yourself!! I know exactly what you mean and I started to feel that pressure after DS's surgery but if you just go with the flow (so to speak hahahaha) you body will tell you when enough is enough!!

The reason is because the mind is such a powerful thing you will eventually convince your body that it has had enough! But you will know the signs when it happens!!;)

Sounds strange I know but just wait...you will see!!!!!

Just keep going as you sound like you have it down pat and it is part of your daily life... your body will start to slow down the amount you express and you will then know...

You have done an excellent job so far!!!:clap:

Leasha - thanks so much for sharing that! I've been thinking about it a bit, cos I'd kinda rather set an end date than have it forced (if possible). LIke Eej, my goal was 6 months, and that's next week... so I think I've roughly decided to stop at 9 months. We want to start TTC at about 12 mths and I think I'd like to give my body a chance to recuperate a bit (I've had a history of low vitamins due to carbohydrate malabsorption issues) and to be honest, it would be kinda nice to have a few months at home not expressing before I go back to work p/t.

I think you did such an amazing job, and I'm sure the EBM would have made a big difference with teh surgery. It's an interesting thing isn't it - so many people seem to get down on themselves when they have to stop BF/EBM, as opposed to feeling so great about what's been achieved. But I guess it's natural to have mixed feelings too.

Eej - I was interested to see you're thinking through the same thing. I don't know if I'll get to 9 mths and feel I shouldn't stop if I don't have to... but dunno, atm it feels like that might be right for me. I do have some days when the thought of stopping is sooo tempting... and I'm getting a bit lazier about expressing as frequently, but I'm having one RLT each night and it seems to be helping keep my supply pretty steady. Plus I'm trying to lose weight (to avoid GD next PG) so that was another issue that I was worried would impact my supply - but touch wood, so far, so good.

Renstar - to me it doesn't matter whether you're exclusively expressing, you sound so determined and that's really great. I'm cheering for ya!

Olivesmummy - how are things with you?

Belfie - Thanks for asking, i'm pretty good ATM. My nipple infection has cleared up and I am off the AB. I am expressing 3 times per day and offering formula top-ups when needed which i'm ok with now and we have also started solids. I am also going back to work on the 30th of theis month so that will create another set of challenges but I will make it to at least 6mths and feel confident in that now. We have already made it to 5 and pumping is just part of my life now. For the past 3 mornings I have been giving Olive a small top-up BF lying down but already she is starting to damage my nipple so will unfortunatly have to stop doing that and maybe just accept that it may not happen. After I got that last infection and decided to continue I decided not to be to hard on myself. I have feed my baby bm for almost 6mths which is longer then 60% of the population despite all the challenges we have faced and feel proud of my achievment. I can honestly look back and say I tried my hardest so whenever the time comes to give up I will be ready, still sad but ready.
It's also encouraging to hear everyone elses journeys and to not feel alone in this.
Happy pumping everyone:)

well we celebrated reaching 6 months last wednesday. BUT, DH has just done his back (has a tendency for a bad back but this is worse than it's been for years) and it's now up to 8 days since he did it and i'm struggling! He can't lift DS at all or pretty much do anything around the house. So i'm doing everything. I did get some help from the ILs the other day which was a godsend, but I'm seriously questioning my ability to keep expressing. I'm feeling totally stressed/exhausted/busy but i'm also resenting having to express when I've so much else to do. Plus of course DS is older and more awake now (just started on solids too) so there's just a bit going on.

I had planned to express to 9 mths (hopefully) as I wanted a little break before we TTC again (at about 12 mths). I know I'm starting to cut corners, put off expressing, express less frequently which may well start to impact my supply anyway. But equally I don't want to make a rushed/stressed decision when his back could start to improve quickly and then I'd feel quite able to keep going (presumably). Oh I'm just so torn.

Olive's mummy - good to hear you're going well and nearly at 6 months.

Belfie I know how you feel hun. This is what I'm going through at the moment. I hit 7 months next week but its getting hard. I think i'll soon cut back.
I had a bad bout of gastro yest and lost 250mls! Nearly two bottles worth that I couldn;t pump and don;t think I'll get back I have more in the freezer but my freezer is in Sydney and I'm in Adelaide until sunday!

Hi Ladies!

Just thought I would pop in and say hello.

I am still expressing, I have had to add a FF in and I hate that but I just cannot get the full amount anymore. I am hoping to continue pumping to 12 months and then see what I feel like then, however I am TTC #2 and I am afraid that my supply will drop even more once I fall pregnant (I fell pregnant last month and miscarried, my supply dropped by half in a week and this is when I added the formula feeds in, I have since increased back up by 100mls) so my end date may be sooner than expected, however if it means stopping for another baby I am happy to do so at this stage.

I am happy to see that there are a couple of 6 month milestones that have been met, congratulations :clap: it is such a wonderful achievement.

Leesha - well done in making it to 9 months, you did so well :hug:. I cannot even begin to imagine what it will be like not to have this pump attached to me :lol:, oh to be free!

Deanne.

[QUOTE=DaintreeDream;1728315]
Leesha - well done in making it to 9 months, you did so well :hug:. I cannot even begin to imagine what it will be like not to have this pump attached to me :lol:, oh to be free!
QUOTE]

Heeheee ahh the freedom.........it is a very nice feeling once you get used to it!!! It's great to have my boobs back even though they are still one good size bigger than before I started this journey.........I think i may have stretched them...if that's possible..lol
I'm about to go and get fitted for a new bra.......can't wait!!!!!!

Goodbye for now maternity bra's......you served me well!!!

You have all done remarkably and a round of applause to you all!!:clap:

Never feel guilty........Just Proud!!!!!!!!!!!!

xoxoxox

Belfie - I will have made it to 6mths on the 17th. I can totally understand how you feel about giving up as I think i'm there. I started back to work this week and just feel like I want to spend the time I have with Olive playing with her and not worrying about pumping. I am only pumping 3x per day but my supply hasn't dropped much. I will probably hold off until the 6mths and even though I said in a previous thread that I will be ready the though of giving up on bf for good hurts. I guess I still hoped to be able to do this as olive's mouth grew but she still can't flange her mouth so damages my nipples. I have been feeding her just for comfort once a day on one boob lying down to get her off to sleep but thats it. I never thought I would want to bf so bad. Hopefully the next time it's easier. Anyway no matter what you decide remember that you have done the best thing for your bub and have done an amazing job to make it to 6mths. Trust your instincts and do what feels right.

leesha - I also congratulate you on your achievment, do you feel lonely without the pump lol. I am looking forward to having my boobs back but i'll have to find another excuse to go on BB so much, I usually do when I pump. Enjoy the freedom!

DaintreeDream - I also had to introduce a FF but at the time I had a serious nipple infection so felt ok about it. In the past I have hated the idea of this but it did relieve alot of stress for me so I think in the long run it was a good thing. It also means that when I stop soon at least Olive will be a bit used to the formula. Good luck with your 12mth goal.

eej - I know what you mean about pain and sickness affecting supply. I had a wisdom tooth out abd have dry socket and it has definatly affected mine. I think the biggest thing is food. I find that I have to eat well even when I don't feel like it otherwise I can't produce as much. Hope you are feeling better.

Question - how much bm does your baby drink in each feed and how many times per day?
Olive will still only drink 125mls per feed 4-5 per day plus a formula bottle when needed.

OlivesMummy - Matilda was on 150mls per kilo of her weight up until she turned 6 months (or hit 800mls in total) then I was giving her 4 bottles of 200mls - she was on this quantilty until 9 months, when I added a formula feed in, formula she has 240mls per feed (due to less nutrients).

I also introduced water at about 8 months, she doesn't drink alot of it though.

Initally they need 150mls per kilo but then it changes to 100mls per kilo, I am pretty sure this is at 6 months as their weight gain slows and they also begin to eat solids (although Matilda is just starting on the solids now!)

HTH.

Thankyou for your lovely thoughts ladies :D

Hi Ladies

I'm brand new and so glad I've found this thread. I'm due in July and for various reasons (mainly due to my hyper sensitive nipples and am just not comfotable with BF in public etc) cannot fathom breastfeeding (please please, no lectures - I'm well read and aware how milk straight from the breast is the best, however until I researched exclusive expressing I thought I would have to FF).

That said, I was wondering if anyone can point me in the direction of a LC who may be a 'specialist' in this area who I could engage as early as is appropriate to help planning this method. I will be having a CS at Freemasons and understand that colostrum may have to be hand expressed until your milk comes in.

Any information greatly appreciated.

Thank you

Olive's Mummy - Xander drinks about 220ml per feed, usually 4 times a day. But tbh, he's always been a pretty big feeder. Over the last few months, based on the formula he should have been taking close to 1300ml a day (he's a big boy) but he's been taking nowhere near that. I wonder if the EBM is more energy rich than FF? mebbe I'm just high cal haha. Anyway, even despite taking less than he's "supposed" to, he's slowly moved from 75th percentile to 90th percentile for weight - so we just give him how much he seems to want. I actually try to err on the side of less rather than more. Has anyone else found that the "formula" doesn't really work for them either? We've also started solids recently, but he's not very taken with them so far lol.

How is it going for you now? I've had a bit of an epiphany after doing some research (again) into the benefits of BM for babies and of lactating for mum's. Given I had GD when I was PG, I hadn't realised just how beneficial it is for me too. I don't think anyone else in here had GD did they? If so, it's worth looking into, as no-one had explained to me how lactating influences your glucose metabolism & body's ability to deal with insulin (which is also tied in with the tendency to drop PG weight quicker too). So that's all really helped my motivation - I think it was timely to re-visit why I'm doing this. I've also changed my routine a bit to adjust for the fact he's getting older, and I think that's helped. I'm now pumping at the PC which makes me not resent the time. In fact, I'm not allowed to read my BB posts until the pump is on - talk about motivation!!!! Plus I've asked my mum to come over & help out while I've got a bit of work to do and DH's back is still very bad. Hopefully only 2 more weeks till he can lift DS & help out again. I really appreciate how much he did!

Daintree Dream - how are the solids going for you? And when do you think you plan/hope to pump for? I'm cheering for you to reach that 12 months!

leesha - OMG non-maternity bras I'm soooo jealous. I've taken to wearing a crop top over my bra, as I've lost a little weight but I don't want to spend $$ on new mat bras. And it's amazing how much better one looks when there is a little more "lift!".

Eej - I'm guessing you're at 7 months? Or time to ditch the pump & have a well-earned rest? Either way I hope things are going well for you, you're doing a brilliant job!

Cheers,
Belfie