Someone told me expressing is not ideal for baby and it has put me off...help!

[littlechicken]

Hi everyone
I am new to mumsnet so please excuse any dodgy abbreviations etc! I have a dd1 (think thats right!) and am loving breastfeeding her, but am starting to get more and more tired with the nights.
I keep thinking about expressing so my dh can help out, but i have a mental block that prevents me starting as a friend of mine told me that expressing isn't as good for the baby as feeding straight from the breast.
She believes that your body provides what your baby needs at the time that it needs it - meaning that your baby needs certain things in the night from breastmilk, and if you feed with morning milk the baby won't get that and vice versa. She is not in anyway qualified but i have always respected her opinion as she is a yoga teacher and very well read on baby issues, and spends a lot of time and thought over things.
Does anyone have an opinion on that, would really appreciate some other views to help me make my decision.
Great site by the way, women are amazing things aren't we, I wonder if a blokes site would be quite as good!!

[shonaspurtle]

Never heard of this!

The only thing I've heard about expressing for night feeds is that it could affect your supply in the early days before bfd'ing is well established, and that it might also make you uncomfortably full, again in the early days.

[Twiglett]

express away

so long as bf well established you and baby will be fine

think your friend may be well-meaning but slightly off-base

other people will know better though

[Cappuccino]

what utter tripe imo

you're doing the best you possibly can for your baby by bfeeding

a couple of nights sleep is far more important than any woolly earth mother rubbish

[Twiglett]

breast milk does change over time IIRC .. but you're talking about months (ie newborn to 12 months) not hours

[3sEnough]

I know that breastmilk is age appropriate but have never heard of it being 'time appropriate' - ask her for the research information. There are so many mothers who do thai I'd be very surprised if it were true.

[3andnomore]

Hi there, by all means express and give it by the bottle, it's still great quality milk
But yes, your friend is correct to say that Milk straight from the breast is a bit better, as in the active ingredients are better straight from the breast,and soemtimes warming bm up can distroy some of the goodness, but it's still good quality
The only problem can be that some Baby's may find it easier to feed from the bottle and get lazy and may start refusing the breast, but it really is something you have to see as you go!

[Cappuccino]

mine changes from hour to hour

but only in terms of its alcohol content

[littlechicken]

thanks everyone. I have certainly never read this in a book or online, so i shall ask her where she heard about it. Twiglett i think you might have summed it up by saying that she is well meaning but slightly off- base (another thing she believes is that a baby shouldn't face outwards in a sling, even at 8 months, which to me seems a shame as my dd loves to look at the world now at 14 wks.) I would love to beable to just feed from the breast, but do feel that i might end up going bonkers without the occasional better night.

[moondog]

Tell her she's talking bollocks.
And that's official.

[lulumama]

[moondog]

Hello Lulu.
I'm fine thanks,busy with revising for MSc exams and about to return to work.
How are you??
Been upsetting anyone lately?

[mears]

Actually there is an element of truth in what your friends says - breastmilk at each feed is different. The milk I expressed when working nightshift looked pale green in comparison to during the day.

However, that does not mean that you cannot express for occasional feeds. My baby ended up getting my night expressed milk for daytime feeds when I wasn't there. in the overall scheme of things it didn't matter as I breastfed directly for the majority of the time. My baby also got milk from the freezer that I had expressed a few months earlier - again doesn't matter.

The only thing is expressing can be a bit difficult to get the hang of. Don't be put off if you don't get a whole feed at one go. Better to get in the habit of expressing milk to stockpile in the freezer to give you the freedom to go out etc. whenever you want.

[lulumama]

[mears]

here is a bit of science!

[moondog]

I bow to Mears' judgement as always.Tis now only semi bollocks.

[littlechicken]

thanks Mears, that gives me some homework to do...i just briefly scanned it as i was saving it to read later, and one thing i notcied was that it said that the right breast is usually more productive than the left breast - how strange, i had noticed that dd feeds better from the right side but thought i must have wonky boobs!

[3andnomore]

On the sling thing....must say, I have heard it before....i.e. the outwardfacing is not so good for the spine, but I believe it depends on what kind of sling you use, which position you use...i.e. outward facing in a "parachute" postion, i.e. legs hanging down is not sao good for the spine...but say if you use a wrap or a ringsling and the Baby's legs are "in" the sling and the spine of the Baby is rounded, it's o.k. from that aspect!
Another issue can be, that a Baby can't turn away from sunlight very well if in an outward position, whiles, say, in a Hipcarry position the Baby can look pretty much forward, but also snuggle in and protect themselfs, etc...not sure if I explained that very well, but hope you know what I mean!

[littlechicken]

thanks 3andnomore (great name by the way!)
Do you have a sling that you would recommend - we have been using the baby bjorn one, and she seems so happy that i assumed that it was ok. We do a lot of walking as we have a young and very bouncy dog, so i need something that is good for carrying a baby long distances.

[Elasticwoman]

I would not let any small difference in the quality of the milk put me off letting dh feed ebm at night. Things to bear in mind though are (1) it might affect supply adversely (2) you might wake up with swollen and leaky boobs (3) mastitis is a possibility. None of these is irreversible or the end of the world and might not happen anyway.

So have you given it a try yet littlechicken?

[mears]

Most women have one boob that expresses much better than the other - mine was the right one too (I think)

[3andnomore]

littlechicken, we have a Huggababy Ringsling, and that is the most used sling in our household, even though ms and ys are 4 and 2, it still gets used at times...when they get tired walking, etc...!
A wrap is also a great option, but personally never got to grips with that at all, but it does distribute the weight the best, I suppose! But it does need some learning
We have the Sutemi, which is also a great sling, but the straps cross over in the backcarry, making boobs look funny, so, the Ergo mihgt be a better option, heard loads of positive things about that. And the Ergo and Sutemi look kind of like a Babybjoern, but the Baby isn't quite in teh same position, legs are up and back will be rounded, rather then a Baby "hanging" in it like a parachute, iykwim....also have a mei tei style one which we also loved, but I don't trust it now anymore, as I think my lil ones mihgt be a bit heavy for that one, lol!
I think that is the link to teh babywearer website:) there is some great stuff on there about all sorts of slings and their advantages and disadvantages and distributers HTH

[jellybellie]

Littlechicken - have you tried yet? if so, how did it go? - I used to express throughout the day so that dh could give a bottle of ebm for the late night dreamfeed(11pm) which meant that I could go to bed early and catch some much needed sleep - dh used to really enjoy that time with ds and admitted later on that it made him feel worthwhile to be able to help out like this.

[littlechicken]

thanks everyone. I now have a slingeasy which i am really looking forward to using, might test it out on our walk tomorrow.
I haven't expressed yet, i have had insomnia the last few nights so really glad to have dd wake up and want feeding as something to do in the middle of the night! Anyone else had insomnia whilst breastfeeding - it seems ridiculous to be lying awake whilst she is asleep.

[3andnomore]

yeah, had that...imsomnia...at times...usually when I could have caught a few hours!