Second-hand expressing units and mixing brands

[MB34]

I have decided to not breastfeed my baby but want to try to express so he has some of the goodness.

I have bought a second hand medela swing from ebay (mainly for the electric pump part) and am planning on buying new tubing and anew breastshield.

It has come with some bottles and teets so my first question is - are these safe to use once they have been sterilised or should I buy new just to be on the safe side?

My second question is - is it more beneficial to store the milk in the container it is expressed into and when it is needed to heat it up and give it from said container?

The reason I ask this is - before I looked into the expressing machines I bought Tommee Tippee bottles. I'm now thinking that maybe it's not not a good idea to be expressing into the medela bottles then transfering to the TT bottles so maybe I should take the TT bottles back to the shop and exchange them.

WWYD?

Once they've been sterilised, they'll be fine. You could also do it a couple of times too, if you want to be sure! I used two second-hand pumps (one hand, one electric) and both were fine.

You can transfer the milk into the bottles you like - this works well in the first few weeks, because you may be able to express loads and loads, but the baby will probably only want to have a small amount at a time. And also you can freeze some too.

I used to express into one large bottle, and then just decant 2oz when baby was hungry. Also, my LO didn't like the Medela teats (he'd just end up with milk everywhere), and got on much better with the Tommee Tippee ones, so I had to decant.

I have always used the disposable milk bags you can buy to store milk. If your baby is young you can store 3-4oz in each bag so that you don't waste any. If the bottles are sterilized they should be fine. Breast milks keeps for up to three months in the deep freeze and 24 hours in the fridge if transferred to sterile bags / containers immediately. No probs with using second hand pumps as long as the containers are sterilized each time you use them.

I've used second hand pumps both times and have expressed into the Medela bottles then put it into the Tommee Tippee bottles for feeding. Also you really don't need to sterilise your pump or the bottles every time you use - a good wash in hot soapy water is enough.

no, milk is fine in the fride for up to 8 days (if good fridge temperature and at back) or 3 days if fridge is not so cold (just smell it to see if it's fine).

let me try and find the leaflet here

no issues with using different bottles.

initially when you have the colostrum you'll be better off hand expressing into little syringes as they only need a few ml at first. You don't want to be on a pump in the first few days.

this is also a great resource especially how much do i need

yep, usually just sterilise/good wash pump once a day

Thanks everyone! I'm glad most of you have said that it lasts in the fridge - I had heard recently that you should only express just before feeds, same as only making up formula milk just before a feed.
I find this a little surprising especially as it never used to be the case and I did wonder if you really left your DC crying for food while you made it up/expressed!

That leaflet is really good too Climbing, thanks for that!