Do I need to express?

Question

I'm expecting my first and plan to exclusively breastfeed for as long as I can. I'm not sure if I need to express as well, it seems like a lot of extra work (heating bottles, sterilising, etc. Although I've already been given a steriliser and bottle warmer so it won't cost too much). I work from home so I could feasibly breastfeed only, but would this mean I could never be away from baby for more than 2 hours? Is it reasonable to think I could do this for the year or so I might be breastfeeding? The only time I can think this would be an issue is that I go to the cinema once a month and I couldn't take him there (at least I assume its rude to take a baby to a movie). Thoughts?

Answer

I usually only pump once or twice a month, just to have a little extra milk for date nights, emergencies, etc. But the Hakka milk collectors are great! They "pump" and collect little bits of milk without the hassle of the regular pumps. Totally recommend it!

Answer

Never say never when it comes to a baby 😂. I had beautiful dreams of having a baby set on my chest and they just latch perfectly and that was it it was all good. Turns out it doesn’t always work that way for everyone. I truly hope that is your story but I share mine so you aren’t crushed if something doesn’t go perfectly to plan because it hardly ever does with a baby. My son couldn’t latch and I did not want to supplement because nipple confusion was all I read about and you don’t need to supplement and blah blah blah. All that may be true for some but it isn’t the end all be all. We spent his first week of life in and out of the doctors office and lab because he had jaundice from lack of milk he wasn’t getting from not getting a good latch etc. so I began to ep. with my daughter I had the idea that she probably wouldn’t latch and if I needed to supplement and ep I would. Sure enough she couldn’t latch either thank you insanely flat nipples🙄.  I did try nipple shields and seeing a lc etc but it just was not in the cards for us.

Answer

There’s mostly no need to sterilize bottles anymore (per WebMD article). And our LO took cold bottles (lucky us!). But the pump was so annoying, I grew to hate it. I pumped for the first few months and built a huge stash and then decided to be a SAHM so I donated it all. You can just BF mostly but if you are planning on being away from baby, then plan ahead of time and pump. Or maybe just pump once a week or something so you have a little stash built up in case you forgot to plan ahead one day. You’ll figure out if/how much you need to pump as you see what life is like with baby and how often you end up being away from them.

Answer

Honestly I would buy stuff to bottle feed just in case. I planned to exclusively Breastfeed for a year too. However my milk never came in like it should have. Thankfully I had bottles and all that stuff. 
You can pump and freeze it till you want to go out and let dad or babysitter feed them. It would be a good idea to pump if you plan on going out without baby. BF babies eat in a range of time from every 30minutes to every 3 hours. 
My Best friends baby eats every 3 hours almost on the dot. My other friends baby on the other hand eats every 30-45 minutes. and my Sister in laws baby sometimes ate 15minutes after her last feeding, and sometimes she would go 4 or 5 hours between feedings.

Do I need to express?

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