Do I really need to spend £200?

[letsdothis123]

Hi Team. I'm 22 weeks pregnant with my first and embarking on breast pump hell. Lol.

NHS Choice is medela, which is over £100 new. I was looking at second hand and then browsed amazon.

On amazon (their choice/recommendation) is under £40. It is a double electric. All the reviews are good, 4.5/5 stars.

Anyone got any words of wisdom or advice?

Thanks 😀

I had a medela one and I think it cost about 70/80 for the single pump. They are very good and th hospital use the same brand.

Hand pumps are a nightmare and they're all pretty noisy!

My breastfeeding consultant also had one that she loaned me for a few weeks that was hospital grade so worth checking those options out too!

I had a Tommee Tippee one first but then replaced it with a Medela which was far better.

I bought an Ameda Lactaline second hand. It's a closed system pump, unlike the Medela one, so no risk of milk getting into the tubes. You can also buy new collection kits for it, but I was happy just to sterilise the existing ones. Worked well for me.

I think a hospital grade pump is best. You can rent them though.

I tried a few but got most out with an Avent manual pump for about £20.

I’d wait and see if you decide to use one before I bought, if I were you. All other things being equal, you shouldn’t try and express until your supply is properly established, so you have plenty of time.

I wouldn't buy anything until the baby is here - you might decide you don't need it, and if you do then you can get it on next day delivery. I had a Little Martin's Drawer one (or something like that) which was £50 from amazon. Also had a NatureBond which I used to put on the other breast.

I bought one but found hand expressing equally as good...once i got over milking myself like cattle... so i'd wait and see if you actually need one

Is there a particular reason you expect to need a pump? If not, I'd see how breastfeeding goes first. As someone said, you're not generally meant to express for the first few weeks (though there are exceptions), so you'll have time to decide at that point.

If you have a local breastfeeding support group, it's worth going along before the baby's born, and you'll be able to chat to the mums there about which pumps they've tried, and get recommendations.

I needed to express a lot for various reasons and used a hand pump (actually two because of my daily routine). It was perfectly good and much easier to clean perfectly. No need to shell out in advance unless you know for a fact you’re going to need one.

I have the spectra S1 from Amazon it’s amazing it also has so many good reviews it’s £100

Like rubyslippers I found hand expressing much less of a faff - wash my hands (and boob if I felt like it) and express straight into a wide necked tommee tippee. After a bit of practice I could fill a large bottle in 15 min.

I would go with a manual at first in case u decided that pumping if too much x

I just use the avent hand pump and I need to express often (3x a day), it is fine.

Thanks everyone, great responses and advice.

The reason for pumping, is that I don't want to be the sole feeder for my child. My husband is eager to do his bit and I think it will be less pressure if other people can feed our baby, if they'd like to.

I work in academia too, so I will be taking time off work but I will be dipping into work to get to the end of the academic year. This means that pumping may be a must.

I don't know if this is true, but I do trust my sources. I have a large chest, currently GG. I've heard from friends (with larger breasts) that they find it more uncomfortable to control and harder to be discreet in public.

I suppose my original question is more about if people think a cheaper alternative would be ok? £40 compared to £80-£200 is a big difference. I understand there are specifics to consider, closed pump etc, so I've compared them where necessary and they are almost identical in terms of criteria.

Xx

I got an amazon recommended one that was about £35. It was perfect, it still is.
I had to exclusively pump and bottle for 3 weeks because of tongue tie and that pump was amazing. Small and easy to use, charged by micro usb which meant I wasn't attached to a wall all the time. Even though I'm now feeding from the breast, it's still perfect for those quick sessions to build up a stash in the freezer for my fiancé to feed the baby.

If you have big boobs, you might need a pump that you can use sized breast shields with - I certainly did. I could hand express plenty, but with the wrong size breast shield I could barely get more than a few drops, even when using the hospital grade pump.

Afaik the only brand that sells breast shields in different sizes is medela, who have a guide to picking the right size on their website.

I have a medela swing, bought from John Lewis with all the accoutrements for around £100. Works brilliantly (with the correct size breast shield), easy to clean and came with a breastfeeding-friendly bottle.

Unless you will be using it every day the cheaper one will be fine. One of dcs was premature and I exclusively expressed for a month using a mid range Philips one.

I have bigger boobs than yours and had no problems feeding discreetly. I used the “stretchy vest top under baggier top” method with dc1 and dc2. With dc3 I was living in a more prudish country and used a cover. So (not saying there is any need to) but if you want to be extra discreet in public there are lots of options. One of the major advantages of bfing is being able to just pop out without having to worry about having bottles ready, keeping them cool, reheating etc.

Can I just shove my unwanted opinion in here? It always used to be said that you shouldn't try to express before 6 weeks- and I am convinced, on anecdote alone I admit, that the recent trend towards expressing very early creates problems establishing bf. Obviously there are circumstances where it's needed, with sick or premature babies, for example. But for full term healthy babies I'm sure it's better to get bf properly and confidently established before introducing another element to the equation .

@BertrandRussell thanks, this does help me understand breast feeding in general. Just a note, I didn't mention expressing before established. I am merely trying to gather information about breast pumps.

Thanks all. I think I might buy a cheaper one. My friend has a single medela, which she said I can try too - see how I get on with them both. Thanks all ❤️