expressing questions

[teapot]

Little Moo is 5 weeks old now and the feeding is settling in a bit.
Can anyone help me with some expressing questions.

if you express does it make you produce more milk than the baby can
drink?
could I express last thing at night so his dad can feed him in the
night?
if i did, will my breasts explode from all the milk they produce?

cheers

teapot and the moo 8th June 03

[Elana]

teapot > wrote:

> if you express does it make you produce more milk than the baby can
> drink?

Your body then thinks that the baby needs more milk, so it will produce
more.

> could I express last thing at night so his dad can feed him in the
> night?

For me...I had nothing late at night. You could, but if he wakes up
during hte night (or you wake up on your own), you could pump then.
Mornings I've heard are good, after or during the first feed.

> if i did, will my breasts explode from all the milk they produce?

I think you should wait a little longer...someone else will explain why.
Really.

E

[KC]

(teapot) wrote in message >...
> Little Moo is 5 weeks old now and the feeding is settling in a bit.
> Can anyone help me with some expressing questions.
>
> if you express does it make you produce more milk than the baby can
> drink?
My baby always acts hungry and nurses alot after I express, so it does
build supply in that way I think.


> could I express last thing at night so his dad can feed him in the
> night?

Skipping a night feeding is bad for supply.

> if i did, will my breasts explode from all the milk they produce?

I tend toward low supply, so this doesn't happen to me, but YMMV.

KC

[HollyLewis]

>Little Moo is 5 weeks old now and the feeding is settling in a bit.
>Can anyone help me with some expressing questions.
>
>if you express does it make you produce more milk than the baby can
>drink?

If you express regularly and/or frequently, it will tend to increase your
supply. However, whether your baby will drink more, less, or the same amount
of ebm from a bottle than he would if nursing, and whether he will drink more,
less or the same amount of ebm as you can pump, are impossible to predict.
There are babies in each category.

If you only pump occasionally, it's not likely to affect your overall supply.

>could I express last thing at night so his dad can feed him in the
>night?

Maybe. Most of us find that pumping yield is low at bedtime (it's highest in
the early a.m.) so you might not be able to pump as much in that one session as
the baby wants to eat during the night. You can see where that would lead if
you did it every night.

Even if you can "keep up", it's a lot of work, and if you develop that as your
regular routine, you may have some trouble if one night Daddy isn't available
or for some other reason you don't use the bottle, and you try to nurse at a
time you ordinarily don't. Your baby may get very frustrated if letdown isn't
as fast or supply isn't as high as she'd like, which it won't be, compared to a
bottle. This is not fun to deal with in the middle of the night!

Also, because the pump is less effective than the baby at extracting the milk
(which I'm sure you've heard before), and your baby is still very young, your
overally supply may suffer a bit (again, only if you do it regularly).

Basically, I would suggest using the overnight-bottle-from-Daddy on an
occasional, rather than a regular, basis, just to get some relief when you
simply can't function with one more interrupted night. It's less risky. That
said, yeah, some parents do what you're suggesting and it works out pretty well
for them. It always seemed like way too much work to me, but then, my son
almost always slept at least 5 hours at night. If yours is waking every 2
hours, it might be worth a try.

>if i did, will my breasts explode from all the milk they produce?

Nope. :-) Any time you stop nursing or pumping at a time that you ordinarily
did, you may get some engorgement. What you're suggesting is likely to result
in your waking up in the middle of the night anyway, in a puddle of millk, for
a while until your body adjusts. You can minimize the engorgement by making
the change gradually, and there are various things you can do to relieve any
pain if it does happen. But no matter how engorged you get, your breasts will
not explode. <g> Grow to the size of beach balls, yes. Explode, no.

Holly
Mom to Camden, 2 yrs