The Novice's Guide to Expressing Milk

Expressing milk if you’re breastfeeding is by no means a given – some women are recommended to do so to increase supply, but generally it’s a convenience thing. Many women don’t bother and I can’t blame them – it’s not top of my list of fun things to do of a morning – but for me it made sense.

My main thing was that I missed running and going to the gym. It’s easier to run if you’re not, ahem, brimming with milk; sustained high intensity exercise can reduce the fat content of milk (I try to avoid working too hard but prefer to have a back-up just in case I run out before Young Sir is sated); and going to the gym is a lot less stressful when there’s milk in the fridge in case a feed is required before the class ends.

My other half was also keen to have the opportunity to do a little of the feeding - some of the other blokes he'd talked to had mentioned how nice it was being able to give bottles to their babies, and while that wasn't reason enough on it's own it is pretty cool for him to be able to be part of that side of things. 

So I decided I needed a pump. There are a few different brands and having only used one I can’t provide any useful comparison, but the Phillips Avent Comfort pump seemed pretty popular among my antenatal cohort and I like the way the system works – you can get storage cups which connect directly to the pump, and the teats use the same connector as the pump so everything is interchangeable. It can also operate on battery power if you need it to. 

I balked at the cost – the cheapest I could find it in New Zealand was $230… So I googled! Amazon had the Avent Comfort pump (though obviously lacking an NZ adaptor) for $120USD (I’ve linked to Amazon but the price may fluctuate so do your own calculations). I bought a pack of 10 storage cups as well and paid shipping and the total was $193NZD. So now you know I’m a cheapskate… But hey, it works the same! We already had an adaptor but you can pick them up pretty easily on TradeMe.

The first time I tried pumping I panicked a bit as I couldn’t get my milk to let down. It turned out I didn’t have one of the pieces in the pump firmly enough – everything needs to be firmly in place to create the required vacuum. It can be slow getting to let down even if everything is right, though, so trying again if it doesn't work the first couple of times is recommended. 

It can help to look at photos of your baby to get the milk flowing – and actually expressing while feeding seems to work best for me, but it is pretty awkward juggling a baby and a pump so you might need either assistance to push the buttons or a good strategy to get that working. I have also read that using warm compresses can help encourage the flow.

Yield seems to vary quite a bit by day, which I understand from research (i.e. Googling) is pretty normal. I also hear that babies are much better at getting the milk out than any pump, so you probably can’t accurately guess how much your baby drinks just by pumping.

I have (classy!) created a pumping bra so I can go hands free - hacked holes in the cups of a bra I wore almost to death during pregnancy (here's a similar concept - looks ridiculous but works!). This will come into its own when I head back to work in the New Year - I'll be able to pump both sides at once, which hopefully will mean only one pumping break and I might even be able to continue working (by taking my laptop to the room reserved for the purpose, not by pumping at my desk!) at the same time. 

We assumed Young Sir would be happy taking the bottle but apparently this might not be a given - especially given his outright rejection of dummies! So might pay to have a test run before you abandon your baby with a bottle like I did... We have worked out that he often likes to continue comfort sucking the bottle when he's done eating, which does seem to be what he does when breastfeeding so I suppose makes sense.

I'm pretty pleased that I splashed out on a pump - it's given us some flexibility we wouldn't have otherwise had, and the back-up milk that we have in the freezer also came in handy when I was laid up with a stomach bug and not producing as much as normal.

Did or do you express milk for your wee one? Do you have any tips for making it easier? 

Pregnancy and Postnatal Exercise

One of the big surprises for me with Young Sir’s arrival was the impact on my fitness. I love group fitness classes (I reckon Les Mills group fitness is one of New Zealand’s best exports!) and went to my last pre-baby class only a week before the small person arrived. I knew I’d need a bit of time to recover but hadn’t anticipated just how long it would take (and I think I had a pretty quick recovery compared with some) or what a wreck I would feel physically. I had assumed pregnancy was the hard bit!

So with that in mind, I thought I’d share what got me through.

The first thing that just about any source of info will tell you is to listen to your body – pregnancy and the early months with a newborn are not the time to push boundaries, and our bodies are pretty good at giving us the feedback we need so long as we’re paying attention. I found this the most in the first couple of weeks after my son was born – a couple of times we walked a bit too far and I was just wiped out - totally destroyed. And you’re already sleep deprived so all very well trying for a nap but it probably won’t catch you up!

The second thing is to make sure you’re well nourished – lots of protein seems to be the main thing, both for repair of your own body and producing milk, but a normal balanced diet (with about an extra 300 calories worth of food if you’re breastfeeding) should do the trick. I’m definitely far from perfect on this front but I figure if about 80% of the time I’m eating my protein, veg and good nourishing food then the treats which inevitably creep in won’t do too much damage.

And then you have to work out what’s “allowed” in terms of exercise. 

I discovered the excellent Pregnancy Exercise website early on in pregnancy – I knew I’d want to keep my momentum as much as possible and I struggled to find much info so this site was a source of sanity. Lorraine is a qualified fitness professional and has competed in triathlon – and also has three kids. Her site offers lots of general advice (watch out for diastasis recti! Most of the ‘normal’ ab exercises are no good during pregnancy and immediately following) as well as dedicated exercise programmes for pre and post birth (which cost money, but it’s worth it!). I have to admit though I bought both programmes I didn’t really follow the pregnancy one as I was still going to the gym regularly (and even running until 33 weeks), but I did use it to modify some of the exercises in my gym classes once the bump started getting in the way.

The postnatal programme (Birth2FitMum) was really good, as it provided a reasonable guideline as to when I could expect to be able to do various things again. I found it a bit ambitious (she suggests you can start from five days after your baby is born, and the word “run” sneaks into the programme at around week five) but since you can start whenever you feel ready - even if that’s months down the track - and running is optional it’s very achievable. I started following the programme about three weeks postnatal, went for my first (very gentle with lots of walking) jog at 12 weeks, and was back at the gym at about 14 weeks. Right now I’m at 17 weeks, feel great in my BodyPump classes (though I skip the ab track), feel pretty good about doing most of a BodyAttack class (not up to the sports training track yet, with lots of agility work – my joints and core strength just aren’t quite there), and can do a (very slow) 5km run without having to stop to walk.

I also did the “Mums in Motion” course with Active Mums – another targeted postnatal fitness option, but this is run locally so you get the added benefit of working out with others, and you can bring your baby along. It was good for the easing-back-in stage (though was very easy until the last week or two!) but I learned how much I enjoy the “me time” aspect of my workouts, so having my small person there was actually a negative for me, though I’m sure works well for some folk.

Both these programmes address pelvic floor condition to some degree, but I was a bit paranoid about that (especially as I'm really fond of very high impact exercise) so I went to see a specialist physio, who gave me personalised advice (though essentially: do lots of pelvic floor exercises!) and checked I didn't have a prolapse or anything nasty like that. She recommeded Pelvic Floor First for useful exercise info - I confess to not necessarily following all the recommendations but at least I'm now aware of the more risky exercises! 

Another consideration if you’re breastfeeding is ensuring you don’t affect your milk – I’ve read that sustained exercise at high intensity can impact this so it’s recommended you don’t work past about 80% intensity. I now tend to pump before I work out to ensure there’s a back-up feed if Young Sir needs it – which can also make morning workouts more pleasant if you know what I mean! 

I didn't realise it would be this complicated, but I'm hoping that by making sure I stay fit and active I can be a happy, healthy parent who's keen to head down to the park and kick a ball around so that we can have lots of fun family times in the future. Because that's what it's really all about.