Breastfeeding

[Lego80]

Hi. I'm planning on breastfeeding my baby due in October. I also want my husband to be able to feed the baby too so hopefully will express so he can have a go. I was wondering what equipment is necessary or recommended? There's some good sales at the mo and I don't want to miss a bargain. Likewise I don't want to spend money unnecessarily. I understand that things might not go the way I plan re feeding, but this is what we are aiming for.

[GrizzlebertGrumbledink]

An electric pump is definitely worth the extra money, and a steriliser big enough to fit the bits and a couple of bottles in. You can sterilise by boiling or using tablets etc but the speed of the sterilising machine takes a lot of the faff out of it

[53rdAndBird]

I had:

• electric pump (Ameda I think?)
  
• steriliser;
  
• bottles;
  
• bags for storing breast milk in freezer
  

Electric pump broke after about 6 months, so I got the cheapest manual pump I could find instead and it did the job fine for a lot less money. Not everyone finds that they work as well, though.

I had planned to do a lot more expressing/DH-feeding-baby than we ended up doing, just because it was such an annoying faff. So I recommend not getting loads and loads of e.g. bottles and so on, until you know what you actually need.

[Lego80]

Thanks. Yeah I want to get the bare minimum but still have enough!

[gallicgirl]

Bear in mind that it's not recommended to express for around the first 6 weeks so your milk supply can get properly established.
Good luck.

[shitebag]

You will need:

Breast pads - Boots or Little Lambs washable pads worked really well for me as I hated the plasticky disposables.

Steriliser - electric is the easiest option, I had Tommee Tippee for both of mine.

Bottles - babies can be fussy so maybe start off with 1 or 2 of a brand and switch if needed. DD would only take NUK bottles.

Breast pump - my advice would be to start with the cheapest and move up if you had too. I could only ever get more than an ounce with our Avent manual, tried several electric models (Tommee tippee, Spectra 3, Medela Mini) and couldn't get a more than a few drops.

Handy to have:
Cushion - I love my Argos v cushion!

Storage bags - Boots ones were really good for the freezer.

[53rdAndBird]

We definitely didn't need as many bottles as we had (given them by a friend who ff-ed so had lots). One or two would have been fine, plus a couple of teats - the slow flow ones are best if you're bf-ing.

[Lego80]

This is all great thank yiu

[Artandco]

Another option once breastfeeding is established is your dh just give formula once a day of you don't/ can't express.

I would get just two bottles. Get the small ones as breastfed babies aren't used to drinking 8oz at once.

No need for huge steriliser. Get Milton sterilising tablets. You just add them to cold water in any bowl/ pot you have.

[LamppostInWinter]

I've been fine with my Tommee Tippee manual pump, which came with a steriliser big enough to fit the pump and a small bottle. I think we got it on sale for about £20, although it is on its last legs now 6 months in. I'd definitely buy cheap to see how you find it rather than shelling out £100 odd for an electric pump, I think it's more trouble than it's worth to be honest! If you get storage bags and you're only planning on doing the odd feed you should only need one bottle really.

Good luck!

[Dollyemi]

I love my medela swing electric breast pump. Usually over £100 but has been cheaper on Amazon "lightning deals" recently. Actually, there's a sale on nct at the moment so maybe worth a look there too. It comes with a bottle (calma) but my baby doesn't really like bottles so I bought some Dr brown ones and he has been ok with them. I've only needed to express a few times but easily got 100ml without much effort. Be prepared for baby to be very fussy at first with a bottle, mine has only really been keen to drink from a bottle once and has refused twice since. Best to be out of the room when dh tries to bottle feed baby. Good luck with your baby

[Sansfards]

For the Breastfeeding or expressing- a breastvest, somewhere comfy to sit (watch your posture) and an enormous cup to put a drink in. It's incredibly thirsty work!

[squizita]

Get some crop top night nursing bras for the days when your boobs are freakishly huge then buy your nursing bras about a week after that.

I found a back support cushion and a nursing cushion great, especially as I feed dd to sleep and then slide her (on the cushion) off my knee to make cot transfer easier.
Having said that I mostly use a flat rectangle cushion from ikea, £3.99!!

Also if you wish to use a feeding "cover" get an apron one with a wired arch, so you can see baby. By far the easiest to use.

Lansinoh nipple cream and breast pads are the best.
I also use their manual pump and bottles, but don't run out and buy any brand yet - you can't give expressed milk in a bottle too early and ebf babies are notorious for liking one brand and rejecting all others ... For some it's a £1 boots basic bottle, for others a £££ expensive Dr Brown's!

[Maybear]

I started off with a manual pump and found them useless and difficult to use but once I knew I wanted to continue breastfeeding and expressing I browsed the market for a good electric pump not wanting to spend the money of the medela swing which I found to be one of the best.
I then found on Amazon the Babytec Electric Pump for £43.95 free delivery. I have been using this at least 5 times a day for about 8 weeks now and it is brilliant! Compact easy use and clean doesn't leak like the others mentioning reviews. 100% recommend. Hope this helps.

[ToniWol]

Remember that supplementing with formula and not pumping can affect your supply.

For sterilising, I just use fluid/tablets in a 3ltr really useful box. It's lidded but much cheaper than the Milton cold water steriliser.

[OwlOffshore]

The sterilising bags are useful. Very cheap. And you just add a bit of water and pop them in the microwave for 3 mins. I think I used Medala ones.