Manual or electric pump?

[harleysmammy]

I wanna express my milk instead of putting him straight onto formula. I was going through my hospital bag list and realized i hadnt even looked at a pump yet, i have tommee tippee bottles though so i was looking at their pumps. The manual us £30 and the electric is £99. The avent ones are cheaper and thats what my cousin suggested but i like the tommee tippee bottles better than the avent ones. I dont really wanna spend £100 on a pump but i will if need be. Obviously the electric must be easier but is it significantly easier or is the difference between then not noticeable?

Also, im planning to put him on the boob straight away but i want to express after a day or so. I was talking to my cousin at her baby shower yesterday and she just laughed when i said that and said i wouldnt be able to express for a few days anyway and to have back up formula. Does that mean i wont be able to breastfeed straight away? I also heard someone say their milk didnt come in straight away so now im a bit disheartened that i cant breastfeed from the get go? I always thought you couldnt go from bottle to breast but you could go from breast to bottle obviously, so how do i feed him for the first few days if i cant breast feed? If i put him straight on to formula wont i have to keep him on formula and forget expressing and breast feeding? Thanks x

Just to share my experience. I would also say not to buy anything expensive before you have tried breastfeeding for a few days at least.

I had so much milk I could feed the whole ward. I was leaking at night. Milk came out in such a stream that made both my DC to throw up and yet I was totally and absolutely unable to milk myself.

I had a manual pump that extracted 5 drops if that. I lost more with my leaking boobs. Nurses tried to milk me with hands (fingers more) and it worked a bit. I never managed to do it myself.

And on top of all that DS refused to take any bottle of any sort whatsoever so I was never able to leave him with somebody else (grannies, DH etc).

After trying it once with his granny they both ended up yelling and crying all evening, DS didn't eat a drop and granny was left a bit traumatised :) he is 12 now, eats everything and has hollow legs as boys often do :).