milk supplies

N

ninahudd

Registered User
I am starting back to work in a few weeks and want to express milk for as long as i can but i have a few questions:
1) How much milk should i try to get in the freezer to give me a good start
2) how much do i need to put in each bag. Books say that breast fed babies take about 3/4 oz. Is that the same even as they get older (she's 2 months now)
3) I am a teacher so can only realistically pump or feed in the morning/lunch time/ after school and evening. Is that going to be enough to keep my milk going?
Any other adviuce would be gratefully recieved, it all seems a bit daunting and I'm worried I'm going to fail at it.
:thanks
 
:cheerlead :cheerlead Here are some of my experience:
1) As much as possible.
2) I put around 4 oz in each bag
3) It depends how much milk you could pump. For me, I also pump four times per days since my LO turned 2.5 months. Morning, around 11 am, 4pm and before i went to sleep. I could have good 14 oz at the morning and 8 oz for others. So she had enough milk supply.
Just keep a routine you will be able to do it. Don't worry !!!!
 
It is recommended that you offer expressed breast milk to babies in small quantities because it is easier to add more than to take some away. Once you have heated and given the milk to the baby any extra that the baby doesn?t drink will need to be thrown away.

Usually I suggest giving 2 oz and then an extra ounce and a second extra ounce and even a third extra ounce if needed. This way if your baby only wants 2.5 oz you don?t waste much.

The other advantage of giving milk like this is that it automatically paces the milk you feed. One problem with giving milk in a bottle is that even a full baby will always drink. And babies rarely stop drinking until they are not just full but over full. This is one of the reasons that so many bottle fed babies are over weight.

One mother told me that she would freeze her milk in an ice cube tray and then store the milk cubes in a plastic bag. This allowed her to store the milk easily but use it in small amounts ? and very easy to give extra if the baby wanted more as the milk cube defrosted quickly.

A two month old breastfed baby will drink about 28 ozs in 24 hours and a six month old baby will also drink about 28 oz in 24 hours. How much your baby drinks while you are away depends on how much she drinks while you are home. My first child hated drinking from bottles and so she only drank about 4 ozs the whole time I was away (but she drank a lot during the night) whereas my second child drank about 12 ozs while I was away (and he slept better at night).

If you can pump enough milk while you are away from your baby you will be doing very well. Most of the mothers I talk to have to pump at extra times too. Often they find first thing in the morning is a good time to get extra milk. Feed on one side and pump the other ? or if you can pump the other side while the baby is feeding. Remember that it is fine to put the baby to the pumped side (or back on the original side) if the baby seems fussy after you?ve fed ? this will only increase your milk supply.

Also remember that fresh milk is better for the baby and easier to handle than frozen milk. Fresh milk can keep in the fridge for up to 7 days.

Best wishes,
SARAH
 
I would also make 4oz bags and then later 6oz bags when baby was older. I always pumped when nursing as Sarah recommended and was able to accumulate a good stash in the freezer. Don't forget to drink lots of water.

Best of luck!
 
Those are really good questions!

I would say:
1) Don't obsess too much about filling the freezer - enjoy the remaining time you have at home with your baby (rather than giving your baby to somebody else while you go and pump), and breastfeed your baby directly as much as possible to boost supply;
2) It depends on how well your baby takes to a bottle while you are away. While this is an unknown, just freeze small sizes. When your baby is taking a bottle well, then you can more confidently freeze larger amounts. Still advisable to freeze a mixture of amounts so that if your baby drinks 4oz and is still hungry, your helper doesn't have to spoil another 4oz bag which baby will probably not finish.

I never had much time to pump when I was at work, but I only went back to work after 6 months. I used to make sure I was as close to "empty" (your breasts are never completely empty) as possible when I left in the morning, by expressing from the other breast during feeding as Sarah describes, plus continuing expressing from both breasts after she had finished. When I returned in the evening, I would do the same, and these two expressing sessions alone would yield a huge amount of milk for me compared to the sessions I had at work when my baby was not around.

It varies so much from woman to woman as to how well your breasts respond to a pump when your baby is not around. Mine don't, whereas others seem to have floods of milk whenever they want. There are things you can do to aid letdown such as warm compresses (or just going for a brisk walk or climbing a few flights of steps first), massage, visualisation and relaxation.

Two things seem to help with pumping yield. Keep up your supply by breastfeeding as much as you can when you are home. If your baby sleeps well at night, you could try a "dreamfeed" when you go to bed, where you just pick him/her up asleep and put him/her to the breast. It might be tempting to pump at this time, but your supply will be better maintained by feeding directly (if it doesn't disturb your baby's sleep - every baby is different). Don't give bottles on the weekend. And stay confident about your milk supply. Easier said than done maybe. But if you notice a drop in your milk production, try not to panic - because worrying about your milk production is the surest way to guarantee a continued reduction in production!

Whatever happens, you will know you are doing the best you can for your baby.
 
Thanks

Thanks for all your advice. Like you said I will be doing my best. Can't even get my baby to take a bottle at the moment so we could both be in for a fun time ahead!!
 
I had the same problem with my first child as he wouldn't take from the bottle. This was in the UK so I found a child minder close to where I worked and nipped over there at lunchtime to feed him; he was a little older at six months and was quite happy with this mid day top up from Mummy.

If you're trying to get on the bottle, try a time when your baby is getting hungry but not crying for it, as a screaming baby isn't usually too keen. My friend managed to get her son to take the bottle through perseverence, every day she tried the bottle; after two weeks she managed to feed him with the bottle.

Also it is a good idea to get someone else to give you baby the bottle. My theory with this, is if the baby can see you then why would they want the bottle when they can get it from source. With our second child my husband tried giving her the bottle and she took it straight away. I stayed out of the room and although there was some initial resistence within a few minutes she ws guzzling away.

Also remember the bottle is not the only way of getting milk into a baby. There are special cups that can be used to get the milk into them; it might be alot more messy, but at least they will get a feed. You may also have to try a variety of bottles before you find a teat that your baby is happy with.

Good luck

Jools
 
choking

we have tried sooo many ideas for how to get her to takev a bottle but nothing seems to work. i don'y think she even knows what to do with it and pushes it out with her tongue and starts choking., Tried tonnes of different teats but she still does the same, Tried playing with the teat in her mouth, even resorted to trying dummies with her but same reaction. She just doesn't seem to get the idea.
 
When my husband tried feeding our daughter, he tried to hold her in a similar position to the one she was used to when feeding from me, i.e. on her side rather than on her back. This might help as the more you can mimic the way she has been fed the more likely she is to take from the bottle.

There is also a bottle on the market (I think they sell it from Bumps to Babes) where you can squeeze the bottle so that the baby gets some milk and then may realise that there is milk coming and might start to feed. It's the bottle that Tracy Hogg the Baby Whisperer recommended.

It might also be worth just choosing one teat and trying that one, as I say my friend just persevered and tried every day, until her little one got the idea.

Try to relax. As I said this is not the only way to get milk into her there are also feeding beakers on the market, so all is not lost.

Jools
 
Thanks Jools

Will try perseverance and feeding beakers if necessary. We have settled on the tommee tippee bottle as we at least got 1 oz down her the other day using it (through much screaming and distress!).
 
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