Batteries and Breast Pumps

[Blackcurrantandme]

to be honest the idea of breastfeeding terrifies me and fills we with dread, but my local hospital/birth centre etc have a 'pro-breastfeeding policy' almost to the point of bullying you in to it, so I going to compromise with a breast pump, so does anyone have any idea how long the batteries will last in a breast pump? we have a tommee tippee natural something something one, I'll probably use the pug at home so batteries will just be for the hospital to start with then maybe when were out for the day visiting folk

Please dont oust me because I dare say I dont like BF'ing

Hello Blackcurrant

My advice is really think about why you are feeling you have to breastfeed and if is just because you are feeling bullied then maybe you should stop being so hard on yourself and bottlefeed?

You will have enough stress with a newborn nevermind having to think about expressing. You are making so much hardwork for yourself which I think is unnecessary. It is not a compromise - it's a whole new set of issues altogether.

In those early days breastfed babies feed all the time so really it's not going to be easy.

Maybe you could just think you will do that first feed when your baby is first born and latches on. That will do so much good for your baby. Then bottle feed. But you never know, it might not be as awful as you think....

I hope this helps in a roundabout way.

There are people on here that have exclusively express-breastfed, so it is possible, however I imagine it would be very difficult in the early days. I would recommend getting a good electric pump. I can recommend Medela. No need to take your own pupm into hospital - they will have very good ones there.

Babies are more efficient than pumps at extracting milk, and the suckling action of the baby will stimulate your breasts and help establish your milk supply. You may feel that you don't have enough milk when expressing alone.

I agree with domesticdisaster - maybe see how you feel when the baby is born and give the first feed (much better to be sitting cudding your baby feeding, rather than sitting holding a plastic breast pump whilst someone ese gets to cuddle your baby imo), then take it one feed at a time.

Good luck

Batteries die quickly with breast pumps.

The idea of breastfeeding terrifies many women for lots of different reasons. Have you thought of speaking to a breastfeeding counsellor about your fears? You can look up online for baby groups too and go to one of them to see normal women breastfeeding babies. A common reason why women find breastfeeding terrifying and 'hard' is because we just don't see enough of it before we are thrust into the idea of doing it.

The ABM, NCT, LLL And BfN all have groups in different parts of teh country. Phoning one of their helplines and have a non committal chat and also ask for groups in your area. They will be able to refer you to an active group including those from Surestart and Breastfeeding Cafe.

On a purely practical note, I also have Tommee Tippee Closer to Nature electric pump and it is useless with batteries, virtually expressed no milk at all with batteries. It works well when plugged in but the air tube gets moisture in very easily and then has to be dried out on radiator before you can pump more than 2oz. If you are going to exclusively express then I'd ask your HV if they have any pumps theycan rent to you so you can see which one suits you best. The Tommee Tippee one doesn't seem suited to lots of pumping IME.

If a breastpump is a compronise I would advise not going there.

Like others have said try and speak to some people in RL to see if you can work out what it is you don't like. I was a bit anti BF (more hated being told what to do). I went in with the attitude of giving it a go for a few days and taking it from there. Knowing that if DD was hard to feed, I had 3 days grace before I needed to think about supplementing helped. Nearly 9 months on, she's never had a FF (but I did loads of MNing reading when she was born to educate myself.

Otherwise, it's your decision. If you decide not to try that is your right. Say firmly I have made my mind up, I will not discuss this and most all of be unashamed. Trust you've made the decision right for you

Thank you all for your advice, its nice to hear some support and encouragement rather than (and I quote) 'you'll really enjoy it when you come round to the right way of feeding' statements which only pushed me further away from the idea of BF. I do hope I can get my head around my fears in time (I have 4 weeks)but in the mean time I'm kitted out with boobs, breast pump, bottles and a couple of cartons of aptamil, just i case, wish me luck and watch this space. xx