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Get breast pump advice from others here. Plus you can read our round up of the best breast pumps.

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Get breast pump advice from others here. Plus you can read our round up of the best breast pumps.

Breast pumps

Recommended breast pumps

35 replies

sunangel88 · 26/09/2009 10:02

Currently 5 months pregnant and thinking of combined breast and bottle-feeding once bump is born. What breast pumps would you recommend? I'd prefer the automatic / electric ones but also keen to hear experiences with hand-helds. Planning to express for 12 months or more. Thanks!

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Hello!

We've noticed this thread is quite old and some of the product recommendations are a little out of date. We've spent weeks speaking to parents and testing out breast pumps. Read our breast pump reviews for a list of the best products on the market.

Hope this helps!

MNHQ

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SilverSixpence · 26/07/2013 00:29

I have had the Medela swing and the manual Medela. I prefer the manual one as it is quieter, no wires and easier to clean, besides being a lot cheaper! I can get 4.5oz pumping from one side with it and doesn't take any longer than the electric pump.

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izjscott · 04/07/2013 16:55

I recently got the medela swing (double) electric pump. Really easy to use and I just boil it all to sterilize it, don't find it too much of a faff. I've also got some medela storage bags which are better for keeping a store in the fridge or freezer than bottles. Hope this helps :-)

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Londonmum2013 · 03/12/2012 15:31

I cannot recommend the Medela Symphony breastpump. It's the best one in my opinion. I started off using the Medela Swing, and only used it a handful of times. I just couldn't stand sitting there pumping one breast at a time. The Symphony allows you to extract MUCH MORE milk (instantly making your body produce more) and it pumps both breasts at once.

You can rent it out from Medela headquarters. They deliver it to you and it costs £40-45 a month. It may sound like a lot, but it was definitely worth it. I made enough milk for my baby in half the time.

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RubyrooUK · 17/10/2011 20:03

I used the Medela Swing and the Medela handheld, both of which are good in my view. They are automatic ones as I could never get the trick of manual expressing.

It was useful to express so I could occasionally pop to shop/do something needing me to be away more than 35min (DS was always greedy).

But by 4 months, DS took to refusing bottles of all makes and has never had an expressed bottle since. Or any bottle. My social life has been dead for around the same length of time.

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ScaryFairy28 · 17/10/2011 19:46

I'm sure by the time you go back to work baby will have feeds sussed and not take too long dd now 5 months gets a full feed both sides in 10mins.

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sunangel88 · 27/09/2009 02:03

Adding this link I've just found for future reference when I get ready to buy the pump.

Mumsnet best Ameda Lactaline it is!

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sunangel88 · 26/09/2009 18:41

I'm toying with the idea of getting work to give me a 2 hour lunch break so I can drive back to breast feed (since I'm lucky enough to be only 15 mins drive away) Though it depends on how long it takes to breast feed! lol

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Picante · 26/09/2009 18:41

You don't need to sterilise anything to do with breastmilk. Complete waste of time.

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sunangel88 · 26/09/2009 18:39

Thanks for that link, btw.

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mummyhill · 26/09/2009 18:37

Care not vare. You should be able to find the right information about this on directgov.com where all your maternity rights are explained and your rights when you return to work. If work are funny about it or you need clarification you could also contact ACAS

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mummyhill · 26/09/2009 18:35

If you are expressing at work they have a duty of vare to provide you with somewhere private to express, extra breaks to accommodate expressing and should also provide you with adequate storage however lots of people I know managed with a cool bag and freezer blocks.

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sunangel88 · 26/09/2009 18:33

Mummyhill - that is a very good point about the not needing to plug it in! I didn't think of that one. Sounds like I'll need both a manual and an electric (and to start carrying larger handbags) and a mini-fridge under my desk at work if I have to pump at work. oh dear, the list is growing. Maybe start with a manual first then get the electric one when I go back to work.

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mummyhill · 26/09/2009 18:32

LOL yes flame I am still here love. Due to go in on Wednesday to have my passenger forcefully evicted with dynamite!

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mummyhill · 26/09/2009 18:31

Excellent memory flame it was indeed rtkangamummy and the thread is here

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Flamesparrow · 26/09/2009 18:30

You still here Mummyhill? (feel free to hit me for saying that)

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mummyhill · 26/09/2009 18:26

Ok here goes! I expressed exclusivley for 4 months with ds (now 4 yrs old) as he wouldn't latch and then switched to mixed feeding for a few months before going onto formula only.

For out and about I used an avent isis manual pump as it was easy to fit in my bagand I didn't have to worry about finding somewhere to plug it in iyswim.

At home I used an ameda lactaline which was quiet and easy to use. I seem to remember it cost me about £80.

I like flamesparrow am cursing cause ds was going to be my last and I gave away my hand pump and sold the lactaline on ebay! I have replaced my manual pump and am hoping that this time round I will manage to get a latch established so won't need to spend out on an electrical one!

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Flamesparrow · 26/09/2009 18:25

There was a thread ages back (I think something to do with RTKangaMummy - what happened to her?!?!?!) saying something to do with microbiologists felt that a dishwasher was more than hot enough to kill anything desperately nasty, and yup, building up an immunity is good too.

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Flamesparrow · 26/09/2009 18:23

lol - were you sterilising the spoons too?

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sunangel88 · 26/09/2009 18:23

Just spotted the non-sterilising option. I guess the benefit of that is they get used to all the germs and don't get asthma/hayfever? Is that a common thing to do?

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sunangel88 · 26/09/2009 18:21

The way I figure it, at least the expressing would keep up the supply if I go back to work. Thanks - I suspect I'll need it. Just realised there's tons I don't know!

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llareggub · 26/09/2009 18:19

If you use a cold water steriliser you can throw anything in it. Mine is about the size of a bucket, and I can throw in a milton tablet together with whatever I want to sterilise and that is it. I've put all sorts in there, including feeding bowls when I weaned PFB DS1 onto solids.

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llareggub · 26/09/2009 18:17

DS2 is coming up to 5 months. I bf DS1 until he was 2.9 or something like that and he self-weaned about 3 months ago. In hindsight I was probably too busy feeding both boys to express.

I go out on a Sunday morning at a time when DS2 normally feeds. When I am not around he doesn't look for a feed so my expressed store is not being used. He makes up for it when I come home. I remember that DS1 used to do this when I went back to work when he was 5 months. He'd never take a bottle when I wasn't around, but practically rip my top off when I came home!

Good luck with your pregnancy.

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sunangel88 · 26/09/2009 18:12

I read about MAM, apparently their bottles are also shaped to prevent air from getting in.... MAM teats it is. Wonder if they'll fit into a different brand steriliser?

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Flamesparrow · 26/09/2009 18:05

I'm not sponsored by avent the first steriliser was a gift (ish) and the bottles fitted in it nicely, so when I went pump shopping I just went with the same make for the bottles Since then I have stuck with the theory of if it ain't broke don't fix it Only have the microwave steriliser now as my mum saw it on sale and it takes up a hell of a lot less room.

I swear by mam teats though. DD rolled the avent ones round her mouth and poured half the milk out. The mam ones are flat and skin textured.

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Flamesparrow · 26/09/2009 18:03

I wouldn't sterilise if I had a dishwasher

I love how we all have such different experiences though DD was a nightmare for sleeping and I gave up b/feeding by 12 weeks (not connected in any way), so I wasn't expressing much or for long.

DS was my dream child - he would wake up for a feed and nappy change, then sleep again for a couple of hours for the first few months, then he got into a good evening routine so I had from about 7pm free for the evening - just plonked myself in front of the tv with a pump. I didn't really build up stores of milk, just sat and expressed when I knew I had something coming up (eg a night out, or DSis visiting - she loves feeding). Where I am very lucky at producing oodles of milk and having no difficulty expressing, I knew that it would just take one or two sessions to get all I needed.

I do agree on co-sleeping being a lifesaver though. I don't recall ever (apart from when I had an insanely strong injection for kidney stones) using a bottle so that I could sleep through the feed. Even if DS had been out of the room whilst I slept, whoever had him just brought him in and nudged me, and I just latched him on laying down and fell asleep again.