Best electric pump?

[greenlizard]

My baby is 3 weeks old and I am really struggling with breast feeding. My nipples are bruised, cracked and sore and feeding is agony -it is making me cry. I find myself fantasizing about giving him a bottle so i can avoid the pain. I have been to breast feeding clinics multiple times and spoken to my health visitor. He has been checked for tongue tie and his latch is good (apparently although given how sore I am I can't see how it can be?). They have suggested that I play around with position on once he is latched on to see if that improves things. I have tried nipple shields but i couldn't get then to stay on. My baby seems happy with feeding although it it must surely be more enjoyable for him if less stressful for me? He is gaining weight.

They also suggested that I try and express and supplement the odd feed with expressed milk to give my nipples a chance to heal. Can anyone offer any advice in general or specifically what a good pump would be to get?

It had been my intention to ebf for six months then express for some feeds when I go back to work so want one that is efficient and last

I used medula swing which seemed to be the best option after loads of researching.

Is there Ny chance you can borrow one from the breast feeding specialist?
Are you using lansinoh on your nipples?

Hi brambles - what did you think if the medela swing - did it work for you?

Awakeagain yes I use lansinoh but probably not applying it as religiously I should be as it doesn't seem to help but I will make a concerted effort to do it more.

Yeah it worked fine. My LO wouldn't latch on (even after seeing many BF experts) so I was pumping every 30mins day and night for a few weeks to try and keep the flow until it dried up so I used it quite a bit!! Lol

I second the Medela swing maxi (double pump). My lo only feeds on one side so I expressed the other side for 6 months. It has been amazing at keeping my supply up and I am also able to help out another mum. I'm now back at work 4 days a week and I double pump there twice a day - it's easy to use, portable (it can run on batteries), and can be made a double or single. You can also get a Medela coolbag designed to fit the bottles to keep your milk cold when at work (didn't really fancy putting it in the communal fridge!)

It's quite an lot as initial outlay, but I have managed to ebf and he's now 9 months - never ever thought I'd get this far!

I have the Medela Swing which I
find easy to use and fairly effective though not as good as the hospital one which was a large Medela one-some places hire the industrial type ones out. Your hospital may hire them out-mine did.

Definitely the Medela Swing. It is expensive but it definitely works efficiently so you can save yourself a lot of time and effort.

Have you tried breast shells to help your nipples recover? www.medelabreastfeedingus.com/products/category/breast-shells
They really helped my cracked nipples because they let the air get to the nipple and stop your bra / pad rubbing on the nipple and sticking.

If you plan to use it for daily pumping, Medela Freestyle is recommended over Swing.

I hVe the spectra dew 350- fab hospital grade double pump. Also have the tommee tippee electric- avoid and the avent IQ single (not bad). Went off medela when my milk kept going up the tube :-/ but the swing was very good at milking me :-D the ardo calypso gets rave reviews too.

I've got an ardo calypso pump which i'm currently using and it's fab! Used a medela mini with DD1 and it didn't stand up too well to the regular use it got, with exclusive pumping my milk dried up within 2 months.

I used thePhillips Avent, liked that you didn't have to lean forward so you could sit reclining and comfy while pumping. I used to feed dd from one boob and express from the other!

I have the medela freestyle (double pump) it's great although mostly I use in single format but it does have a 'hands free' option where you kind of strap it on!!

I would definitely get you little one checked again for tongue tie, look up posterior tongue tie, I was told 3 x by different people my dd didn't have TT and then after so much pain, cracked nipples, thrush went to a specific clinic and she was diagnosed. The pain is completely gone now, took 2-3 days to heal.

I could only feed with nipple shields. Avent ones were best as a bigger size. They stick on better if wet, also I put them at a 45 degree angle so baby's bottom lip was touching my skin.

Multimam compresses (boots sell them) were soothing.

I went through exactly the same thing- severe pain, cracked, bleeding nipples etc. it was agony (first time round I also had deep shooting breast pains, especially during letdown). With dd1, I saw several breast feeding counsellors and all said my latch was fine. Baby gained weight well. I struggled on, using nipple shields to give me a break when the skin was broken (the key is to hand express a few drops of milk and rub this around your nipple before putting on the shield to form a seal, then express to get a few drops into the shield to start baby off IFYSWIM). I also expressed a bottle a day, to give me a break, from about 3 weeks. I used a medela mini, which was great. Don't expect to express a huge amount the first few times! It gets easier
Those first few weeks were really, really hard. At 6 weeks, however, without any particular intervention, the pain just went! Let down still hurt a bit, but the nipple pain completely disappeared. Fed without any problem for 10 months.

Had exactly the same experience with dd2 (although pain went at 4 weeks ) but this time round, I knew the pain would go, so didn't spend lots of time trying to work out what was wrong as it just added to the stress with dd1. I have had a few friends who had similar experiences.

The moral of this story is don't despair if you can't solve your breastfeeding problems. It doesn't necessarily mean your pain will last forever. I actually found the "breastfeeding should never hurt" trope really unhelpful as it made me feel that I was doing it all wrong.

I used the Madella swing and would recommend it, but my friend has just started using the Philips Avent comfort and said the cushion is much more comfortable and doesn't leave her tender.

www.feedmybaby.co.uk/philips-avent-comfort-single-electric-breast-pump-review/

I have also heard the Tommee Tippee is supposed to be quite good as well, although its pretty pricey.

www.argos.co.uk/static/Product/partNumber/2574747.htm

I had a manual Phillips Avent and could never get adequate suction with the cushion on- I had to take it off. I think it depends on how big and engorged your boobs are TBH. The manual was an incredible faff to clean as well.

I've been using the Ameda Lactaline double pump for 6mths now, firstly to express one side while DS fed from the other to get my supply going, then when he went into nursery at 4mths to express both sides while I'm at work.Portable, runs on mains or battery (or the car cigar lighter socket), easy to clean, pretty indestructible (yes it's been dropped on the floor more than once!) and best of all I picked it up second hand off eBay for £50 cant recommend it highly enough!