breastpump advice

[fatnhap]

time to start pumping and let the good old hubby wake up at night!!! soooooooo many breastpumps in the market that making my breasts dizzy!! any suggestions from all you pumping mothers out there?

I honestly don't know, honey, when it comes to expressing - do remember that the amount you produce when you're expressing has nothing to do wiht the amount you've actually got, though. My let-down was unmistakable - it was very like that feeling of getting your first mouthful of food when you're starving, and your salivary ducts start gushing, really quite painfully (well, translated to the boobs, naturally).

Does the hospital have, or can it loan/rent you, one of those huge Ameda models? They're amazing, they really pump away. Have you asked what they've got there? Or is it worth trying to get an electric one, which will probably be the Medela hand-held one if you go to your local Boots? Obviously the Avent isn't doing the trick BUT even if all else fails you know you're still lactating for when your baby comes out. AND does the hospital not have a milk bank to feed baby in any case?

I think, I'm getting myself worked up and should give this a break for a few hours, (also nipples are sore again). I have tried Mandela electric and it has given 1 once at times. I have also rang helplines, drank tons of water and am eating better than ever. Motherinferior thank you for the help. I like to finish this conversation later, have to go to my son now, hope to speak to you soon, love Plinky x

Hi Plinky - relax - it stressful - worrying about expressing won't help - honestly !

I epxressed for 9 months for my twins (they were born at 35 weeks and too small to latch on, when they were big enough they had got used to bottles).

Firstly 1.5 os isn't bad in the early days - babies don't need much milk per feed then so you won't be making much.

I found expressing was very mental - the more ypu worry the less you get. I found I got most when I could forget about expressing - say while surfing the net, reading a book or watching tv.

Massage helps.

I can give you a lot more advice if you want to mail me privately (julie at highfields1 dot plus dot com).

And even if you don't manage to breastfeed at the end of the day - you tried from a rocky start - and there is a lot more to being a mum than just breastfeeding .

Sorry to barge into this thread, but as everyone seems to be here...
Does anyone have any experience with the Tommy Tippee Freedom pump? I prefer the TT microwave steriliser to the Avent one, because it can be used as a cold water steriliser as well, but it comes with bottles included, and I don't really want to buy an Avent pump, that comes with 2 bottles, then have to go out and buy more when I've got 3 perfectly good TT bottles, just incompatible with the pump. I know it won't break the bank to buy 1 extra bottle (1 empty/dirty from late night feed, one to be used for an first-thing-in-the-morning express, one spare) - it is just the principle of the thing... Do people use the Avent because it really is better, or just because it's the better known brand, they try it, and see no reason to change?

Bump...

Well, there seemed to be a lot of people about - have I scared you off?????

but you can use the avent pump with the provided bottle or they do plastic sterilised cup things now so they can be popped straight into freezer and just pour it into your preferred bottle that works in your steriliser

I know, but I would quite like to be able to pump and use within 24 hours.. Pouring from one bottle to another just seems like a lot of extra hassle and sterilising - and I'm a lazy bird at heart!!

Hi Everyone, Thank you so much for all your kind words and encouragement. I am now using a manual pump and find it much better and am producing a little more milk, but certainly no where near the supply that a lot of mums gets in the SCBU fridge. The next question for you is how long do you pump on each breast and how much can you average out?