Just opened my Medela Freestyle box - so confused!

[feesh]

I'm only 22 weeks pregnant, but I just decided to open my Medela Freestyle box and get all the bits out and put it all together to try and familiarise myself with it.

First of all, it has some parts in it which I have NO idea what they are for! There are 2 kind of long, thin cup-shaped things, and a couple of lids which seem to fit the bottles, but are a different shape and colour to the lids which were already on the bottles in the pack.

I am also confused as to why there is a pair of soft, squidgy breast shields and 2 hard ones. (Both seem to be 24mm in size).

Any ideas?!

Also it comes with one Calma teat - is this the best feeding system to use? Is it just a clever bit of marketing to get you converted to the Medela bottle-feeding system? I was under the impression Dr. Browns were the best? Do Dr Browns bottles fit the Medela pump and if not, how do you get the milk into them?

Finally....I am SO confused about cleaning the damn thing.

It says to boil it before first use, so how long before first use can I clean it? Does it have to be cleaned like IMMEDIATELY before use, or can it be cleaned and then put in my hospital bag and forgotten about for a few days?

I thought baby stuff had to be sterilised JUST before use?

By way of background, I am expecting twins, so they are likely to be early, born by elective C-section and most likely spend time in NICU and it's going to be hard enough to breastfeed them as it is, so I am almost certain I will need to express from the get-go.

I am also having them in the Middle East, where everything is very backward medicalised and I will have to fight a lot of fights to stop them being formula fed in hospital against my wishes (although I totally accept that in NICU some formula will be necessary). So I want to be as organised and self sufficient as possible before they come to help me win the battle :)

Any tips to get me started would be much appreciated :) I am in the middle of reading 'Mothering Multiples' which is specifically about breast feeding.

Best thing to do would be to email the manufacturers - or call them, though I see you are not in the UK.

I know a little bit about pumps, but I am not sure from your descriptions what all the bits are. Does it not say on the instructions? I think the soft shields and the hard shields are probably an outer and an inner cup that fits over your breast, with the softer one sitting inside if you need it for a better fit.

There's no need to assume your babies will need formula in NICU, by the way. Each case needs to be assessed individually.

Hope you get more help about the pump, and can sort it :)

Are you in the Middle East at the moment? Cos if not and you're in the UK, I'd be tempted to pop round to your local bf group and have a chat there about your pump and your other questions. Not many people know this but usually they are very happy to talk with pg mums planning to bf, as well as for when baby (or in your case, babies!) arrive.

No idea what all your pieces are, sorry, but I do remember how I had to read the instructions for all 3 of the pumps I used about ten times to try to understand them! They are all written in double Dutch!

Oh blimey. I had the freestyle because I also have twins and I don't remember anything THAT odd in the box! (Although there was quite a bit I never used). Can you link to any pictures from online retailers? Does it have instructions?

RE sterilising, for some reason all the advice i could find on breast pumps said to sterilise once a day and wash the rest of the time. That made no sense to me as you sterilise bottles for every use, so I got a big lidded tub and made it up with Milton solution, and just dumped all the parts in there after rinsing after each pumping session. They I knew they were sterile as soon as I took them out.

I didn't use the Calma teats but a friend who had to pump like mad to keep her supply up did, and her DD seemed to really like them. The ease of the Medela ones is that the bottles plug straight into the pump, so you just change the lids over for feeds. I think with the Dr Brown system you have to use Dr Brown teats and bottles because of the anti-colic valve, but if I remember rightly the Medela bottles also come with 'solid' lids, so you can just fridge the milk in those then pour it into a clean Dr Brown (or whatever you choose) bottle for each feed.

Ah, this is waht the John Lewis website says:
"The Freestyle breast pump also comes complete with a SoftFit Breastshield which is flexible, and a PersonalFit Breastshield which is available in various sizes to suit mum."

I think I just used the hard ones as I'd got used to them after hospital machines, but it's probably personal preference. Tbh I don't remember having 2 types in the bag, and it was only 10 months ago!

Thanks all, super helpful. Yes I am living in the Middle East - I got the pump in England but now I'm back in the desert I don't have access to any breast feeding groups and the instructions it came with are absolutely crap or maybe I just have pregnancy brain I wish you could post photos on this forum so I could set up a game of 'guess the part'!

Twelvelegged - what you said about sterilising makes total sense, thank you. I will do the same I think with the vat of Milton - genius :)

And what you said about the soft vs hard breast caps is spot on - thank you!

Is there any way you can practise before the babies are born? I am already leaking colostrum so would it be possible to start pumping it around week 35 (say) in preparation for their arrival?

They really are big on medical intervention here, very cautious, very pro-early c-sections and very pro NICU and formula feeding, so I really am up against it.

Get on the la leche league website as they have loads of info on all sorts of specific situations, and they'd def be able to answer the antenatal expressing question.
You may find you can contact a LL bf counsellor who's been through the middle east set up - I spoke to a twin mum who'd had an EMCS in Botswana or somewhere similar!

And there is a way of posting photos now but I'm on my phone so can't check!