There is nothing as dull as expressing. To sit there for large chunks of time, pumping away only to gather a pitiful ounce of milk.
To know that you having those few hours away from the house is dependant upon.how much milk you can gather.
The picture below is just over an ounce, it has taken me all day to gather this.
Expressing is not quick or easy or attractive. It is something I do out of necessity and usually locked away somewhere so I can maintain some degree of desire to Mr C.
I have only really pumped out of necessity, emergencies only. Anything else and I tend to feed Munchie before I go out and ensure I'm not away too long. It takes 6 minutes to feed him. It takes 2 days to gather enough milk to be able to leave him.
So far I have tried various ways of expressing and various times through the day.
Manual pump: Quiet but painstakingly slow. You inevitably end up with hand ache after all the handle squeezing.
Mains operated: Marginally quicker milk gathering but discrete it is not. Do this at work and people are going to end up coming to investigate the noise. Best hope they gave you a room which locks!
After a bath or shower: This usually gives me the most amount of milk, however fitting a bath in usually involves baby napping and he never seems to nap long enough for me to bath and express.
During a feed: Yes, it is possible to feed Munchie from one side and express from the other. Again, this has given me some good results. Feeding him stimulates the let down so milk flows more freely. However, positioning is difficult and on the rare occasion I got this right I managed almost 4oz, only for Munchie to kick my pump out of my hand and spill my precious milk over him, me and the sofa.
Then there's the whole cow to a milk machine feeling. Plus it is just so boring.
Gravity is needed to enable the milk to run into the storage receptacle, so your leaning over, trying to maintain suction, trying to mimic babies feeding rhythm, trying not to think about cows being milked and willing the milk to come out.
You can see why I do not bother pumping very often can't you?
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6 comments
I hated expressing in the first few weeks I could get 6/7 Ozs in one go but the older Sophie became the less I could get out so I gave up. Sophie would feed in 5 minutes the expressing like you said a lot longer!!! My SIL expressed the other day and got 4ozs she then dropped it on the floor :(
I feel your pain & like you I don't pump very often but when doing it try hand expressing after your last drop goes into the pump and then re-attach the pump you may get more like this, although I know time is an issue as well. Have you got a hands free pumping bra for your electric pump? You can make one at home out of an old bra. Taking fenugreek supplements can also help pumping output. xx
The worst thing is when you're leaning over and you spill some! The phrase 'no use crying over spilt milk' could not be more inappropriate!!!
I agree - pumping is dull
I found that setting up as handsfree (tie together two hair bands, one on the bra clip, one on the funnel and tah dah!) helped plus accepting that people would just have to put up with me doing it
That said I don't miss not pumping every day now I don't have to!
Keep up the good work
Thanks ladies. Someone needs to invent a pump that works when you are laying down.
I was away from Munchie for 5 hours, I was amazed at how much I managed to pump off after being away from him.
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