Hello ladies.

After a decade of TTC, and doing IVF, we're finally expecting #1. With only 3 months to go I've started to think further ahead than just the next scan, and have been thinking about options for feeding our miracle.

I have decided that after around a week of BF I want to exclusively express, and have been recommended the Lactaline double pump by Ameda by our BF Consultant (who is lovely!)

I know about expressing every 2-3 hours and that for the first month-or-so I'll need to express at least twice during the night, but I wondered if any of you had any other tips for expressing? Or knew of any good books/websites to read up on about exclusively expressing?

Congratulations!
 


The only advice I have for exclusivly expressing is using Lanisoh to help with the friction. After my first week back at work, my nipples were sore & red until I started putting the Lanisoh on before I pumped. I also had a friend who pumped-only for 14 months and she said what helped her was being able to pump for 20 minutes instead of 15. Later, as her dd grew & slept longer, she was able to not pump during the night & said by the time she was about a 9 months old she was only pumping 4x a day, each time for 20 mins. And she never had to supplement. Not saying that is why, I think she was was one of those women with an overabundant amount of milk...a.ka. lucky!

i pumped exclusively for a year with Anthony. i have the medela pump in style double electric..

i had an overabundance too..i had a freezer full...so he got bm way after i was done pumping at a year..he never got formula. i did pump ever 4 hours or so after a few months.

i can't remember how many minutes i pumped for..maybe 15??

good luck
 

Why not continue BFing instead of pumping? Or do both? I found BFing to be soooo much easier than washing bottles all the time & I didn't have to worry about not having supplies if we were not home. Also, I was one of those unfortunate woman who couldn't get much with a pump (and I tried all kinds including a rental.) If I relied on just what I could pump my babies would have starved.

My only suggestion is to give your baby something in a bottle every day (even if its only an ounce) so she is used to the bottle for when you decide to go that route.

I am not sure if this is the kind of advice you are looking for, but in the beginning when I would pump it helped if I looked at dd. If she cried it was even better. I only pumped 2x per day, but was able to get a lot of milk when I did-much more than dd would need for 1 feeding.