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Infant feeding

Get advice and support with infant feeding from other users here.

Original poster

Can anyone recommend a good breast pump please?

27 replies

SweetTea · 29/05/2008 11:20

I have a four week old DD and would like to start expressing to ease sore nipples/share night feeds as i have a very hungry baby!

I have tried the Avent manual pump with no joy whatsoever so i'm looking at buying an electric one. I know they are expensive but i'm planning on trying to express for about four months or so plus will probably have a second child so would be worth the investment in the long term.

Can anyone recommend a good one please?

OP posts:
MrsBadger · 29/05/2008 11:52

I have an Ameda Lactaline and it is fabulous

but a hungry baby needs to feed from the breast more often to increase your supply...

crochetdiva · 29/05/2008 11:53

The Avent manual pump is great (I love mine!) but the valve thingy needs to be wet for it to work properly ... also make sure the daisy wheel thingy is put in securely.

hth

MrsBadger · 29/05/2008 11:57

(and as far as manual pumps go the Tommy Tippee 'Freedom' one beat the Avent one hollow for me)

Tutter · 29/05/2008 11:58

i have a medela i no longer need

barely used

expat had expressed (arf) an interest but i haven't heard from her in ages about it

i will find out -- if she doesn't want it i will send it to you

Original poster
SweetTea · 29/05/2008 19:58

that's very kind of you Tutter, i look forward to hearing back soon!

OP posts:
wulfricsmummy · 29/05/2008 20:05

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn

DisplacementActivity · 29/05/2008 20:16

Message withdrawn

talilac · 29/05/2008 20:20

Ditto DA re Medela Swing, it rocks.

But don't stick the shield part in the dishwasher, it will warp and not work properly, and you will have to buy a replacement part.

Luckily for me Medela sell all the replacement parts. They are indeed the dogs dangly bits.

LazyLinePainterJane · 29/05/2008 20:24

I had an electric medela with DS after failing with a manual and it was truly wonderful.

weasle · 29/05/2008 20:24

i have a medela mini-electric. they are supposed to be good, but i can never get much out. i suspect that is me more than the pump though. is it worth getting a swing or ameda for my return to work?? are they that much better?

mummypig · 29/05/2008 20:27

I used to have an AVENT manual but they can be a bit variable. Definitely helps to have all the bits damp and check if the valve is in properly.

It depends where you are going to use the pump but I found a hired hospital grade one was by far more efficient than any that can be bought over the counter. They do look very 'industrial' though and are very heavy so probably only useful if you are working from home, as I was at the time (3-4 years ago).

talilac · 29/05/2008 20:40

I reckon the swing is better than the mini-electric. I can generally get 2.5 - 3 ounce in a session. But it does take practice and persistence, if you're going back to work I'd seriously consider adding a daily pumping session whether you need to express or not just to build up your supply. Plus you can build a litle freezer stash that way too.

SweetTea - one thing, the advice is generally to wait until after 6 weeks to start expressing. Can't remember why, probably something to do with it taking that long for supply to adjust to the baby's demand..

Mummypig - I really love your name!

weasle · 29/05/2008 21:31

Thanks for that mummypig and talilac.

Sweet tea, I would also agree that for you now just breast feeding might be what your hungry little one needs. I remember nipples getting better at 6 weeks, I think I stopped using any creams by then.

Shivs1974 · 29/05/2008 21:36

Shameless plug here but I'm selling an Ameda Lactaline - I put the details on the For Sale/Wanted Breastpump section a few days ago.
I exclusively expressed for dd1 (she just wouldn't latch at all - for anyone) for a year and the Ameda Lactaline was fantastic in enabling me to do this. It's quiet - well much quieter than the Medela Mini Electric), easy to use & worked a treat for me. Also used it a bit for dd2 but she was a great bfeeder and have just stopped feeding her. I'm looking for around £45 for it. Let me know if you're interested.

blondiep14 · 29/05/2008 21:40

sorry to jump in - not trying to hijack - just wondering what expressing is like?? Odd ? i know, i have a real mental block about it but i know it would make my life SO much easier when i go back to work if i could express, i think i should just give it a go.

If i could just get my head around it my friend has lent me a Medela (sp) mini, but don't know where to start.

mummypig · 29/05/2008 21:41

yes also agree that expressing always far more efficient than using a pump, so better for your baby and probably also better for you. But I can understand why you're thinking of doing it at the moment. I think I started expressing before 6w with both sons partly just to relieve any engorgement.

thank you talilac

LilRedWG · 29/05/2008 21:42

I hired a Medela one for two months - it was wonderful (well, as wonderful as a breast pump can be)

Shivs1974 · 29/05/2008 21:48

Blondiep14 - expressing is really weird. I used to often think that I was like a cow about to be milked - maybe that's from growing up near farms, I'm not sure. But once I got past this feeling, it felt quite normal. However I would say that bfeeding was SO much easier. Fortunately dd2 coped quite well with me going back to work when she was 7 mths old and I only had to express 1-2 times a day for about 6 wks. She then just took water during the day and I continued bfeeding her till she was 18mths.

One thing, though, I can say is that I was amazed how little I managed to express second time round. I can completely understand why people say that bfeeding is a much more efficient way.

yelnats · 29/05/2008 21:50

I liked my Avent manual pump until my DP melted it in a pot while he was sterilising it! He really should have just put it in the steriliser!

Definately dont get a Tommee Tippee closer to nature one - they are sooo painful!

mummypig · 29/05/2008 21:50

sorry blondie, cross-posted. Expressing doesn't feel as nice as having a baby feeding. I did feel a bit like a dairy cow when hooked up to my 'industrial' double pump. Also in my experience you have to fiddle around a bit with the strength and speed to get it to feel right but also manage to get enough milk out. But it is so useful if you want to have someone to look after your kid but still give them your breastmilk. Ds1 had food intolerances and I really wished I'd never started him on formula. Then ds2 had reflux and I knew that breastmilk was far easier digested than formula. So this added to my determination that he would only get my breastmilk until he was ready to wean onto solids. I had very good childcare so they adjusted to giving ebm as opposed to formula, and as I said, I was working from home.

It's also very useful when your baby is older and you want to start going out at night but are not ready to give up breastfeeding. Not that I do it any more... but when ds1 was little it was quite easy to express before I went out so the babysitter could give him a bottle if he woke up before he came back. And I sometimes even did manual expressing if I felt engorged during the night out. I know my sister did the same with her first child.

The breastfeeding charities all produce leaflets about working and expressing milk. I think I had one by the Association of Breastfeeding Mothers which was pretty useful. Also motherinferior did a test of breastpumps for a parenting magazine and although it was a few years' ago her advice in the article is still helpful. You could try putting a call out for her and seeing if she could e-mail it to you/post the main points.

onelittlelion · 29/05/2008 21:53

I found the ameda Lactaline best and was recommended by a friend. I had a Mini Medela but it just gave up working altho I believe you can replace the sucky bit easily. I drfinatlely can't express as much as ds can get himself and he never took aything I expressed but I don't know if I missed the window for introducing it?

blondiep14 · 29/05/2008 21:57

Thanks Mummypig & Shivs1974, v helpful.

I think it is the whole feeling like a milking cow thing that puts me off but I don't want DS to have formula at all.
He will be 9months old when i go back to work so wonder whether I'll need to express or I could just give a feed AM and PM ?

Tiktok previously advised I could so I'm not panicking, but do wonder if I'm not making life more difficult for myself, or worse, DS may need more than 2 BF feeds a day at 9 months ...

Shivs1974 · 29/05/2008 22:01

It wouldn't harm to begin to have a supple of frozen EBM in the freezer so that when you do go back to work, you don't put yourself under too much pressure.

It is possible just to bfeed day & night. For the first few wks, I bfeed dd2 as soon as I got in from work and then again at bedtime. She was a right pickle with sleep and did start doing some reverse cycling & waking up even more than she previously had done - but this soon settled down.

If you do decide to go down the route of expressing - there are a number of techniques that you can use to increase your supply - namely power pumping & cluster pumping. Power pumping means frequent pumping throughout the day. You're effectively trying to mimic a growth spurt. Cluster pumping is pumping frequently but for shorter periods - eg pump every half and hr for ten mins.

blondiep14 · 29/05/2008 22:22

I can see the sense in that - and would probably be only able to do 2 feeds a day the 3 days a week i will be at work.

Cripes, when at work I wouldn't be able to pump more than once a day

mummypig · 29/05/2008 22:32

When ds2 went into nursery I built up a supply before he started but he never really took much from the bottle, just fed more from me before drop-off and after pick-up. So I could probably get away with just pumping once during the day although I started out with more as I was worried about my boobs leaking and about his carers needing more milk.

I did feed him at night until he was pretty old though, so that probably made up for it as well.

I hadn't heard about 'power pumping' or 'cluster pumping' but both approaches make sense.

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