Breast pumps - advice please

[Newmum0113]

Hi there. Im only 22+4 but am looking into this to get an idea of what I may need, as long as I am able to BF when DD is born.

We have already purchased the tommee tippee steriliser and bottles, but the reviews for their breast pumps on MN are not glowing. Does anyone think differently or know if the other brands of breast pump would fit these bottles or not?

Thanks in advance.

I have a tommee tippee hand pump and find it fine to use for pumping every now and then. I had to pump for 2 days solid recently though and found it took too long. If you plan on pumping regularly I would suggest an electric pump as your hand and arm will ache

Is there a particular reason you need to get a breastpump new? If you do want or need to express did you know that you can do this by hand?

Look into the difference between closed and open system pumps - open system pumps you shouldn't buy second hand as can be unhygienic to do so. Closed system is the type they use in hospitals - the milk can't get into the pumping system. I bought a double closed system pump by Ameda (Lactaline), I think Medela is closed system too. Works well for me - my baby's one week old and already I can express nearly 200ml if I need to. Happy hunting!

mythnomore.blogspot.fr/2011/08/why-you-shouldnt-buy-sell-or-borrow.html
(Article on closed/open system pumps)

I'd just wait until baby is here or if you really want to buy one get the TT hand pump at an asda/tesco baby event.
You won't know until baby is here whether you'll need one frequently and if you do you can just order one of amazon etc.

I bought quite a few bottles, steriliser etc but they've not been used as BF went really well and DD is a bottle refuser. The TT hand pump worked well for what I needed: the odd expressed bottle to either relieve engorged breasts or to try tempt DD to have a bottle (which didn't work). And I only paid £12 for it so not too much of a waste

Thanks for the comments but no one has answered my question really.

I asked if anyone knows if the TT Bottles are compatible with other branded pumps. And if anyone has had good/bad experience with TT Pumps.

I never said anything about buying a pump yet, I'm just researching while I am not completely sleep deprived. I'm aware BF may not be successful.

I am aware you can do this by hand, but I want to gather as much info on all options available to me so I can make an informed decision after DD arrives.

Thanks

Typical MN, lots of replies and nobody answered your question

Have no experience of the tt pump, so I can't answer you either. I used the avent isis with dc1 which was a total waste of space and the Ameda Lactaline with Dc2 which I loved.

Hopefully someone will be along soon to answer your questions

Sorry OP I replied to the replies rather than your actual question, serves me right for MNing at 1am

I have both TT bottles and avent bottles, but only the TT ones fit the pump. We ended up trying to get DD to take the avent bottles with MAM teats as she slightly preferred them , although still wouldn't take much.
When you buy the pump it tends to come with a bottle. So what I did was pump into the TT bottle and then pour it in to a different bottle for feeding or in to those breast milk storage bags.

Are they the TT closer to nature ones? Because they seem to be a bit wider necked than a lot of the other bottles so it might be a case of having to pump and transfer, if and when you do buy a pump.

I had an ameda lactaline & it took standard neck bottles. I used Axifeed bottles for expressing/storing (got them from eBay & NCT online shop respectively).

The Tommee Tippee electric pump is bloody awful. Please don't waste your money.
I also have the TT steriliser and the Closer to Nature bottles, but borrowed a hospital grade Medela pump to use instead as the TT pump was so useless.

With the Medela I could get up to 10oz in around 10 mins, whereas with the TT I'd get 4/5oz in around 45 minutes. The TT pump is very slow and noisy - not what you need with either a hungry or a sleeping baby.

That said, it depends how often you plan on using it. I had to exclusively express for 3 months as DS wouldn't bf at first, so was pumping 7/8 times a day. The TT pump just wouldn't hack that sort of usage.

As the Closer to Nature bottles didn't fit the Medela pump I borrowed, I just tipped the milk into the bottles afterwards and popped them in the fridge. No bother at all.
I also use the TT bottles with my Boots basic handpump, which is my "travel" pump of choice.

I wouldn't worry too much about the pump and bottles all fitting together. And please don't waste your money on the TT electric pump. The bottles and steriliser are great, just buy another - decent - pump to go with them, if you decide you do want to express that way.

Fatima I too am guilty of MNing in the early hours and completely misreading things! And YY they are the CTN bottles. I didn't realise they were wider necked!

Mother Thank you for that, that's the kind of respone I was looking for. All the reviews on amazon and boots seem to be good ones, but I've heard differently but only a case of "someone told a friend who told me" type scenario. I wanted first hand advice.

Was your Medela electric?

I want to pump if possible so that DH can get to -struggle- enjoy night feeds as well. But am waiting until BF is deemed a success when DD has arrived, as my mum didn't even produce milk at all, so obviously couldn't BF at all.

Yes, the Medela was an electric one - the Lactina Electric Plus, to be precise. It's a hospital grade one so only really necessary if you're pumping full time like I was - and I'm not even sure it's possible to buy them. But Medelas in general seem to be the way to go.

The reason I mentioned the Medela was that it was so, so different to the TT electric. There are much better pumps than the TT out there, even without borrowing a hospital grade one.
From my experience, the TT isn't really any better than a hand pump, and hand pumps are about a sixth of the price.

I think the reviews of breastpumps vary because people use them so differently. If I'd only used my TT electric once a day, and had never tried a hospital grade pump, I might have thought the TT was okay. Because I'd never have known how much milk I could get with a better pump, if you see what I mean.

I had two TT pumps, the hand one which was totally useless and the electric one which was better, but only slightly, and still overall pretty crap. Also I never found that the bottles were compatible with other brands so you're sort of tied in to them, although there's nothing stopping you using one of their bottles to pump and then decanting to a different make if you had the TT pump already.

Seeing as you havent already bought it my advice would be don't, it's just a bit rubbish, too many little parts to clean/loose and not a very comfortable pumping position.

With DD2 I got the new Phillips Avent electric pump through a MN product review, it is totally fantastic so I thoroughly recommend that if you're interested in alternatives.

Thanks ladies this is all good info.

Just have to wait and see if I can BF at all. Roll on the next 20 weeks....

((crossing arms in frustration)) (((then wincing at sore boobs)))