Recommended breast pumps

[sunangel88]

Currently 5 months pregnant and thinking of combined breast and bottle-feeding once bump is born. What breast pumps would you recommend? I'd prefer the automatic / electric ones but also keen to hear experiences with hand-helds. Planning to express for 12 months or more. Thanks!

------------------

Hello!

We've noticed this thread is quite old and some of the product recommendations are a little out of date. We've spent weeks speaking to parents and testing out breast pumps. Read our breast pump reviews for a list of the best products on the market.

Hope this helps!

MNHQ

[Flamesparrow]

I have only used manual - got the avent isis with DD and never looked back.

Something in me made me give the bloody thing away on freecycle, so now I have to get a new one

[llareggub]

None of my business obviously but expressing is a real pain. Could you not breastfeed exclusively? I expressed lots with DS1 and had the palaver of sterilising and bottles. With DS2 I express rarely and it is so much easier.

I have the Medela swing pump, and it seems ok. I had the smaller Medela first time round and I doubt that would stand up to the amount you intend to do.

[sunangel88]

llareggub - Have no experience with expressing as its my first pregnancy. how much of a palaver is sterilising? Can we get an automatic steriliser and lots of bottles for freezing?

Flamesparrow - Is manual expressing more of a strain with having to pump the milk out?

I have to say I was envisaging more of the following:

1. expressing will let my DH and the granparents help with feeding while I get to sleep
2. With an automatic breast pump I could laze around and watch tv while the pump did the work

Is this a realistic view?

[Flamesparrow]

I tend to pour milk easily, so manual expressing was no issue - would sit and do it watching tv

[Flamesparrow]

I didn't find it a pain though - sterilising was an electric steam one (have got a microwave one lined up for this one). I wasn't doing expressing for every day use, but still fairly often iyswim

[sunangel88]

What are your steriliser brands and which one do you prefer? Easy is good....

[llareggub]

Well, it depends. I felt the same as you but realistically, if you miss a feed to get some sleep the you run the risk of messing up supply while baby is being fed you'll need to express, so no rest.

If you are going to laze around expressing you might as well feed baby. I spend lots of time on the sofa feeding baby. It is very relaxing, even with toddler around.

What I do is go to bed with DS and doze while he feeds. Best thing I ever did was to learn how to lie down and breastfeed.

Expressing can be unpredictable and I know lots of women who fail to produce significant amounts. You'll need to sterilise the equipment, bottles etc and express in advance.

I do express but only to keep a supply in the freezer to cover trips to the gym, meals out with friends. Fathers and grandparents can still cuddle, burp and bath baby, they won't completely left out if they can't feed.

Give it a go, anyway, and see how you get on.

[Flamesparrow]

avent for me

[llareggub]

Flame, when I say it is a pain I mean comparatively speaking. I expressed lots with DS1 and found it satisfying to build up a stock of milk. DS1 used to have bottles from others but it was a pain having to express when really I wanted to doze or have a bath.

With DS2 I've not really done it and it is so much easier. He's had 3 bottles and I've expressed probably enough for another 2 and I feel so much more relaxed as a result. I've just found it easier not to express and get my rest by co-sleeping. Maybe I've been lucky with this baby but he is happy to lie next to me and feed and he pretty much sleeps 8 until 8 with a sleepy breastfeed at night. In the early days he fed more obviously.

I used a cold water steriliser by the way. With DS2 to be honest I just hand wash things in hot soapy water and then put through the dishwasher. I haven't sterilised anything for him but that is a personal choice, you'll need to make your own mind up on that.

[sunangel88]

Flamesparrow - Avent pump and steriliser both? Thanks will check them out.

llaregub - how old's DS2? He sounds like he's got the ideal sleeping routine down.

[Flamesparrow]

I wouldn't sterilise if I had a dishwasher

I love how we all have such different experiences though DD was a nightmare for sleeping and I gave up b/feeding by 12 weeks (not connected in any way), so I wasn't expressing much or for long.

DS was my dream child - he would wake up for a feed and nappy change, then sleep again for a couple of hours for the first few months, then he got into a good evening routine so I had from about 7pm free for the evening - just plonked myself in front of the tv with a pump. I didn't really build up stores of milk, just sat and expressed when I knew I had something coming up (eg a night out, or DSis visiting - she loves feeding). Where I am very lucky at producing oodles of milk and having no difficulty expressing, I knew that it would just take one or two sessions to get all I needed.

I do agree on co-sleeping being a lifesaver though. I don't recall ever (apart from when I had an insanely strong injection for kidney stones) using a bottle so that I could sleep through the feed. Even if DS had been out of the room whilst I slept, whoever had him just brought him in and nudged me, and I just latched him on laying down and fell asleep again.

[Flamesparrow]

I'm not sponsored by avent the first steriliser was a gift (ish) and the bottles fitted in it nicely, so when I went pump shopping I just went with the same make for the bottles Since then I have stuck with the theory of if it ain't broke don't fix it Only have the microwave steriliser now as my mum saw it on sale and it takes up a hell of a lot less room.

I swear by mam teats though. DD rolled the avent ones round her mouth and poured half the milk out. The mam ones are flat and skin textured.

[sunangel88]

I read about MAM, apparently their bottles are also shaped to prevent air from getting in.... MAM teats it is. Wonder if they'll fit into a different brand steriliser?

[llareggub]

DS2 is coming up to 5 months. I bf DS1 until he was 2.9 or something like that and he self-weaned about 3 months ago. In hindsight I was probably too busy feeding both boys to express.

I go out on a Sunday morning at a time when DS2 normally feeds. When I am not around he doesn't look for a feed so my expressed store is not being used. He makes up for it when I come home. I remember that DS1 used to do this when I went back to work when he was 5 months. He'd never take a bottle when I wasn't around, but practically rip my top off when I came home!

Good luck with your pregnancy.

[llareggub]

If you use a cold water steriliser you can throw anything in it. Mine is about the size of a bucket, and I can throw in a milton tablet together with whatever I want to sterilise and that is it. I've put all sorts in there, including feeding bowls when I weaned PFB DS1 onto solids.

[sunangel88]

The way I figure it, at least the expressing would keep up the supply if I go back to work. Thanks - I suspect I'll need it. Just realised there's tons I don't know!

[sunangel88]

Just spotted the non-sterilising option. I guess the benefit of that is they get used to all the germs and don't get asthma/hayfever? Is that a common thing to do?

[Flamesparrow]

lol - were you sterilising the spoons too?

[Flamesparrow]

There was a thread ages back (I think something to do with RTKangaMummy - what happened to her?!?!?!) saying something to do with microbiologists felt that a dishwasher was more than hot enough to kill anything desperately nasty, and yup, building up an immunity is good too.

[mummyhill]

Ok here goes! I expressed exclusivley for 4 months with ds (now 4 yrs old) as he wouldn't latch and then switched to mixed feeding for a few months before going onto formula only.

For out and about I used an avent isis manual pump as it was easy to fit in my bagand I didn't have to worry about finding somewhere to plug it in iyswim.

At home I used an ameda lactaline which was quiet and easy to use. I seem to remember it cost me about £80.

I like flamesparrow am cursing cause ds was going to be my last and I gave away my hand pump and sold the lactaline on ebay! I have replaced my manual pump and am hoping that this time round I will manage to get a latch established so won't need to spend out on an electrical one!

[Flamesparrow]

You still here Mummyhill? (feel free to hit me for saying that)

[mummyhill]

Excellent memory flame it was indeed rtkangamummy and the thread is here

[mummyhill]

LOL yes flame I am still here love. Due to go in on Wednesday to have my passenger forcefully evicted with dynamite!

[sunangel88]

Mummyhill - that is a very good point about the not needing to plug it in! I didn't think of that one. Sounds like I'll need both a manual and an electric (and to start carrying larger handbags) and a mini-fridge under my desk at work if I have to pump at work. oh dear, the list is growing. Maybe start with a manual first then get the electric one when I go back to work.

[mummyhill]

If you are expressing at work they have a duty of vare to provide you with somewhere private to express, extra breaks to accommodate expressing and should also provide you with adequate storage however lots of people I know managed with a cool bag and freezer blocks.