Exclusive Expressers

Hi Ladies, I hope you don't mind me joining in. I'm in a slightly different situation to most of you, I bf my DD up until 2 weeks ago when she suddenly decided she didn't want to bf anymore. I have been expressing for each of her feeds ever since and I tell you I have the utmost respect for all of you ladies for exclusively expressing for your bubs! It is definitely not an easy route to take and I admire all of you for doing it for so long! It's only been 2 weeks and my nipples are so sore! They were never this sore even when I started bfing! I'm using a manual avent pump as I just can't justify spending the $$ on an electronic since I'll prob only express for another 3 months.

Anyway just wanted to say hi, and hope you don't mind if I pop in from time to time.

Hi Claire, and welcome :hello: yay another person! lol
Look forward to seeing you in here :)

Hi Claire, welcome to the thread! :welcome: Not many of us here so the more the merrier! LOL
Hope all is going well for you and your bub and that expressing it getting a bit easier!
Have you thought about hiring a electric pump? Makes it alot quicker, especially if you can dual pump!

Hi Jasper, how are you and arelea going? Sorry i haven't been on to chat for a while...things have been hectic!
Chloe and i are going well, still expressing! I have cut back to 5 times a day and am about to try going to 4...breasts seem to be ok and keeping up my ml's.
Have put a medala instyle on order so should recieve that anyday now!
Chloe has settled down a bit...had to put her on zantac for reflux and so far so good, hope it continues :crossfingers: , she even did 8 hours between feeds 2 nights in a row! :clap:
We are getting smiles now also, so thats pretty exciting! :dance:
All in all, things are going well and we are starting to feel a lot more settled.

Thats probably about all our news at the moment, hope everyone is doing well, chat again soon!

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Have you thought about hiring a electric pump? Makes it alot quicker, especially if you can dual pump!

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Really good idea. I've only been doing it for 2 months so far ....ooooh it's a long road ahead!!!.... would have been lost without my spa-dupa pump. Or if you bought one you could re-sell on Ebay? Just a thought. Good on you too for sticking with the breast milk after she self-weaned. A lot of people would have just gone to formula then... good on you :thumbsup:
My aim is to make it to 6 mths, then maybe further. We will see how things are then.

Larne, glad to hear things are settling for you. Woo-hoo on the 8hrs sleep!

Arlea had her first real chuckle today :lol: sooo cute.

Thanks for the welcomes Jasp and Larne!

Larne I hadn't even thought about hiring a breast pump so thanks for the suggestion, I might look into it.

Hi to all exclussive expressers! How is everyone and their bubs going? Thought i'd drop in quickly whilst chloe is asleep and say hi and see what everyone is up to?

Jasp- how is arlea going? Are you still expressing? If you don't mind me asking, how much do you feed her per feed? i was given the formula their weight x 150 diveded by how many feeds per day...but chloe seems to want more!

Claire- how is the expressing going, did you end up hiring?

As for us, Chloe is going well (most days!). we had her 8 week check and she is 4.7kg, so is in the 50 percentile which im very happy with! her reflux seems a bit better now she is on meds, although we had a bad nite last nite!
She is due for her immunisation next week and we are off for an ultrasound on her hip (dr and nurse heard a crack) so its going to be a big week...probably more for my emotional state than hers!

Hope everyone is well, as are their bubs!
Take care!

Hi Jasp and Larne how are you? Larne you must be so happy with Chloe's gains, that's great! I'm glad her reflux seems to be improving, here's hoping for a better night tonight for you though!

I looked into hiring an electric pump and I was amazed at how expensive they are! They're about $25-$30 a week! I'd be better off buying one, but I only have two months to go so don't think I'll bother. Also the boobs seem to be toughening up as they're not so painful anymore thank god. I'm only expressing 3 times a day and have been thinking about dropping down to 2. The first express in the morning gives me two bottles so I've been freezing one lot and now I have a freezer full of milk!

Hope everyone is well and your beautiful little bubba's are letting you sleep. Those first few months are the hardest!

Hi Larne & Claire :)

Yep, I'm still pumping. I have pretty much given up on the idea of BFing, I admitted defeat yesterday - with a few tears - I still feel very sad about it but have to be realistic, we were going nowhere & I think it's time for me to accept it & move on. Also to put it in perspective, there are worse things to be going through ;)

So I'm extending the times that I pump now, usually every 4 hrs with a few 4 1/2 - 5 hour stints thrown in. It seems to be working ok, I think the main risk for me was mastitis becasue I have such an oversupply, but I still feel pretty comfortable....

Arlea is supposed to be having at least 870ml/day (it's been a couple of weeks since she was weighed) but isn't quite having that.
She has never had her full quota, right from the start, but seems to be gaining plenty of weight, at least on her first few weighs. I will take her up to be weighed in the next couple of days to check.
ATM she is having roughly 90ml per bottle, every 3 or so hours but she often skips a feed overnight. I counted up what she had the last couple of days & it came to 500-600/day.

Arlea is having an ultrasound on her hip too! Only one Dr out of all the HCP we have seen has picked up a slight click... will see how that goes, the week after next.

Claire glad to hear things are going well. That's great that you can manage without the electric pump, yay for having milk in the freezer! It's great to have a bit of a stock up in the freezer. You sound like you are doing a great job :)

We have had a couple of rough nights sleep, i think perhaps she is going through a growth spurt.... here's hoping for more sleep tonight!

Stay well :grouphug:

quick one for me!

Jasp - saw your post... have been busy (back at work 2 days this week) but sending you big big big huggies! You're a wonderful brave woman and sometimes it's darn hard work to look after yourself and everyone else... :hug: so proud of you. Oh and Xander always took less than what they said he should, but went from 25th to 85th percentile on EBM, so don't fret! I got used to the fact less seemed to do more in his case (or maybe it's cos it's EBM!).

Claire_A - they are expensive aren't they! I spent about $200 on hiring :doh: before I wised up!!! Apparently you can hire through ABA/Mother's Direct, might be cheaper? But regardless, sounds like you're doing great!!

Larne80 - we also had to have a hip ultrasound & I was a stressed out mess. it was only aftwarwards when we got the all clear that I heard HEAPS of stories of people having hte u/s and nothing showing. :crossfingers: I'll send you good vibes, I know how stressful it is.

I'm still trying to wean - OMG I thought it would be so easy (given how long it took me to get my supply up) but I guess I've pumped for so long my supply was very entrenched... I've been trying to stop for all of Sept and I'm only just getting there. Down to a pump every other day now... but it's taken plenty of cabbage & ice to get there! I think I just really didn't shorten the pumps enough...but I got too full so easily!! Youch. AnywayI think I've got about 5 litres frozen which I plan to give him slowly this month...but we had a diet change early last month (no eggs or treenuts) picked up on a skinpr!ck test. Now I'm giving him all the EBM which was stored BEFORE the diet change, he's getting itchy again :(. I don't know what to do. I HATE seeing him getting itchy...but I don't want to waste all that EBM either! I can't decide whether to just give it too him quickly & get it over & done with (I figure it's still beneficial in other ways) or to really drag it out giving him a little bit. Or whether to just give him a break from EBM for half a week and see what happens. Hmm.

Anyway, gotta run... great seeing all your updates, have been meaning to post.

Cheers,
Belfie

Awww jasp, you poor thing! :hug: i know how hard it is to finally admit that b/f'ing isn't working! I also shed many tears over it! I just keep trying to think of the positives: my baby is still getting what she needs, hubby can help with the feeds, in a way it gives me a bit more freedom (hubby looks after chloe and i can go out for a bit) and my fave, i can have the odd drink and just turf that express out!
Hope things settle down a bit now that you have made your decision.
sending you hugs and all my best wishes!

Belfie- great to hear from you again! Glad things are going well for you guys, how is it being back at work? i can't even imagine going back yet, but the time will come! Hope Xanders allergies aren't too bad! Thanks for sharing bout the hip u/s, will let you know how we go!

Take care girls!

Hi ladies how are you all?

Jasp I can imagine how heartbreaking it is coming to terms with not being able to bf. But you and the other girls are amazing women for persevering with expressing when most would go straight to formula. Your beautiful bubba's are still getting the liquid gold and you should all be very proud of yourselves for that.

Belfie I checked with the ABA on hiring breast pumps and they are $30 a week or $15 if your a member. My membership expired a couple of months ago (DOH!).

Larne I agree that the plus side of expressing is being able to have a glass (or two) of wine with dinner!

Just wondering if any of you saw the article listed in the bfing section about bm having different ingredients in it depending on the time of day. ie BM at night makes bubs sleepy, whereas the first bf of the day is like an espresso lol! They recommend expressers only give bm at the time of day that they expressed or otherwise it can interfere with their baby's sleep patterns. What do you guys think of this? I express for the next feed coming up so doing things the wrong way according to this article. But I must admit that my DD always seems so tired in the morning lately and I now wonder whether it has anything to do with me giving her sleepy night time milk? Anyway would like to hear your opinions, the link to the thread is here
http://forums.bellybelly.com.au/foru...east-milk.html

Claire, I think the study is interesting, but I wouldn't put too much stock in it. Many, many mums express and give their babies milk at a different time of the day. I have never heard of a baby not sleeping as a result. We have always known that morning milk is different to evening milk but expressed breastmilk, even when from a different time of the day, is still the best option for a baby when they are unable to bf.

Jas, :hug: to you hun. You are doing an amazing job hun. I'm sorry that things still aren't going to plan but I hope you have some peace in knowing that you really are doing all you can.

Interesting idea (I haven't read the thread yet but will!)....I express for the feed ahead too. Arlea has her EBM at room temp, expressing for the feed ahead means she can have it as soon as she wakes, we don't have to muck around heating it. I don't know if it's interfering with her sleep...Arlea has always settled back to sleep within an hour of being up in the morning & I put it down to that old paradox whereby sleep creates sleep, and a tired baby won't sleep... maybe I was wrong... but overall her sleep patterns are pretty normal I think.

I am extending further now, to every 4-6 hours... my supply is still huge, has actually inreased again over the last week - I am expressing anywhere from 1800 - 2100 ml / day now.So I finally stop worrying about my supply! I am now going to work out when it suits me to pump, how much I want at each time, & just start doing that & let my body adjust.
I have plenty of milk, so that goes under the 'things I have to be grateful for ' file!

Belfie good to hear from you! I will be looking for advice on weaning from you , lol.
Do you need to give Xander the EBM you have? Would you consider donating it?
Intersting to hear that he never took his quota either.. I will have to get her weighed this week.. I know she is gaining but I don't know if she's keeping up to her percentile or not...

Larne, you don't have to pump & dump if it's just one drink... it will leave your Bmilk, same as it leaves your blood... so if you express, then have a drink (or 2? not sure) then express a few hours later it should be fine. And I am told you can get strips to test your Bmilk, but I haven't seen them yet.
I am yet to have a drink... maybe next weekend for my birthday....

My sister had her baby on Thursday night. we went to see her & all over the hospital there were signs posted re their BFing policy, including "we do not give breastfed babies artificial teats or nipples" - I wondered what our outcomes would have been at that hospital? would the advice we got have been any different? and I had more tears - I guess I will get over it eventually. I am constantly reminding myself I have a lot to be thankful for.
You guys are all a great support too :hug:

Thanks MR :hug: I do feel better doing this than I would going to formula. I don't know if many people IRL understand that... :)

ETA - I was to go back to work this week, just one day a week in the office & the rest from home - but have been told to stay home & work due to my expressing - I will come back later & post more about that :shakehead:

And a question - what do you all say when asked if you are breastfeeding or bottle feeding? It seems like such an explanation to go into... but what is the right answer? I find if I say 'we are expressing' it invariably leads to the full story, or puzzled looks...

Claire_A - like jasp I also used to give him the next express, and then once I had a bit of a lead built up, well then he got whatever was the oldest in the fridge. And he's always been a great sleeper so I don't know if that made any difference to us.

jasp - my goodness I'm intrigued about the work response... shall look out for your post on that. Re going into the whole story ooooh I know the feeling! I often used to just say I was breastfeeding if I couldn't be bothered to go into detail, but sometimes it just didn't work out. Or I'd say I was bottlefeeding expressed milk (sometimes useful for sensitive situations). Then I used to say very decisively that he just didn't BF well (yes poor bubba boy got all the blame!) and that I really wanted him to have BM so that's why I was expressing. That usually shut them up. They either then told me I was wonderful or just looked a bit gobsmacked (I could read the "gosh she's a crazy one alright" thoughts :rolleyes:), but in general most folks were positive. One lady declared that he must be BF'ed cos he had the cheek pads lol. Big huggies for the tears, understandable on seeing that sign, and I wonder the same thing in our case too.

My weaning is still going. Got down to a 2.5 day break between expresses, but then was still sore and expressed off 300ml for "comfort"... really really would like this to go down! Boy was my supply well entrenched! Am trying some sage tea & crossing fingers it will do something. We're getting there, I'm just impatient. Haven't decided what to do with frozen EBM, breastbanks generally want it from the newborn age & frozen in deep freezer (as opposed to bottom part of fridge freezer which mine is). Plus I prolly have too much caffeine :doh:. Anyway he's having a few days with only fresh & cow's milk to see if his skin improves.

Sorry said I'd be quick & write all this waffle. Must go snooze, work tomorrow.

happy expressing!
Belfie

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They either then told me I was wonderful or just looked a bit gobsmacked (I could read the "gosh she's a crazy one alright" thoughts :rolleyes:)

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:rofl: yep!

Hi, Claire,
Did you know that if you renew your subscription within 3 mnth of it lapsing you save $15 off the full price of a 12 mnth subscription - only $50 instead of $65. And, I think they are being pretty lenient - so I would sneak in a resubscription and then hire the breastpump from your local group. As my friend Yvette says "You could vacuum the house with the dustbuster - but we all want the dyson" same with breastpumps - when you have a big job ahead of you - you want the good equipment. Also, you get a discount on pumps you buy thru ABA if you are a member.
Jas,It sounds like you need a break from "trying" The disappointment of your struggles with breastfeeding must be bitter. But, don't close off the idea completely. Babies are able to learn to breastfeed at any age.

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But, don't close off the idea completely. Babies are able to learn to breastfeed at any age.

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Really? Hmm.... :think:

any advice on how to go about this? At the moment I have a baby who has forgotten that she ever did take the breast (for 3 days)

Hi ladies!
Has been very interesting to read all your posts...this site has never been so busy! LOL

Claire- Thanks for sharing the article about milk changing throughout the day, very interesting.
I feed Chloe whatever i have in the fridge as i express ahead (got lots of milk!) so i have no idea what time of the day that particular bottle came from! I personally havent seen any affects as a result of this, Chloe is generally a good sleeper day and night (although last week was a completely different story!), but ebm is all she has ever known and i have never been fussy about timing!
I'm not too concerned and won't be changing my routine, it just doesnt work for me to try to express for that meal...i never can judge when she is going to wake up hungry and expressing with a screaming baby is a disaster!

Jasp- i also found the Quote interesting:

Originally Posted by Barb Glare
But, don't close off the idea completely. Babies are able to learn to breastfeed at any age.

i tried again the other day with Chloe as my lactation nurse also said the same thing, and i had the exact same reaction as always: a screaming baby that would even try to attach! Oh well, was worth a shot!

Belfie & Jasp- as for what to tell people about feeding i also had the same issues...when people ask do i say i bottle feed ebm or breastfeed? i have decided to just say Chloe is breastfed now, it is easier and is close to the truth, she is getting breastmilk! I got tired of the confused look and having to go into detail!

Well thats it for us, we are off for our hip ultrasound tomorrow so will let you know how we go!
Hope everyone and their families are well!