Expressing milk using manual breast pump?
i have philips avent isis manual pump and i tried to express milk last week and i managed to express less than an ounce only….again i tried to express this morning and i managed to express little more than one ounce? my 9 week old boy takes the bottle very nicely and i am worried that why am i not able to express more…today morning was my second attempt using the pump…i wish to really express a lot in the sense i want to store it up so that i can use it later for my lovely one…also can u pls guide me in storing the milk…i am really new to this concept of expressing and storing…i am scared whether my little dude would catch cold because of refrigrated milk…mums pls do share ur experience in becoming successful in this regard…i really appreciate all your patience in answering my question…thank you very much from the bottom of my heart
Filed under: Avent Breast Pump Faqs
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if you haven’t been expressing or breast feeding till now then your supply would have started to dry up hence why your only producing an ounce. I did both as my boy was to lazy to feed properly of the breast, and always got 5oz from each breast. you will have to try and express now ar every feed! to try and build up your supply and to try and get your breasts producing again. it may happen but is may also not happen.. its very hard to get ur supply back once its nearly gone. it will take lots of work and energy, pumping at every feed, once you have fed ur baby to pump for as long as you can half an hour plus preferable, your body will then start to become in tune with when your baby needs feeding and start to produce milk.
I am a supporter of ‘do what is natural’, and believe that if you want your son to be as strong and healthy as possible, you will continue on the path of breast feeding. Not only is it healthy for BOTH of you, but it is an incredible bonding experience which will affect your son for the rest of his life.
On the other hand, if you are physically or emotionally unable to breastfeed, then I’m glad you are at least providing him with your milk. Mother’s milk is filled with antibodies and minerals which fake milk will never be able to mimic, and your son will need that in his defenseless stage of life. Also, it is healthy that you rid yourself of said milk, as it is healthy for you as well. True, it will be absorbed back into you and stop flowing when you ween your child, but in nature not feeding your baby means that it has died, and it may trigger an unexplainable depressing mood in you.
If you can, I suggest you refrigerate the milk for no more than half a day. The fresher the better.
I hope this comment and those from others are helpful to you. And congradulations!
your child CANT catch a cold for refrigerated breast milk… the thing to worry about would be bacteria and that can be avoided but storing your milk properly… now my rules were handed down from the NICU staff so i KNOW they are more ridged than most books tell you, i was told store pumped milk immediately and use with in 1 day if refrigerated, if put in freezer can store up to 3 months, if in a deep freezer (NOT the one attached to the fridge) it can be stored up to 6 months. make sure to always put the date on the pumping so you know which needs used first (or which needs thrown out)
but like i said my requirements were from the nicu staff for my little one who due to surgeries needed to be extra careful with infections… it will be perfectly fine for you to use them for your child, but an Internet search will probably allow for a bit of extended storage for the different methods
EDIT:
personal experience, with my twins i pumped for 2 months… as i said one was in nicu and i could nurse, the other never took to the breast so i decided not to force the issue. i had bad times when i didn’t get much but after my milk came in it was never less than 1 ounce, i was using a electrical pump. i stopped when pumping got too stressful with my son running around… he was 16 months when the twins were born
I used the same breast pump and ended up with the same result. But I know that it’s not the pump because my co-worker who uses the same one got 4 oz from each breast! Everyone is different I think. People say the more you pump the more frequent you pump the more milk you’ll produce, but it simply didn’t happen for me. Try frequent pumping, I think every 2-3 hours 15 mins each breast is good, but everyone is different, hope you have better luck than I did. I’ve heard there is some pills you can take as well, but not too sure about that.
Remember, when you are expressing, to wash your hands, clean the breast, and keep breast pump parts thoroughly washed, and sterilised in order to prevent any bacteria from developing in the milk. As for storing breast milk. Has to be in air tight container or breast milk bags. Store in small portions 2-4 oz as it is faster to defrost. Label and date the breast milk.
General Storage times:
Room temp (no warmer than 25 C): for up to 4-6 hours
Back of the fridge: 3-4 days
Back of freezer (separate compartment): 3 months
Fresh milk retains more of its protective properties than frozen milk, but it is still very good for the baby. You can warm your the milk slightly in the bottle warmer if you like or defrost the milk in the fridge, but must be used within 24 hours.
Check on the internet, there are a lot of tips and storage time varies depending on the web site.