Nearly at due date and confused.... do I need a pump if planning to BF?

[legallyblond]

I feel completely clueless about the whole BF lark... and I only have 5 weeks to get clued up!

My mother BF all four of her children - I am the eldest and the youngest was born when I was 14, so I remember a lot of it.

I remember, and she has confirmed, that my Mum exclusively BF - no bottles, no pumps, no nothing except breast pads and a bit of Lasinoh! She just shoved us on and we fed (until we were completely weaned). As for going out etc, she says she left us with a baby sitter from pretty early on (6 weeks with my littlest brother), but only went out for a max of 3 hours at a time between feeds, for a meal etc.

But it seems that either my Mum was unbeleivably lucky or else a lot has changed since she had us!

I am most confused about whether I need to go out and buy a pump, bottles and a steriliser, despite planning to BF. Should I be aiming to express and use a bottle (with breastmilk) as well as BF? Should I do that as soon as the baby is born?

It seems as if a lot of people, if not everyone(!) has trouble BF - should I be anticipating this? Is this what the pump is for (i.e. so that I keep up the supply if the baby is not feeding)?

I feel totally lost - I had anticipated not needing any "equipment"!

I would be SUPER grateful for any advice about which pumps etc to buy as my Mum (my only main source of baby advice) has no clue!

It is definitely possible to BF without any 'equipment' apart from that supplied by your body :)

I would suggest finding about if there are any local BF groups and go to them (LLL, NCT, ABM etc) before you have your baby. It's a lot easier to ask for help from someone you have already met. Also find out if they run antenatal sessions.

From here you can find out if you have a local LLL group.

HTH and Good Luck

My DH ended up going to get me a pump on about day 3 as I was so engorged DD couldn't latch on and I just found hand expressing quite difficult. Not everyone needs one though. You could just wait and see. Loads of shops sell them and you could get one the next day online if you really needed it. Congratulations and good luck.

I exclusively breast feed, but have found the pump and bottles a real help. After the baby was about 5 weeks old, I started expressing and letting husband give an expressed milk feed. I got much needed extra sleep and I have been able to go out to a wedding, dinner party etc, because my baby happily takes the bottle of expressed milk from the sitter. The extra sleep is the real bonus! I guess it depends on your lifestyle, but I really like knowing that my baby is happy with breast or bottle, gives me freedom and rest.

You don't need a pump now. If you want to pump for the odd bottle to get a break, it's best to wait until bfing is established anyway.

I second what WoT said, v sensible advice .... all the "breastfeeding kits" etc you see in shops are just marketing ploys.

Arm yourself with as much info as you can, a couple of books and some helpline numbers and you're all set.

And if it makes you feel better, discuss with your DP/H what you might need in shops/online and where it is in case you decide that you do need it re. pads, pumps, bottles, etc.

And most importantly good luck!! and get as much rest/sleep in the next 5 weeks as you possibly can!

The only thing I would insist on (although I suppose you would need this even if you were letting the milk go to waste) is a BIG cheap bra and breast pads, for when the milk comes in and you are like dolly parton. You only need it for a couple of days, but I ended up having to ask my MIL to buy me the biggest bra she could find when she came to visit after me having DD1.

I am very much in your mum's camp! I did own a breast pump with my first (or rather was given one by a kind friend) but since DS1 never took a bottle it was barely used.

With DS2 I had long since ditched the pump and just fed him.

You are unlikely to need any of it and even if you intend to feed expressed milk later, the usual advice is that unless there are medical reasons, it's better not to pump before 6 weeks because it can interfere with supply and demand.

Plenty of time to research all this after the birth when you know whether you have a velcro baby stapled to your boob, or a sociable wriggler happy to take milk from an old tin can!

I would definitely wait and see. I bought an electric one in a panic and then didn't need to use it. I just used a hand one that you can pick up really cheaply for the times I needed to start DD on bottles.

I only bought a pump because the dentist told me I'd need to pump and dump for 24 hours after a filling. Got home and discovered he was talking bollocks - still pissed off about that!

I only use the pump if I am going out for an entire day/afternoon/evening and DS might want milk. TBH though now at 21 weeks he usually just chills with DH and has a drink of water if I am out for a couple of hours so I haven't pumped for about a month.

You don't need one but it is handy if you want to go out.

I was lucky enough to be given a pump but I never used it. On the one occasion I really needed to leave DS with DH and a bottle of breast milk, I found it easier to express milk by hand.

Don't buy a pump until you are sure you need one. The shops are full of gimmicks and gadgets that nesting pregnant mothers think they need to spend loads of money on but never actually use.

You don't need anything!

My Mum was like your Mum so it didn't occur to me that anything other than breasts was required.

Although a comfortable bra and breastpad are necessary.

No what your mum did sounds perfectly normal and nothing has moved on really.... except breast pads more absorbent, and pumps maybe a little more efficient.

Agree you need comfortable bra and breastpads, nothing else.

I do have a cheapo pump (avent hand one) and I have left the baby with a bottle maybe 5 times in total all (he is now 17 weeks) when I was either going out for more than 3 hours or if I was going somewhere in the evening and did not want any risk of being called back.

Thank you everyone - this is very helpful!

I think I will hold off on all the pumps etc for now and see whether I actually need one after the first few weeks.

I already have bumper packs of the Lasinoh pads (i have started wearing them as I am leaking a few drops of colostrum) and a tube of Lasinoh cream, so once I have stocked up on comfy nursing bras, I should be fine!

It just suprised me (a) how much extra equipment is offered for sale to breatfeeding mothers and (b) from what I have seen on here, how difficult BF seems to be... I honestly thought it would be sore nipples for a couple weeks, agony for 48 hours when the milk comes in (about day 4?), but apart from that, just a question of putting the baby on the boob! I guess I am about to get a nasty wake up call... [yikes!]

Technically you shouldn't express in order to give your baby a bottle of breastmilk until you have thoroughly established breastfeeding. I therefore didn't buy a pump before my baby was born.

However, my baby had enormous trouble latching on, and we ended up expressing from day 1 in the hospital and feeding him colostrum through a syringe. I was discharged in the evening with some colostrum ready pumped, but we had a worrying night and an emergency trip to the kiddicare warehouse in Peterborough the next morning in order to get hold of a pump.

I'd recommend you buy a pump now if you think you are definitely going to use one later. Mine is the Medela Swing, and we thank god for it every day -- we feel it saved our baby's life.

(I have, by the way, continued breastfeeding baby is now 6 weeks old and very fat but he still fusses a lot trying to latch on, and my nipples are still sore.)

Not everyone struggles legallybond, it isn't a given at all. Both my babies have had great big gobs and just jumped on straight away.

Don't forget you don't tend to hear from the people who are finding it a breeze!

I had initial difficulty getting DS1 to latch on, and he didn't feed for at least 36 hours. However the hospital weren't worried and he eventually latched on great and we were fine from then on. My second baby fed like a train from birth.

I never had a blocked duct, never had mastitis, or cracked nipples, or anything like that.

I did have thrush (twice) but it wasn't painful and was quickly cured with the right medication.

Many people find it fine - hopefully you will too.

legallyblond, please don't worry too much - breastfeeding shouldn't hurt and lots of people don't struggle. When my milk came in, I didn't even get any slight discomfort - just felt really full, and happy that I had milk.

If you are feeling even slightly sore, get someone to check the baby is latching on properly. A breastfeeding counsellor / midwife / health visitor should be able to help you with that. Make sure the hospital give you the support you need - don't be afraid to press the buzzer if you need breastfeeding advice.

I bought a pump because I had been in maternity for 5 days after having an emergency section, they said 'every time he cries, feed him'. I did. My nipples were in bits by the time I got home! After a few excrutiating days I expressed for a couple of days to give my nipples a chance to recover, they did and I breastfed successfully for a long time after. (He was a very 'sucky' baby and a dummy also helped!).

Good luck!

Agree with theyoungvisiter - you only get to read the bad side. People aren't likely to post saying "oh btw, BFing going fine!"

OP - people only really post about the bad bits. Breastfeeding my DD1 was an absolute breeze. I had no soreness, a small blocked duct in about week 4 which resolved itself and she never even lost weight (losing up to 10% of birth weight is normal). She fed constantly for about the first week but I (having absolutely zero knowledge on the subject) figured she must know what she was doing and so let her live in my top. She even latched herself on the very first time several hours after birth. She was an absolute expert; I just lay there, but it worked.

It was harder with DD2, because she has a mouth like a steel trap and because I had thrush. But even that, although tough, wasn't the end of the world and at 10 months she still feeds every morning.

Re the clobber, I think a pump etc are useful. Not for pumping in the early days but because I always plan to go back to work and so like my children to take a bottle from 6 weeks or so so that they are used to them. But what you do is up to you- if you're staying home you might not bother, and anyway you can buy the equipment later one.

Good luck with it all.

breast feeding isn't difficult for everyone, its just that only the people who have problems need to ask for advice on forums so it seems that everyone does. i've found it straightforward :-) i have a cheap manual tommee tippee pump so i can leave some milk during my driving lessons or if me and DH go for a meal sometimes, it came with a small microwave steriliser and one bottle - which is all i need :-)

Guys this is all very encouraging - thank you!

I just thought that perhaps BF was this gadget heavy world that I had never anticipated! I would like to get the baby to take breast milk from a bottle at some point (so I have a little more freedom re going out and also, like you Ronansmummy, so I can pass my bl**dy driving test!) but I am sure the pump can be bought after the first couple of weeks!

I plan to be at home for at least 9 months before going back to work, so I suspect I will have mainly weaned the baby by the time I have to leave it all day (I'll be going back full time - working in a v conservative law firm is not the best environment for flexi-time!)...

Thanks again - fingers crossed it will all go well! Of course, you're all right - it hadn't occured to me that people would only really post if they were having problems. If its all great, why post I guess!

I want to try to feed within the first couple of hours after birth, so hopefully the baby will just know what to do....

Also, thanks for the LLL link - there is a local group so I plan to contact them when I finish work for maternity leave.

DS1 was feeding about an hour after birth, he needed a little time in the oxygen crib thingy, DS2 attached himself pretty much immediately on being put on my chest (and hasn't let go yet ).