12th January 2012 14:52
It's generally recommended to express only once your supply is established, usually about 6 weeks, but there are a lot of women who express before that. One of the things about expressing exclusively from very early on is that it doesn't stimulate the nipple in the same way as a suckling baby does so you don't always get the same demand-supply chain (with bf, the more the baby feeds, the more your body produces, hence during growth spurts, babies need to feed a lot more than usual for a couple of days which increases the supply to what they need as they grow). Tbh, I can't tell you much more than that because I found any time I did express it caused over supply issues for a few days and since DD wasn't keen on a bottle til she was nearly 5 months, it just didn't seem worth it! If you post over on M&K there are lots of mums there who have expressed and can give you better advice. And you should check out
www.kellymom.com which is the bf online bible!
Just on expressing being the best of both worlds, I found it so tedious when I did do it - it can take ages to get what you need, and you've still got all the washing and sterilising of pump pieces and bottles. And once I got the hang of it, and we were lucky, DD and I took to it very well and had very few problems, I bf'ed any and everywhere, whereas there is no-where I could have pumped in privacy other than my own home. Then again, as I didn't do it very much, maybe there are strategies I just don't know about.
Good luck and enjoy whatever you decide!