I have some newbie questions about breastmilk and pumping. I finally! got a proper milk flow in this…

@shannonmiguel I just left that one at the side too. She's just woke up and drank it. Love the fact its saving me having to get up and go to the kitchen, walking is agony. But it also helps keep milk flowing to so it's really good. If you find out how long they can keep out the fridge for after being expressed let me know xx

@mamaofzuri Thank you. I've just seen it. Four hours is great. Much better than the hour disposal I've been trying to work at with formula. But @shannonmiguel midwife has advised to not leave them out for so long as they can attract bacteria or whatever so I'll just try keep on top of it and fridge store as often as possible xx

Hi chick, you shouldnt use a pump until 6 weeks after, this allows your body to create the correct flow that baby needs, pumping before then, can cause you to become engorged which it really painfully, and baby can have issues latching. Id leave the pump well alone for now. Baby will tell your body what they need Nd your body will produce that for tbem xx

Hiya @stephiijones123. My milk flow is dreadful atm. It's only coming out at certain points of the day, whether I'm trying to breastfeed or pump, it only comes out when it feels like it, which is why I'm pumping whenever I get the chance or feel a little leakage coming on (I'm hoping it boost some milk). I had a veteran breastfeeder come round yesterday to help me out with actual breastfeeding and she actually told me to stop everything completely and get something from the chemist to wash out the engorgement I'm gunna get hit with because it seems nothing is working. I've been getting her on the boob since she was born but even now - almost a week later - milk doesn't come out on demand. I've been telling midwifes that nothings there or coming out and all I'm getting back is "just give her what you can from the breast" which is... Nothing. The vet breastfeeder yesterday didn't believe me either till I got my tit out and showed her no matter how hard my daughter suckled she didn't kick start any drops or flow. All the poor girl does is stress herself trying too. It's all driving me mad atm. So I'm just gunna go with what I think will work. If I keep pumping when able to my body might start producing more of a flow? Maybe too much of a flow but its gotta be better than this xx

@clarelushx I started out with a slow flow, a VERY slow flow! I found offering the breast as often as I could (even if baby wasn't looking for it) then pumping straight afterwards helped heaps! I'd pump even if I wasn't getting anything (Google the best ways to get milk out). Also if baby wasn't hungry he wouldn't get frustrated trying to get milk when none was coming. Pumping at night helps a lot as well. It's hard though because you want all the sleep you can get, I think it's between 3 and 6 am that your milk flow is at its peak (you'll have to check the hours).

Just something I wish someone had said to me when I was starting out and having a really hard time: I know you probably really want exclusively breastfeeding to work out but if it doesn't it's not the end of the world! There is absolutely nothing wrong with formula, a fed and content baby is best and your sanity is more important than anything. If you're not happy then you're not going to be able to look after the baby as well! If you can give some breast milk then that's great, but if you can't that's fine to! Do what works for you.

I have an email from a la leche league supporter from when I was going through the same thing, if you want me to send it to you I can x

@jamieleighx it's actually refreshing to know there's others that have had the same problem. I feel almost like people look at me as if I'm talking nonsense when I say I'm just not producing right. I think it's other people's mindsets that get to me more than the struggle. My MIL pretty much ignored what I said about milk production and told me it was a latching problem, got the boob out n tried for a good 20 minutes to stimulate a flow with baby on boob and nothing, only then she listened to what I was saying. It's really annoying.

I've been pumping at any chance and so far I've been doing alright. Mornings do tend to peak up for me. The bottle from this status though was the best flow I've had. The rest just havent been as good. Minimal extract but it's been better than nothing. Gunna keep pumping in hopes of getting a nice flow but if I don't like you say, it's fine. Fed is best and she would gave got a little colostom even though its only a drop or so x

@clarelushx has your milk come in yet? Mine took a bit longer than normal, Theo was about 6/7 days old!