To the expressers out there

I am starting to become resigned to the fact that part or even full time expressing is apart of mine and dd's future. DD has a poor attachment and disorganised suck and we have done everything to improve it but with every passing week the whole thing is getting worse and harder. After days and days of constant screaming I started introducing a couples of bottles of EBM and its like we have 2 different children. After a feed on the breast dd is unsettled and fussy and impossible to get to sleep. After a bottle of EBM she is calm and peaceful and the happiest kid around. For the last two nights after a bottle of ebm she's slept 7 hours straight :o We were doing 90min intervals before that and taking up to 2 hours to settle. So I think I need to do what's best for her in the end. Anyway I have some questions.

How do you organise your day? Do you pump before a feed anticipating one or after a feed in preparation for the next?

If you have other children do you have any tips on making the whole process easier. I have 3 under 4.

Do I really need a double pump. I have a single electric one. Right now I can get enough for a whole feed out of one boob but I am guessing that may change as she gets older and requires less milk. I am lucky I have supply like a jersey cow and I find expressing easy ( I can get a feed for her pumped in less than 5 minutes)

When you go out do you just feed them from the boob?? If not how do you take a bottle out. From the fridge in a cold pack??? Is there a better way.

Any other tips or tricks that may help me.

That's great you're able to pump so well.
The ABA has some info on expressing and storing milk and Using a pump you might find useful.
All the best

Hi there,

I'm new to all of this myself, hopefully some of the more experienced ladies will see your post soon. My LO is only 18 days old and only just trying to get BF established. I've been expressing since his birth. I also have the same experience of unsettled behaviour after BFs and settled after EBM by bottle. I"m not sure why this is so.

I pump about every 3 hours, overnight I do one which is 4 hours. This is what the hospital told me to do before I was discharged. Apparently they recommend you do about 8 bouts of expressing in 24 hours. With the 3 hour expressing I find that I'm ahead of feeds as sometimes DS goes longer than 3 hours before requiring a feed. I get enough each time for a feed (80-100mls at this point). Due to some large expresses I now have a stockpile in the freezer.

I don't have any other children so can't offer any advice on this one.

I always take a bottle when I go out. It just sits in the nappy bag hot/cold compartment. I sometimes feed at room temperature which can be done with EBM or if I'm somewhere where I can get some hot water I heat it up. DS take room temperature if he is really hungry.

Good luck! It's a big commitment to sustain expressing.

Check out the Exclusive Expressers thread - there's a few stories there (mine as well) and lots of advice.

I pumped 3 hourly to begin with, then 4hourly, at 6 months I dropped the overnight pump and at 8 months I went to 4 pumps a day and continued dropping pumps until we weaned. I also had a good supply and found that as I was dropping pumps, my supply wasn't really affected until I dropped to 2 pumps a day. So if you can get a good supply established early on that is great.

I was fulltime expressing, so when we went out I would either time it between pumps or take the pump with me. She had virtually all her milk at room temp, EBM keeps at room temp for a few hours so I would give her one lot & then express the next.
I had a double electric pump which was a godsend, and I did have other children but they were all older; so we had football games & dance comps & school stuff, but we could work around that.

Two bits of advice I would give myself if I was facing it again - one, keep trying if you can - it might be hard now, but things can change. And long term it will be much easier to breastfeed than to express. I do wish I had persisted for longer , having said that though I tried for weeks & it was doing my head in, I know what a struggle it can be.
And secondly, don't stress too much about scheduling pumps - I was like a maniac on the clock when it came to pumping but really, I had a good supply, and babies don't breastfeed at set times so if you have to have the odd pump a bit earlier or later sometimes, it's not the end of the world. Especially with 3 under 4, you might find sometimes you have to put it down & come back to it later. As long as you're roughly getting 8 in 24 hours, you should be ok. I wish I'd been a bit mor relaxed about it :)

Goodluck :hug:

I pumped after a feed and left it out at room temp for the next feed. Any extra pumps I popped in the fridge.
I would pump before I went out and take the fresh milk with me, that way no heating required :)

I agree you should defo keep offering the boob. And lots of skin to skin time. We have gone from no attachment and full time ebm to exclusive BFing. I know it's harder with the extra kids but feeding ebm and expressing takes up so much time.
Good luck!