Beginning to express: pump (and other) advice needed!

[spannermary]

So, DS is 2 weeks old today, and I am EBF. He's taken to it well, and is gaining weight, and my breasts have just about recovered from the initial trauma as long as I lansinoh regularly!

On speaking to the MW, she has recommended that we begin to try expressing, so that DS doesn't become too settled with breast, and will tolerate taking a bottle.

Trouble is, I am a complete novice and have no idea how to do this! I tried hand expressing and probably got as much milk as you'd take in tea!

I am happy to invest in a decent pump - but only if it is decent! - as I will be back at work from 8 months, and may still need to express a little then.

So, I guess I'm just wanting your advice on good pumps, expressing tips and anything else you can think of!

Thanks. :)

What strange advice from a MW!

Generally it's not advised to start expressing until bf is fully established (6-8 weeks). If you are happy feeding then there is no rush to start giving a bottle.

Pump wise Medela and Ameda are good makes - more expensive than Tommee Tippee / Avent but generally better quality and have different sized collection sets for different sized nipples so can be more comfortable.

Thanks for the post, Bert2e. Hmm...that's curious. So I don't need to worry about little one not tolerating the bottle then?

That's good: it gives me a few weeks to research pumps and try and find the one I want on ebay! I'll have a look at the brands you mention, and see what I can do.

I have the Lansinoh Affinity double electric pump and it's working well for me. I needed to purchase spare pump parts since I am exclusively expressing for the foreseeable future and it turns out the Lansinoh offices are about 15 minutes from my house, they let me come to the office to pick up some spare bits, gave me some freebies and a cuppa while I was there so I can vouch for their customer service!

Be careful buying a pump second hand. I think you need to make sure that whichever one you get has an open system instead of closed. Hopefully someone will post a link to the difference between the two. Basically a closed system can have used milk left inside I think. Not sure if it applies to manual pumps. I got my manual pump 2nd hand but it'd never been used before. Have only pumped once though to have a go, bought some milk storage bags today so will start properly soon, DD is 17wks now so going to go straight to cup although don't need her to take any until end of July at earliest. Good luck

It's actually a closed system you need if buying 2nd hand, and they're much more expensive anyway, so prob better to buy new. more info here

Will watch this with interest as I've just started expressing and I hardly get any, plus I don't like it at all

Sorry mummy is right, my brain is cack since I gave birth .

I have the Spectra 3 Pump - it's around £60 on Amazon and it's amazing, very strong suction (which can be adjusted), but I've been very impressed.

I have the double Ameda Lactaline, I've been happy with it so far. Only negative is that you can't put it in the microwave steriliser. You might want to try pumping in between feeds and freezing it.

Two weeks does sound early to be thinking about introducing the bottle. Quite apart from anything else the hassle of sterilising would have put me off in the early weeks.

DS was introduced to expressed milk from a bottle at 9 weeks with no problem. DH gave it to him as I had read that babies can be confused if mum gives it to them if they are used to breastfeeding from her.

I have an electric medela pump which I found easy to use.

Ah yes, that's another point: we don't have a microwave! It could influence our choice.

Good to hear stories of folk introducing the bottle at a later stage with no problems.

Midwife is being unnecessarily prescriptive - there is no evidence that intro'ing bottle soon/late/any time makes it any more/less likely the baby will accept one. Plenty of individual experiences testify to this - and some women find expressing a chore and difficult to do, so why put pressure on mothers to express??? So soon, too.......sheesh.

I wish I'd never started expressing. It caused all sorts of problems for me and while I could express LOADS DS would never take it from a bottle/cup. It took me ages to realise there was just no point and it was much less stressful to just bf directly. I'd been getting so hung up on the 'which bottles/teats etc etc' issue that I forgot why I was actually doing it. But totally understand others needs/desires to be able to give a bottle too. My expressed milk all went to the milk bank so at least it didn't go to waste.

I think my point is to think about whether you actually need/want to express rather than just accepting it as the 'norm'. As it is a bit of a faff.

agree with tiktok what stupid advice. if bf is going well, and baby well within themselves why put yourself thought that. i am pumping and its dam hard work but ds wont latch so its the only way in which he will get some bm

I started expressing at about 6 weeks. both my girls had no problem taking the bottle. sooner than that is just a hassle and may interfere.

I have the mendela swing. it works great for me and I can get a lot pumped. hand expressing never worked for me.

I started with a bottle of expressed milk when ds1 was a few weeks old, but didn't need to really. He did refuse a breastfeed a few times when he got used to have a bottle at a set time of day every day, so I just stopped the bottles for a few days.

I didn't bother at all with ds2 and ds3 and they refused all bottles till they were 7 months (ds2) and 9 months (ds3).

Does anyone use different sized personalfit medela breast shields on their pumps? I am wondering if I need a smaller one as I keep getting leaks. I've looked on the medela size guide but I'm not sure. Can't get more than about an inch in the bottom of the bottle each time either.

I've got a tommee tippee elec (had t t manual 1st time round, really disliked it :( ) and got a manual medela. Not work well for me. I express daily so can leave my 11wk dd with daddy/grandma for the odd eve. I started expressing about 6wk and get 3-5oz.

Sorry supposed to say both work well, not, not work well :)