Breast Pump for large breasted lady!

[IceCube]

I am currently a 'G' cup and am looking to get a suitable breast pump. Would appreciate any recommendations as the basic manual pump I bought is useless!

Have seen a Medela swing electric breast pump on offer for £80 and am wondering if this would be a good investment.

The actual breast size doesn't usually affect how well a pump works, although large nipples sometimes don't fit well into standard sized funnels. Can you describe a bit more about the problem you are experiencing? Is milk coming out? Are you uncomfy?

I went up to a H cup when I started bf and was an FF until ds was weaned at 14 months. I used the hand held Avent Isis and had a Medela electric on loan from the hospital for the first 6 weeks. Breast size wasn't an issue with either of them but I know some people don't get on with the manual ones.

I've heard good things about the Ameda Lactaline. My friend used one for almost 6 months and said it was about as good as the hospital-grade one she initially had.

Lots of good feedback for the Swings as well though on here iirc. Have a search in the archives.

Btw, if you have a silicone "comfort" insert thing in the funnel bit of your manual pump try removing it. I could never get mine to work properly with it but got on great once I got rid.

I've always used Medela - it's what the hospital have in so what I got for myself (Medela Mini) - I'm an H (at last check) and never had a problem. I don't know much about the Swing but they all use the same expressing kit (the funnel) so I think you will be OK (from a size POV) with any Medela.

grendle is right - I'm an H cup when breastfeeding and I can use a manual pump - although I find that I get
a) carpal tunnel and
b) bored

I wasn't able to express much with my first though - who was very demanding (both in terms of feeding and generally - I was exhausted). Some women just can't express that well, even though they can breastfeed.

ahem. Unless your nipples are touching the sides of the tube bit of the funnel your pump is the right size. You can get sized ones as an option with a medala.

I have G cup now and rising [39 weeks] and I got the tommee tipee hand one purely as it was cheap as chips in TK Max. Fits ok but nips a bit on one side so I dunno.

Think the thing is nipple size tbh.

avent isis.

Yes go for the Medela one though I had the mini electric it knocked the socks on my manual

I think I am G/H cup as my FF's don't fit! Good to hear that isn't a problem because it was mentioned to me as a reason why I was struggling with the current pump.

Looking to express for a day on one side to give cracked nipple a rest but intend to use quite a lot later on once milk is established.

Thanks for all the recommendations, will check those out later today.

Grendle - pump doesn't seem to be getting suction on my breast so nothing is coming out and I don't feel anything. When I cover the end of the pump with my hand I feel a suction and it is harder work to pump, but can't replicate this with my breast. It was just a very cheap one I picked up in boots as I wanted to have something in but didn't expect to be expressing this early (DH is just under 2 weeks old) but I have had terrible trouble with a nipple crack that has reopened 3 times (I find it hard to get latch right when very tired) so thinking the "rest that breast for a day" option might be best for me.

I'm a G cup and the Avent Isis IQ electric one works well for me. Sometimes I don't get suction but it's because the seal has become loose between the pump and one of the rubber bits so I take it apart and put all back together again. Wriggling the breast about a bit often helps too.

Large Sainsburys sell them for cheaper than Mothercare.

I used both the TT closer to nature pump and the Medela Mini-electric, found them fine and I was an H cup.

Agree with both removing any silicone insert bits in the funnel, and wiggling about a bit - I found I had to lean forward a bit, to make it work best.

I am a G cup and found ameda lactaline a really good pump to use. It was indeed as good as the huge thing the hospital loaned me until the one I had on order arrived! I removed the silicone bits as they were uncomfy.

I find that rather than holding the pump on the breast, instead I need to really push the pump into place - it squashes my breast so that it's quite distorted (not at all painful though, I promise!). If I replicate what I see on the pictures on the box then I don't get a good enough seal to provide proper suction. Would that help?

PS I needed to pump one side after a nasty "biting" incident when DD1 was a newborn. I found that it kept the supply up and allowed me to heal, so I reckon that it would be a good idea for you too, if you can get it to work.

I used a medela swing I was and still am a HH cup, it worked well.

TBH though I don't think that breast size really makes any difference to which pump is best for you, well at least it didn't for me.
Although I bought an Avent Manual pump but couldn't use it with the silicone insert but also found it to be crap TBH, the valve kept popping. I found it hard work so I bought a a medela min elcetic which was wonderful and then progressed on to the swing.

icecube, I had exactly that problem and sometimes I couldn't work out why as nothing I did seemed to make the seal work.

Leaning forward did help a lot though so definitely give that a try if you haven't already.

Also [tries to cast mind back to those foggy days of early expressing] don't press the lever too hard at first, just a gently slow squeeze and see if you get a better seal that way.

This goes double if you have a crack as expressing too hard will open it up again and you'll end up with pink milk (voice of experience ) - which btw, may seem gross but is perfectly fine for your baby to drink. This is important knowledge if you've not noticed until you got 4 precious oz and you're weeping at the thought of dumping it!

I hand expressed last time round (i.e. no pump) into a clean pint glass as I found the pump hard to reconcile with my J cup bosom. Once I got practised at it I could get a few oz at a time. I had an Avent Isis at the time.

Later, a lovely MNer sent me on of her old pumps, can't remember what it was called, but it was smaller than the Avent and got much better suction - the Avent never seemed to get a proper 'seal'.

I also found switching sides frequently kept things flowing.

I'm an F cup and have an ameda lactaline which is great but I do need to faff around a bit to get the funnel in the right place on my nipple.

Well I win on the size thingbecause I went to a J cup with DD and I used the Medela mini electric and the Avent Isis with no probs at all so I second the opinion that it's nowt to do with size and more to do with a cheap breastpump.

Another vote for the Ameda Lactaline - I used it full time, 8+ times a day for over 6 months and it worked really well, no probs with huge norks either.

I am swelling out of an H cup at the mo and use the Tommee Tippee CTN pump.

Loads of good suggestions already. Some mums get on better with hand expressing than a pump. There are instructions here with clear photos.

With a manual pump you need releated gentle fast sucks initially. Once the milk begins to flow, then longer slower harder sucks draw the milk out. Never press harder than is comfy, especially if you are already sore.

If you have a manual pump with a tiny white disc in it, then it's worth checking the instructions to ensure you've fitted it the right way up.

As others have said, if there's a flexible silicon shield try with both with and without it. For some it works one way, for others the other.