Expressing to Establish your Milk Supply

Congratulations on purchasing your Freemie products.  We know you are going to truly enjoy this unique way of collecting breast milk to establish your milk supply.  To help you get started we have written the following guidelines about milk supply.  Assemble the clean Freemie breast pump kit using the enclosed instructions. There will be written instructions with the kit, but you can always watch a tutorial video or contact us here at Freemie.

Achieving Let Down

Try to be relaxed to allow your milk let-down. When putting on the milk collection cup, make sure the nipple is in the centre and that the cup has good skin contact all around to stop air leaking in. If your nipple hurts when you start expressing, stop and check to make sure the nipple is centered in the breast cup and the suction is low.

For the first few times you may find it helps to keep the session short, then lengthen the sessions gradually. If you use the milk collection system as a double, the session will be shorter than expressing with a single breast unit. Once you are comfortable with using the pump, you can increase the suction setting and reduce the speed. Make sure it is still comfortable for you.

If you get a slight dampness or moisture in the tubing from your body heat causing condensation this is not a problem. However, after expressing with wet tubing, take the kit apart to allow all parts to dry.

Milk Composition

In the first few days or so after the birth, you will make only small amounts of first milk, called colostrum. It is usually best to express this by hand if baby is not able to drink from you. You will have a lot more milk a few days later, once the milk comes in. The milk supply settles down within a few weeks to be the right amount to meet the baby’s needs. If you have a premature baby, your milk will be slightly different to that of a term baby, because milk adapts to your baby’s level of maturity. Talk to your medical advisor regarding feeding advice. You will be able to express more milk as you get used to expressing.

While you still have colostrum in your breasts, the milk will have a yellow colour and may look rather creamy and will form layers on standing. The colour of colostrum from different mothers can vary a lot; so don’t be surprised if yours looks quite different to another mums – this is totally normal. As your milk supply increases, the colour of the milk becomes more bluish-white. It still forms layers on standing, with the creamy layer at the top. Milk may look different at different times of the day and this also depends on how long it has been since you have expressed or fed your baby.

Increasing Milk Supply

If you are unable to feed your baby at the breast, expressing will maintain your milk supply. You then may be able to return to your previous feeding routine.  If you want to increase your milk supply you can feed and express to stimulate more milk production.  Speak to a lactation consultant to discuss increasing your milk supply.  Our customer support team also includes users of our Freemie system so feel free to connect with us as we are very knowledgeable on our products.