Forum : Mums

oh and once defrosted do I have to warm up the milk before feeding?

1. yes you do sterilise the pump instructions will be on the pump how to dismantle and sterilise

2. you can get sterile bags for expressed milk

3. you can either leave it at room temperature or defrost in the fridge, there is no time limit to defrost, it will defrost when its defrosted lol mine took a couple of hours but what i do is the night before i take out as much as i need and leave it overnight to defrost in fridge

4you express how much is needed so i expressed around 7oz-8oz if you express for around 10 mins after the time your baby feeds for that should be ok, so if your baby feeds for 30 mins express for 40 as expressing takes a little longer to get milk out than the baby sucking

5.yes you do sterilise the bottle before putting the milk in, once sterilised, they are sterile for 24 hours, sterilise before milk goes in everytime

6. again it takes however long it take the get the right amount of milk, there is no set time, it all depends on your milk flow

dont feel the rush for our baby to take a bottle, just start off slow, so maybe try a couple of oz 1st in the morning and then eventually just give 1 bottle a day, and as your baby gets older, add more bottles, your milk may take a while to express with you only having baby 9 weeks ago so dont expect for lots of milk to come out
hope i have helped, if i have missed anything or you want to ask anymore questions feels free to ask xx
ps they say milk last for 3 months in freezer and 7 days in fridge, but i just freeze for 1 weeks and leave in fridge for 24 hours, so just put in fridge what you will use xx

When I started expressing milk to change from breast to bottle I expressed the first time after a feed till I was empty for that first bottle then daddy gave damian that bottle so I could express while he was feeding. The first time u bottle feed u won't know how much to expect baby to take so I filled the bottle and let him take what he wanted then used that as a guide for following feeds. If u try and express as many times after baby feeds as u can it will help u build up a supply in the freezer incase there's a day u don't manage to express. I also suggest using a bottle like dr. Browns (asda) or breastflow (amazon) as they r designed to make baby work for the milk as they do at the breast. When I started using normal bottles damian forgot how to suck from the breast and refused to latch on.

Thank you for your replies.
Where do you get the sterlie bags from to put into the freezer?

If I make a bottle up and she doesnt drink it all - am I able to warm and offer the bottle again later in the day?

hi you can get then from mothercare and babies r us. and no, once you have warmed it up you cant re heat it, it also has to be used asap, they say 2 hours max you can leave the milk out.
if she doesn't drink it, just try again later or the next day with fresh milk, it can take a while as its different sucking on a breast and bottle xx

no, if she doesnt finish a bottle, then you cannot warm it back up and offer it to her later, it must be thrown away.

i dont know about the sterile bags, but i used to use avent cups with lids on them to store breastmilk and they can also be used for storing/freezing purees when you are weaning so they are very cost effective. because they are multi-use though you need to sterilise them after every use, which is fine really if you are sterilising anyway, but you dont fit many in an average steam steriliser so the best thing with those is to use cold water sterilising.

one thing from what amy said though - just to be sure, i am fairly sure that expressed breastmilk does not last for 7 days in a fridge - i thought it was 24 hours. you will find that even after a few hours breastmilk separates and doesnt look quite as good as it did when you first expressed it!

im not sure id ask your hv, i was told 7 days in fridge and 3 months in freezer, but i kept it in fridge for 24 hours as i didn't want to risk it and like livi's mummy said it does tend to separate and doesnt look as good so again ask your hv x

Just expressed breastmilk can be stored in the fridge for 7 days. Defrosted is 24 hours. The milk seperates because allthe fatty contents sink to the bottom and the watery fluid rises. Giving the milk a good shake before u use it should sort that out.
You can freeze ur milk in any sterile, air tight container.

If u have the birth to five book from ur H.V it is all in there xx

My MW told me that milk is safe in the fridge for 72 hours?

Also, amy did u mean you express for 40 mins or the feed takes 40 mins with 30 being on the boob and 10 expressing?? I express from one boob for about 10 mins and get 4oz. I did this when my baby was 4 weeks and he took to the bottle first time.