Clueless about breast pumps...

[thatboysmum]

I plan on using tommee tippee bottles, steriliser etc with DC2. Hopefully I am able to express. I did have a TT breast pump with DS1 but didn't use it an awful lot as I had trouble with milk and feeding and the reviews I've read this time round for it aren't great so the question is, do I need to use a tommee tippee breast pump with the TT bottles or can it be a different brand?

You can use any breast pump I think, as you just transfer the contents from the collecting bottle to the feeding bottles...

I had the TT closer to nature bottles and a different brand pump entirely - wish I could remember the name now, think it started with an M, but it was electric, had great reviews & I bought it second-hand off eBay, as everything that could have milk near it was removable, washable & sterilisable for obvious reasons, so didn't think 'hygiene' was a problem there. The pump had two little collecting bottles & I used to chuck everything in our steam steriliser. I used the freezer bags to store the milk and then used the TT bottles as & when.

Would guess most pumps come with their own collecting bottles, but guess it would make it simpler to then just bung on a teat for feeds. I never got enough out to be able to do that though!!

Guess its how inconvenient you would find it that dictates the same or different brand iyswim.

could it have been a medela swing electric pump - always gets great reviews?

I had a medela swing it was more expensive than some but I real liked it, it's also hospital grade and I used one when on the ward when readmitted due to LO weight loss.

That was it!!! Def did the job well, I tried a manual one with no joy.

I have the medela swing and it's great, I either use the collecting bottle that it came with and then put the milk in a beaker (DS is 21 mo so doesn't use bottles anymore). Or I use any brand of milk storage bag (medela are v expensive for them). Medela is the brand of pump they used at my local maternity unit and I borrowed one for two weeks to help get my supply up and was so impressed I bought the swing.

I have a closed system Ameda Lactaline as the only Medela closed systems are the hospital grade ones and way out my price range.

It's an excellent pump. I managed to keep DS exclusively on BM until we introduced food despite going back to work at 16 weeks.

I've used various pumps, the TT manual one was dreadful! Aalso used a Medela Mini (fab but noisy) and Ameda Lactaline (absolutely fantastic!!) The most important thing to be aware of is that nipples come in different sizes and it shouldn't hurt to pump, so if it hurts, have a look on the Medela website and it'll help you work out what size you should be using.

I've used various pumps, the TT manual one was dreadful! Also used a Medela Mini (fab but noisy) and Ameda Lactaline (absolutely fantastic!!) The most important thing to be aware of is that nipples come in different sizes and it shouldn't hurt to pump, so if it hurts, have a look on the Medela website and it'll help you work out what size you should be using. I found bottles interchangable between medela and ameda, but it was easy enough to move the milk to the TT bottlles I was using at the time, not that DD would ever take aa bottle. [Hmm]

What are you planning on expressing for? If it's just for the odd feed so you can go out for a few hours then a hand pump should be fine - you can express a couple of times through the day once your supply is up and collect enough for a feed and a hand pump should be okay for that.

If you're planning on expressing regularly (eg you're going back to work before you want to finish BFing) then a double electric pump would certainly be worth the expense. I use a Lactaline (expressed full time for three months for ds1) and it is great.

The pump doesn't necessarily have to be same brand as the bottles!

Can I ask why you're intending to express and bottle feed?

I think the idea that the pump needs to be the same brand as the bottles comes from the manufacturers who want to sell more.... I could be a cynic though

I also got a Medula 2nd hand and agree it is noisy! Very good at getting milk out, but sounds like a mix between a jet plane and a hoover.

grumpa it's great that you could hand pump, but it doesn't work for everyone. I breastfed DS for 11 months, expressed with the electric Medula if I needed to go out. Also had a handpump and never was able to get any more than about a teaspoon-full of milk out :(

Had the same problem Needles - I couldn't get any pump other than the medula one to work, despite have a good supply. I just expressed to provide the odd feed when I was away from DD rather than after returning to work.

TT hand pump is horrible, it really hurt. Medela electric pump never hurt at all. expensive but worth it. Wait to see how bf establishes first as it's a real waste of money to buy one if bf shouldn't work out (speaking from experience, lucky I'd borrowed one). You can get them in mothercare or tesco so easy enough to pick up.

Sorry just realised you're talking about you're second child so have a fair idea how breast feeding will work out

Ok. Thank you all for yor input it has been very helpful.
Madabout, honestly I feel clueless about everything. DS1 will be 5 a few weeks after DC2 is born so it's been a while!