Should I buy a breast pump in advance if planning to BF?

[PberryT]

Not sure whether to buy one before giving birth or wait until after?

Also not got.a clue which one to buy. Everyone says electronic is easier. Any tips?!

[WhoKnowsWhereTheTimeG0es]

I'd say wait, you might not need one at all. I didn't get on with them and found it easier not to express at all.

[Spudlet]

A hand pump is cheap and can be handy. I didn't bulk express but it's useful every now and again.

You can hire electric pumps in many areas from the NCT so I definitely wouldn't buy one.

[BelfastSmile]

Do some research for now, but don't worry about buying one yet. If you're not going to express often, manual will be fine. If you plan to use it a lot, electronic is probably better. It's worth choosing one of each to bear in mind, and then when you see whether you need one and how much you plan to use it, you can buy. It's definitely worth looking into hiring as well.

[babyboyHarrison]

Wait and see how it goes. I had one but when I really needed it, it just wasn't good enough for the job. I had difficulty so needed to pump a lot. I ended up hiring and industrial one from the hospital. Much better.

[ThePowerOfCake]

Like pp said I would wait. I did my research while pregnant then bought the one I had chosen when DD was a few weeks old and breastfeeding was going well. You're unlikely to need it straight away and they are easy enough to get hold of when you do.

[PberryT]

Thank you all. First time and not sure what to do, can you tell?!

Planning on breastfeeding with the odd expressed bottle so dh can feed if needed. Sounds like a manual will be fine for that. I'll definitely wait to get settled before buying anything.

[Oysterbabe]

I waited and then DD was born preterm and wouldn't latch. She was in hospital for a week and I used the hospital pump. DH went out and bought a double Medela Swing electric pump. I then expressed every 3 hours for 6 months. I'm not sorry that those days are over :)

[LivinOnAChair]

We had a manual one before DS was born as I had planned on expressing at some point anyway but he was born with a tongue tie and found it really difficult to latch, we ended up having to borrow an electric one in the middle of the night from a friend because he was starving and I just couldn't get anything for him (not even a drop) using the manual on our first night at home from the hospital. Managed fine to use the manual one after milk came in etc I think they're always handy to have anyway in case you want a break but I definitely wish I had just bought an electric one in the first place (much more effective IMO) , but then on the other hand you may not need one at all

[JosephineMaynard]

I'd wait. They're easy enough to get hold of if you want one.

We got an electric one when DS1 was newborn, but he was premature, had problems latching, and ended up being fed expressed milk until about 7 months after we couldn't get breastfeeding to work. We were lent an electric breastpump by the hospital to begin with. No experience of a manual breastpump to compare that with.

DS2 took well to breastfeeding, so I didn't need to use a breastpump until I went back to work when he was about 12 months old. Producing expressed milk while breastfeeding was a lot harder - in terms of producing enough milk for even one bottle - than producing milk when exclusively expressing.

[Talcott2007]

Wow - never had an autocorrect insert a whole email!! Not even sure who's email that is!!

[ConvincingLiar]

I bought one on Amazon prime when I was in hospital. I wish I'd have been able to borrow one there but all the bits were missing.