Breast pumps

[moregranny]

Any suggestions welcome re breast pumps :)

Locally we can hire them from the Surestart childrens centres. Electric ones can be very expensive to buy, so renting is a good option for sporadic use. Mine is a Medela double electric but the names escapes me at the moment... I like it as I can run it on batteries as well as mains.

Women I know through peer support can hand express significant amounts but I'm crap at it to be honest!

Avent hand breast bump. Fantastic. Has been half price in Mothercare, not sure if still is? About to use for 4th time around - expresses LOADS easily.....

Depends what you want it for really - are you planning to use it a lot, or just occasionally? Most mums find a hand pump is all they need for occasional use, but an electric can be handy if you are going back to work early, for instance. They are a lot more expensive though.

If you do want to go for electric you may wish to avoid Medela because all of their models allow milk to enter the moving parts which means they can't be sold or passed on to be used second hand when you have finished with it.

I think though a breast pump is more one of the wait and see things. Definitely worth looking at reviews, deciding which brand you would buy in certain situations, etc, before you need it, but you don't know what your situation will be. A friend ended up giving me hers unused because she couldn't breastfeed and her nipples were so sore she didn't want to express either.

My friend has the Avent hand pump and she says it's great - the flower shaped flange is good apparently (have no idea what this is )

Expressing does depend on each individuals boobs and milksupply I think.
I had a tommee tippee hand pump which was fine but I had oversupply (I think) so gushed easily!
friends had same and didn't get on with it tho. one friend used an electric one and unfortunately she hated it as she said she felt like a cow being milked!
I'd see how your milk supply is before spending much.

It's a very personal choice.

Personally I liked my little Medela electric pump, but it was very much like being milked. I found it helpful because I was producing enough milk, but not loads and loads. I was popping home at lunchtimes from work to express, so needed something fast.

I had an Ameda Lactoline and got on very well with it, supplemented with an avent hand pump.

Maybe hire an electric and see how you get on with it.

with our dd (and re-used for our ds) (after i'd brought a manual pump-but found it took a lot of effort, time and an achey hand)
i got a medela (or something like that) from boots, electric pump for £42.50 (cant believe i still remember the price). you just plug in the (small, yellow) motor and attach it to the plastic part which goes on your breast, place your breast in it and switch it on. it wasnt so quiet but all i had 2 do was sit there for a few minutes! easy! and from memory there were only about 2 or 3 simple parts to wash. i also found that if i had a blocked duct i could give it a good massage and watch the milk come out :-)
i think they're gone up a bit in price now and its now called the medela mini, but i will be buying one again this time around