Forums » Family and parenting » Baby, toddler, schooling » Expess feeds
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Expess feeds
posted at 4/7/2009 4:59 PM BST
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Total posts: 389
First post: 8/7/2008 Last post: 16/7/2009 |
As some of you may know Lilly was born with Gastroschsis and is still in hospital, but doing so well. 
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Re: Expess feeds
posted at 4/7/2009 9:22 PM BST
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Total posts: 4746
First post: 19/4/2007 Last post: 10/8/2009 |
If you express more you'll get more. However, the best way to get your supply up is to put the baby to your breast when you can. I can assure you preparing bottles and then using them within the hour and heating them and keeping them cool etc is not as easy as bf, ESPECIALLY when out and about. BF is so easy (when sorted) and is the only reason I stuck at it in the early days when it was so hideous and painful. If you have been told that the baby might suffer from nipple confusion there are other ways. However, my baby never did when I fed him expressed stuff from a bottle (though saying that when he was poorly the other day he wouldn't take a bottle but I haven't tried since). My friend's little baby was in SCBU and they did finger feeding and a syringe - baby learns to suckle and gets your milk via a little tube and a syringe which you control. Personally, I would feed her your milk however you can and then when you have her home/can manage it, put her to the breast and start the process. You should know that expressing only will reduce your supply in the end. It is only the actual baby which will keep it as it should be. Your baby is also going to be so much better than the expessing machine at getting milk from you so don't worry about what you're getting from expressing - also, that's actually very good!! I remember only getting 15mls at the beginning - now I can get 260mls at a sitting, quickly (which I donate as I can't be fooked with the faff with bottles!!). In a few months, when you really need the milk, you could have built up a good bank in your freezer, slowly but surely you'll get there. I know of someone, my best friend's sil, who expressed every feed she gave to her son as she was so anal about how much he was having and couldn't bear not knowing from bf - she lasted 8 weeks. Am so pleased to hear your little one is doing well, and well done you, it sounds like you're coping admirably and doing everything you can for your little baby xxx |
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Re: Expess feeds
posted at 6/7/2009 1:12 PM BST
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Total posts: 176
First post: 26/10/2008 Last post: 5/10/2009 |
Hi, how are you doing? I'm glad to hear Lilly is doing well. I breastfed the boys for the first few days. They were being fed through the tubes in their noses with formula for the majority of their feeds. I was quite ill after the birth but started expressing as soon as I could for them. I was planning on doing the same as you and breastfeeding but also expressing and feeding through a bottle so that my OH could get up in the night too. What I didn't realise was that you have to breastfeed for around 6-8 weeks before introuducing bottles. What we did was put the boys at the breast when ever possible to get them used to it. So whenever I was in SCBU and they were awake I'd have a go at breastfeeding. They had to be topped up through the NGT afterwards though as being premature meant that they'd fall asleep whilst feeding so they weren't on the breast very long. This top up was with a mix of EBM and formula. They also used to give them my breast milk through a syringe which they sucked on.Can you not have a go at breastfeeding when possible and then top up through the tube? Unfortunatley I found that the more I expressed the less milk I was producing. I was told this probably had something to do with the fact I was recovering from the pre eclampsia so my BP was still high and that I was sleep deprived and stressed. So I took the decision to bottle feed. Poor Liam used to get frustrated breastfeeding as I wasn't producung the milk. Unfortunately Jack became lazy on the bottle because he knew he'd get fed through the nose anyway so we had to go cold turkey on him and stop the top ups to encourage him to suck on the bottle. If you want to practice her sucking reflex you could speak to the nurses about having a dummy to use when she's being fed maybe? Mine had dummys from the day they were born and it never interfered with breast feeding. They still took to it. I personally find bottle feeding the twins so much easier as I can share the workload with their dad and other relatives can feed them too. You can give them milk at room temperature too so if you go out there's no need to faff around heating the milk. So if you do go the EBM through a bottle route then it's not always that hard  |
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