Struggling with what breastpump to get

[Chelsearose97]

Hi can anyone give me a bit of advice please? I'm a first time mum and I'm wanting to breastfeed as well as pump occasionally so my partner can do some feeds or if anyone needs to watch baby whilst I attend driving lessons etc. What type of pump would be recommended? I thought manual would be enough but my midwife had recommended a electric one.

Medela are quite good, even the manual one is!

Hi OP,
Congratulations on the arrival of your baby boy!

I had a Medela manual pump which is a good one, especially if you want portability. Later on I've upgraded to a double electric breast pump as I have to go back to work and need to express more milk in less time. I got mine from New Beginnings - it's comfy and easy to use, I didn't feel any soreness using it. It suctions like a baby breastfeeding so it's really great in stimulating my milk production.

I found the medela swing very good. Other good brands are Ardo Calypso, Lola and Lykke.
My top would be Medela swing then Lola and Lykke. Couldn't be using a manual pump.

I found the medela swing not to be very effective. Over breastfeeding two babies, I've tried the medela symphony (very large rentable pump used whilst DD1 was in NICU), medela swing (hands free but very noisy), elvie stride (personal favourite and I think they've just released a new version that is meant to be even better) and spectra s2+ (good, but not wearable so I found it less convenient).

Medela have recently released a new wearable pump which sits in your bra. If I hadn't already got the elvie, I'd have probably given that one a try.