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Ok so I want DH to be involved with our little ones feeding so I thought at the end of feeding her I could express so then when we build up enough he could give her a bottle feed with breastmilk...
Now my question is can I express from the breast she fed off and the other one? And will I still be ok to feed her from the breast the next feed? She feeds every 3-4 hours at the moment...
Also how many mls should I store the milk at?
This is all new to us so any advice and help would be great :)
How's the feeding going?
You can do the expressing whichever way works best for you. Have you tried yet? Just be aware that it often takes a while to get much out - you may find you have to do it regularly for several days to a week before you can get much at once (or not, everyone's different).
The more milk you remove from the breast, the more you make. You may find expressing works best if you give it 0.5-1 hour or so from the last feed before trying. But you don't need to wait for your breasts to refill when breastfeeding - they make milk as required, so don't worry too much about the timing or which breast you use when. If one feels overfull (as they still might at this early stage) just go with that one first to avoid blockages, but otherwise it doesn't really matter.
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 :D
my personal advice would be to wait a little longer for your milk supply to establish, i started messing around with expressing early on with DS and it messed with my supply, my poor little man would drown in milk. I asked my midwife this time and her suggestion was 10 mins each side after a feed which shouldn't increase supply too much. Once you have the first bottle collected, what you could do is express each feed you are replacing, so when DH is giving bubs a bottle, you could express the feed she would have had and put that away for the next day/ time and just repeat the process.
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.
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.
The ABA recommends waiting until bfing is established, usually after six weeks or so. Around that time your supply has stopped being hormonally based and will be producing what your baby needs, so it might take a while to get the ebm you need for a full feed. It's worth remembering too that if you're planning on replacing one of her normal bfs with expressed milk, you will probably still need to express that feed for a little while to avoid blocked ducts and discomfort. It might be something you can build up to, rather than swap over to all at once - it might be a bit annoying to get up to express while DH is beside you feeding expressed milk!
I have also heard of young babies that get 'nipple confusion', where the ease of being bottlefed leads to them rejecting the breast. But it doesn't happen for all babies and the occasional bottle feed probably wouldn't cause it.
DP and I intended to do exactly as you are describing and I ended up not bothering. I did still express occasionally and leave ebm if I went out without DD, especially when I went back to work, but I tended to express when she dropped a feed. I couldn't figure out how I'd go with expressing on a regular basis and dealing with bottles, pump, etc, for DP to give a bottle when bfing was so quick and easy (eventually!). DP instead took over bath duties and would take her out for a walk around the block on their own to give them some time alone together. And he was welcome to change as many nappies as he wanted to. :p
Thanks soo much ladies!!! Very helpful exactly what I needed to hear :)
Feeding is going really well I have gotten her into a 3-4 hour routine
We might wait a while then try expressing when I go back to work!
Soo much easier hearing personal experiences then reading the "this is how its supposed to be"
sorry I should have also noted that with my DS being a prem bub, he was given EBM from birth, it was 8 days til he was strong enough for a breastfeed and even then with a tongue tie we used a shield. So he didnt have breast/nipple confusion as he was use to it from birth. A friend of mine did introduce feeds by DH and had to stop until bub was about 6 months because he started refusing feeds from her.
Hope you find a way that works for you guys :)