What's the chance I'm going to spend nearly £100 on breastpump equip etc. and then not get a drop out?

[TimeWasting]

I know many women are unable to pump much even though their baby is well fed direct from the source, but does anyone know what the actual likelihood of that happening is?

Hi there -
I wrote the blogpost.
To the lady who was wondering how she could get a decent closed system pump for £100 - look in the online NCT shop for an ARDO Calypso. Currently retailing at £99 as a single pump, but another £19 will get you the double conversion - so a fully WHO code compliant, re-sellable, closed system double pump, with a 400 hour guarantee (even if it's sold on) for £119. Well worth it IMO.
Thanks for sharing the post.
anne

As well as Medela's issue with open systems, there's concern online that Medela violate the WHO code on advertising BM substitutes. I know, a compant that sells BF products... but they don't make money by us feeding directly from the breast

justwestofcrunchy.com/2011/01/19/the-problems-with-medela/

No,Marina, I'm not fucking stupid. What led you to think I am?

As to those reckon expressed breast milk is all the faff with added faff [over bottle feeding, I assume? If so...:]. ARE YOU F*ING STUPID?!?!?

no, Marina. People were saying it's all the faff of breastfeeding PLUS the faff of bottle feeding as well.
Of course sometimes it's necessary. It was for me. That doesn't make it any less time consuming and faffy! Much easier, if you can to just feed direct from the breast.

if you can clean the inside of a medela swing i wouldn't be worried about using a second hand one.
it is NOT necessary to sterilise everything, esp if it's breastmilk because it's antibacterial anyway and a wash in very hot soapy water is all it needs.

Personally, I'd go electric or nothing at all (though knowing how to hand express is a v.important skill but I wouldn't like to try and knock out gallons like that!). A friend once said to me to buy the best breast pump you can afford (that was actually her only cast-iron piece of advice about having babies despite having 3 of her own!)

DH likes to always remind me that he said I should have got a super duper hospital grade pump while pg with DC1. I decided that was ridiculous (had no plans to bottle feed beyond nights out emergencies and thought if I had problems bfing and had to give up it would be a waste of money) and bought a single Medela swing instead (which was £90, and I thought that was expensive enough!).

I proceeded to feed DC1 for 2 years (which included expressing at work), which overlapped with having DC2 who was preterm and spent 3 weeks in neonatal being tubefed and therefore exclusive expressing to start with. Prior to this I had read about the problems with non-closed system pumps anyway and had decided to buy a double closed system one for DC2 (got the Lansinoh one, it's ok but not a patch on the hospital pumps I got to use in hospital).

So there's no easy answer - if I had had a crystal ball I would have gone for a swanky one in the first place as I am now assuming I'll be breastfeeding for 4 years in total by the time DC2 stops. At least you could always recoup your losses with a closed system one by selling it on? Or hire a hospital one for a month to see how you go?

I would borrow - I extended BF my three but could hardly ever get a drop out when pumping.

You can't clean the inside of a Swing properly, as the exposed area extends right into the motor.

Personally, I've become a fan of sterilising tablets for heavy duty expressing after my stint in neonatal. You just wash the pump bits in soapy water and drop into the sterilising water, after 15 minutes they're sterilised but you can leave them in till you need them (DISCLAIMER: check with the manufacturer!) and you can rinse them off in a colander with boiling water out of the kettle if you don't like the thought of any chemical residue (even though it's perfectly safe). Water just needs changed every 24 hours, I just keep mine on the go in a tupperware box with a lid.

"it is NOT necessary to sterilise everything, esp if it's breastmilk because it's antibacterial anyway and a wash in very hot soapy water is all it needs"

Not sure about thE antibacterial thing, actually- are you positive about that?

Having said that I love buckets of Milton, if I was doing an occasional express rather than an industrial onslaught over a number of days to stock the freezer I would only wash the pump in hot soapy water immediately prior to use and dry it off. I have used one of those net cake covers to keep any summer insects off and left the bits to dry for a few hours which works well, as does covering with a teatowel (but a hassle to have lying about the kitchen every day, IMO)

If you think about it, if there is no food source for bacteria because all the milk has been washed off and the pump is dried properly, there is nothing for bacteria to grow on. Add to the fact that breastmilk actively attacks pathogens (if you put ecoli in a jar of breastmilk, the breastmilk will start to kill the ecoli...amazing!)then yes, sterilising isn't really necessary.TBH, I just got into the habit of cold water sterilising after neonatal.

If you are expressing a couple of times a day, some people recommend putting the pump parts in a ziplock bag in the fridge in between and wash thoroughly every 24 hours.

You can hire them from Mothercare and NCT, why not try that to start with?

Don't do it if you don't need to and I'd say don't get a pump until you need one. If LO ends up in SCBU you'll need a hospital grade double (which the hospital can lend you while you're in) but if it's just for occasional, a hand pump may be best. So don't spend money until you have a better idea what you need.

But expressing is a learnt skill, like bfing. Even if you can't express on first try, it doesn;t mean anything.

seeker yes... bottles of ebm left out at room temperature have less bacteria after a few hours than they started off with.

obviously if it's left for days and days it's going to go manky, like it would on the inside of a breastpump, but i think if you can wash the internal parts in very hot soapy water that would be fine. at least, it would be for me, it certainly wouldn't put me off buying a second hand one

I'm using a Madela Swing pump. My breasts don't feel particularly full - I never noticed when my milk came in, and to date (after 6 weeks) I have never leaked. However I can easily express 2oz per time, usually get the first ounce within 3 mins or so. Sometime I can get 3.5oz out of a single breast.