Pumps and breast feeding and confusion

[Letsallscreamatthesistene]

Hi!

Im 7 and a half months pregnant with my first, and i'm totally new to all things baby so im looking for some advice please.

My plan is to breast feed my baby for the 1st 7 months (at which point I go back to work) and am looking at breast pumps. My question is does the milk express into bottles that will then be used to feed the baby, or will I need to decant the milk into other bottles? Ive looked at different brands and they seem to be quite vague on that topic. How do you reheat the milk? Is the microwave ok or will this make it too hot? Gah there so much I dont know!

There are lots of pumps that fit their own brand of bottles :) they usually come, if you are buying a starter kid, with a little bottle that screws onto the pump and then the same bottle can also have a lid screwed on instead.

Lots also sell breast milk storage kits (little pouches for the fridge and freezer) that you can either fit directly to the pump or decant into, and then store.

I think most are like this and I think I have even seen a breast pump adapter to fit different bottles?? As some brands like Medela are obviously first and foremost a breast pump brand rather than a bottle brand.

Good luck! :)

Oh and also advice is to NOT use the microwave to warm the milk.

I'm also due in a couple of weeks and ha e forgotten most of this stuff even though my last baby is only 2 , but I'm pretty sure a fresh bottle of breast milk can be left ambient for a couple to a handful of hours, or stored in the fridge and then heated by being place in a bowl of hot water.

Depends on what you get and how you use it. A breastmilk collector is cheap (Haakaa version was 5.99 from Aldi) and more effective than a pump if you want to express while nursing as it sticks on your boob and you don’t need to worry about it.

An electric or manual pump is better if you will be expressing away from the baby. Most come with the ability to fasten a bottle to it or in sets including bottles like Lanisoh or Medela (I have Medela’s electric swing pump as it came with bottles). I personally would recommend Medela as their long teated Calma bottle range is probably the best at preventing ‘shallow latch’ and nipple preference for newborn bottle / breastfed babies.

On reheating: you simply put the bag of expressed milk into a cup of hot water then pour the warmed milk into the bottle. You don’t microwave breast milk. Don’t bother buying a bottle warmer, they’re a waste of money.

I think there’s a site called Kelly Mom that has amazing advice on pumping/storing/heating

Good luck!

So with pumping you can use the bottles you get with the pump or decant into storage bags or tubs. I used mam bottles my wee one liked them. I used asda breast milk bags to store the milk. To heat the milk I just heat up in a tub of hot water. In the early days I used a hakka for milk collection, it was easier and less time consuming pumping.