[jane01]

Hi Mammalicious

When my baby was 3 months old I had to go into hospital for a day for a small operation. Bubs was fully breastfed up until this point and being so young I thought she would just take a bottle, especially of EBM - WRONG. Poor little thing starved herself for the entire time I was in hospital (about 8 hours) then fed all night. She just screamed whenever my husband and helper tried to give her a bottle or feed her with a spoon. I never really had a much of a break from her until she self weaned at 11 months - maybe a few hours here and there. Next bub is having a bottle a day from birth!

To answer your question re amounts of expressed breast milk - I was told by a midwife, 150mls per kg per day. So, if your bub weighs 5kgs, that's 750mls. If your bub is taking, say, 5 feeds per day, that is 150mls per feed.

When I went into hospital, it took me 2 weeks beforehand to express enough milk to feed her. I just wasn't a good expresser. Sometimes I could only express 10mls at a time. I just added it to my meagre supply. I found the Avent hand pumps almost useless and quite painful. The Medela electric pumps were much gentler and more efficient.

I was assured that the baby is much more efficient at getting milk from you than an electric pump. As my bub was always putting on weight and generally quite a chubby bubby, I never worried.

Here is some information on expressing:

http://www.breastfeeding.asn.au/bfinfo/pumpsug.html

http://www.breastfeeding.asn.au/bfinfo/express.html

Hope that helps

[mammalicious]

for Sarah and also for Jane01

first - Jane --- I am using the Avent Isis manual pump and you'r right, i find that my nipples are getting a bit sore, although during my stay in hospital i used the big yellow medela one.. (not sure if its the symphony but that's wot it looked like just a big version of it) which also caused my some pain, though once i turned it down a bit it was better. do you suggest the lactina or the symphony model for medela?


Sarah - i have sent you an email to your hotmail address and would like to come to one of your meetings.. something i forgot to ask in the email is.. with storing breastmilk... i must chill the milk first in the fridge before freezing.. i didn't realise that and had been sticking my milk in the freezer straight from bagging it from the pump. will this be a problem for the bags i have frozen so far? do i need to throw them away? also, the link suggests that i thaw the EBM with warm running water. i have finally managed to have my baby successfully take 1 bottle of 1 oz ebm, but i thawed it by pouring boiled water into a bowl and then sticking my bag of EBM in there until thawed and then putting into a bottle. i guess i can't do anything about that now as it is in her tummy. but as i have still got 4 bags in the freezer stuck straight into there without chilling in the fridge. do i need to chuck them out and redo some EBM? I will await hopefully a reply from you to my email, also with your schedule for meetings.

Thanks so much!

[rani]

Originally Posted by mammalicious

hi Rani

How did your husband manage to get Druv to take the bottle.. i'm struggling... i expressed some milk after a feed... then my little one would not stop crying. After chking her diaper, cuddling her, we tried the bottle (this was only 40 minutes after the breastfeed) .

We gave Dhruv the bottle when he was hungry, I think it was couple of hours after his last feed. He did resist and turned his head a few times, but he finally gave in and opened his mouth. I think the most difficult was weaning Dhruv from the teat to a sippy cup at 18mths! He cried so MUCH!

[LLL_Sarah]

Dear Mammalicious,

Breast milk is fine going straight into the freeze – there is no need to chill it first.

If, however, you are planning to add fresh milk to already frozen milk then it is recommended to chill it first. This is so that when the new milk is added it doesn’t defrost the original milk. Once milk has been defrosted it should not be refrozen and should be used within 24 hours.

But please remember that fresh milk is much better for your baby than frozen milk – the freezing process kills off some of the beneficial properties of breast milk. So it is healthier if you can manage with milk keep in the fridge rather than freezer. But having said that even frozen milk is much better for your baby than the artificial milk available in the shops.

Best wishes,
SARAH

[jane01]

Sorry mammalicious, I don't remember which model it was. I hired it from Annerley midwives if that helps.