Breast Pumps

[glitternanny]

Did you wait until you knew you could B/F before you bought a pump?

Did you go for electric or manual?

Can anyone recommend any or share ones you didn't like - and why?

(just going through my 'to buy' list)

Hiya, I borrowed an electric one from my sister (a medela swing). You can buy replacement attachments so that you're not sharing the same cups and things.

EVERYONE told me that a good electric one was far better than a manual but I never got on with it. I hated the thing and I never got more than an ounce from either breast .

For that reason I'm going to try a manual one this time. I already feel a lot more positive towards it. I think I had some sort of psychological block when using an electric one which stopped my milk flowing. I was able to feed ok but not express.

I researched which manual pumps were good and went for a Philips Avent which was about 25 pounds.

I guess, in summary I would either go for a second hand electrical (and purchase new cups) or a decent manual and see how you get on... HTH

Actually, having said all that, I think general advice is not to express until breast feeding is fully established... I'm not sure though because my boys were prem and I had to express from the outset - can anyone verify this?

If that's the case then maybe you don't need to get one until after baby arrives and you can see how you get on with breastfeeding... hmmm - now I'm confused too!

When pregnant with DC1 I didn't buy anything at all to do with feeding. I did want to bf but thought I'd buy any equipment I needed after I'd had him, in fact I bought very little before the birth.

When bfing did work out I did buy a Avent Isis but for me it was completely useless, I could hardly pump anything and once I'd decided to give up on pumping I actually enjoyed bfing much more.

When I had DC2 I bought an Ameda Lactaline which was fab, even I could express some milk, although getting her to take it was a different matter .

Whatever you decide try to remember that how much you can express is no indication of how much milk you are producing and different pumps work better for different mums.

Ideally you shouldn't express until you milk supply has settled down and feeding is established. Partly because early bottles can cause nipple confusion (although cup feeding can prevent this) and partly because you don't want to be telling your body to make even more milk when you are already engorged.

That said, I needed to express a small amount at times when my breasts were just too engorged to allow the little chap to latch on.

I bought a Avent hand pump before he was born and it has proven very useful for pumping when I was away from him for an evening/helping at the NCT sale etc. and for doing the odd bottle now and then. We started him on a bottle a week when he was 6 weeks old as I didn't want to get to the point of returning to work only to find he refused to take a bottle (this sometimes happens, and I didn't want the stress!).

When I was preparing to go back to work in earnest I rented a Ameda Elite hospital grade pump from the NCT to build up my freezer stash (I had to buy the tubing and collection bottles from the NCT as per their safety proceedures). Then I bought a second hand Ameda Lactaline (which used the same small bottles and tubes as the Elite so I didn't have to use the previous owner's tubing but you can always get extra sets of tubing) which I used at work for mid-morning and mod-afternoon pumping sessions (I was lucky enough to be able to feed the monster from the tap at lunchtimes as he was in the workplace nursery).

Don't forget too that you can always hand express, if you go along to your local bfing support group they should be able to talk to you about it.

In fact my best advice would be to find out where your local bfing support groups are now and go along before you have the baby.

For DD I had a manual - bought after BF was established. It was crap for me, so frustrating not being able to get milk out. What was worse was the DD would not take my milk from a bottle - my mum tried everything from a clean medicine syringe to a teaspoon. She would take a couple of spoonfuls but thats it. I didn't try her on bottles til a few months in. I gave up in the end.
Funny she wouldn't have a dummy/soother either. It wasn't until way later 10 or 11 months did I cotton on that I was being used as her soother....and half the time she was asleep and not actually feeding.

This time I have bought an avent electric (am 38+4) and I will express as soon as my milk settles anhd LO is feeding ok. 2 reasons DH and DD (who is almost 12 now :)) really wants to be involved with feeding. Also I intend to go back to work earlier and want to be able to continue feeding morning and night and then send 1 or 2 bottles with LO. I will wean prior to returning to work.I will watch out to make sure I am not a soother this time :)

I had TT manual pump which i got on with fine then my friend lent me the Avent manual pump at around 10mth and that seemed to work better at the time then my TT. Ive still got both somewhere! Am 14wk only but when bubs here i will try them both again but mayb go with an electric this time. I always had masses stored in the fridge/freezer and never needed powder.

I have an Avent manual pump which does the job for occasional use. I had a sleepy baby who wouldn't wake up to feed and who had newborn jaundice and so I had to express and syringe / spoon feed at the start. Then I had so much milk she struggled to latch on and being able to express a bit helped. So I would say if you intend to express at all after the birth then it makes sense to have a hand pump right at the start just in case.