Breast pumps?

[New2020]

Hey mummy's

I'm a FTM and doing my research on breat pumps.

I was after some recommendations and insight from those of you who have been there done that! What did you use and would you recommend it? And what would be your top tips to look out for?

Thank you x

Depends on what you want it for. Expressing milk obvs but how much.

I exclusively express fed for five months with this bad boy: shop.medela.co.uk/products/breast-pumps/swing-flex-essential-pack/

Everything you need in the pack. But if you are expressing a lot I would recommend a double. This allows you to do both at once so half the time on the pump.

Thanks @Summerhouse

I'm not sure..I want to give breastfeeding a go but I know lots of people struggle even with the best intention and will.

I think if I do struggle I'd want to try a combination of trying to breastfeed but then also express and use that

So not exclusively unless I need to.

My sister and sister in law had their kids a whlie ago now but also recommended the Medela so swaying towards that for that reason.

I've also read good reviews about the Ardo breast pump

Would you recommend a double pump of it's not for exclusive expressing? I was thinking double would be good so it would be quicker but maybe Im wrong

I got gifted the lansinoh double pump and never once used it as a double. I found I could only ever get a decent amount pumping while baby was feeding on the other side stimulating flow. Have you considered a silicone pump? They are MUCH cheaper and just as, if not more effective than electric. Can get one for as little as £10. Just a word of advice, when pumping in the early days be careful not to pump in between feeds as it will make your body produce double what you need and cause problems like mastitis. Health care professionals will advise not to pump for 6 weeks but I pumped about once a day from birth to build up a freezer stash and never had any problems. Still feeding at 14 months. Good luck

Also ive heard very good reviews about madela and ardo and spectra. Cheaper recommendations are the amazon bella baby.

Ardo pumps are great but not sure price wise

If you can afford it and you're likely to do a lot of pumping get an Elvie or two. They are not cheap (I used birthday money!) but the aftercare is fantastic and they pay for themselves in the time they give back to you. Can't recommend enough.

I wanted to breastfeed but knew that with best intentions it might not happen. I bought a simple manual easy to clean breast pump (avant). I ended up bfing, topping up with expressed milk.

For my needs, a manual pump was fine though obviously an electronic one would have been less time consuming. I didn't want to pay for something I didn't know if I'd use. Figured I'd buy one if I needed it once lo was born.

Double check with your hospital, I know some hospitals will allow you to borrow a pump for a couple of weeks once baby is born. This saves you spending money on a pump before you know if you are able to BF or not

Don't get an expensive pump until baby is here. They can be huge wastes of money.

Get a Haakaa style to start with. Easy to use and will help with engorgement in the early days. You'll have plenty of time to get something more if you need it.

I've breastfed 2 babies now and personally never got on with pumps much. The Haakaa was all I needed. My second refused all bottles anyway so expressing was pointless.

Spend some time now researching the 4 th trimester and cluster feeding. Find your local support groups (many have moved online) and start making a support plan with your partner.

I wanted to EBF but bought a cheap, plastic pump just in case. I think it was about £15 from Mothercare. I used it to get some colostrum on day 2 or 3 when I wasnt sure if baby was getting enough and wanted to bottle feed to see. I also used it on 2 or 3 occasions when I fancied a glass of wine.
I'm still breastfeeding at 6 months and couldnt tell you where the pump is gone. I am very happy I didnt spend lots of money on one like I was going to! If you do decide to pump at some stage, you can always Amazon Prime one.

The spectra is amazing. I used two other pumps (one manual, one electric) and really struggled to express more than a few mls. Was about to give up on expressing when it was recommended to me and was a complete game changer - really fast and efficient.

I exclusively expressed for 16 weeks untill he finally managed to latch.

I had bought a double electric pump before hand and wish I hadn't. Pumping through the night was noisy, I found it restrictive when I wanted to jump up and get a book or a drink. Felt like a glorified milking cow and never really got that much milk out of it.

Was gifted an old style Avent manual pump and wow. Twice as much milk in half the time, much less noisy. Easy to bung in the changing bag when stopping at my mum's for the night. Ect.. would absolutely not have ended up with a breast fed baby without this fab little pump!!

If you are planning to pump ONLY if you got mastitis or engorged then any old manual will do. I'd choose which bottles you like the look off i.e tommee tippee or Avent and pick up a 2nd hand pump off gumtree ( you can buy new replacement parts for any bits that can't be sterilised)

If you are planning on combination feeding as your chosen method of feeding... Then an electric double you can use morning and evening may be the easiest thing.

I would suggest picking up a manual and seeing how you get on :)

All the best! X

It really depends on what you want them for: exclusive pumping needs a hospital grade pump, if it's the odd time every couple of weeks, hand expressing or a cheap hand pump might meet your needs best.

Medela pumps are fine, but overpriced for what they are - something like the Swing won't last the distance for exclusive pumping despite being quite expensive: the Spectra S1 & 2 are in the same price bracket, but last much better and are more effective at breast drainage.
Ardo also make good pumps, and lots of people rave about the Bellababy for 1-2 pumps a day, it's super cheap.
Avoid Tommee Tippee - they're overpriced and not very effective either.

Silicone pumps like the Haakaa (if buying a non branded one, check they are BPA free) are great for an occasional feed, but the milk they get has a slightly different composition to a traditional pump - they don't get as much fat out unless you also massage etc, so you wouldn't want to use that milk for all of your baby's feeds.

Oh, and the Elvie is in another ballpark price wise, and there are quite a few stories of them failing quickly, parts needing replaced, or being hard to use if you don't happen to have exactly the right shaped breast/nipple.

So while they are undoubtedly convenient for some, it's a gamble.

Thanks for all the advice everyone amd sorry for the slow response.

I think I'd prefer an electric to avoid the manual expressing as I think I'd end up getting a bit fed up of it.

I'm swaying towards the Medela freestyle and the spectra. Has anyone used these and what did you think of them?

I'm still undecided as to single or double. I think single would be good enough but a couple of people I've spoken to recommended definitely getting a double to save time...but not sure it'd be worthwhile. So difficult to decide.