Tell me about breast pumps

[BobbleHat42]

I think I've decided that I'll likely need a breast pump - twin pregnancy so I may not be able to breast feed in the early days if they come early and reading about it I'll need to express every 3 hours to establish supply for when they are able to feed...

I'm assuming electric is best? Any recommendations or other aspects I should consider? Would I take my breast pump with me to hospital when I go into labour? Will they store any milk I produce? Ftm so all new to this - appreciate any comments 😊 Thanks

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Hello!

We've noticed this thread is quite old and some of the recommendations may be a little out of date. We've tested a whole host of products to find the best electric breast pump on the market right now.

Hope this helps!
MNHQ

Not sure about storage at hospital but I'd definitely say electric was best! I used the avent single electric pump (mid range pump) and thought it was excellent.

I would recommend the Medela Swing, which comes in single or double. It is pricey but worth it's weight in gold for me.

But it from John Lewis when they have it on price match as they have an excellent garantee on electrical products.

Get a medela double electric or consider hiring a hospital grade one. Yes the hospital will have a milk fridge for storage.
I exclusively expressed for 6 months when DD was preterm and saved so much time getting a double.

Hospital should be able to provide one for you wile you're an inpatient. Definitely double pump (both beast simultaneously) to establish supply. They will also have a fridge and freezer for storage.
I have a medela freestyle pump which has served very well for 2 babies, and still going strong. I've had periods of exclusive expressing for both.

I've got a medela swing and I love it.

I rented a Medela symphony. Its a double and it's hospital grade. I got it straight from Medela and they delivered the next day. Totally fab and I couldn't have done without it. I started pumping at day 2 and milk came in very quickly. I'd say I about 80% exclusively pumped and just did a few boob feeds a day, usually the night ones for comfort. You will need to pump every 3 hours at first for at least 2-3 weeks to establish the flow but the pump made it easy. I'll be doing it again with this one.

Electric works far better for me - I started with a manual and couldn't believe the difference (ease and speed) switching to electric made. I bought my Medela Swing on eBay but reckon it's worth paying full price for.

For my dd I had a Haberman Lovi electric breast pump. A stall at a baby show convinced me it was the best thing ever. It's about £125. I don't think I ever pumped more than an oz at a time, but I don't know if that was me and my body or not. I was producing milk and breastfed until dd was 2.5 but I have heard that some women's bodies just don't take to pumping very well so it could have been that.
I'm now pregnant with number 2 and I will be investing in a Medela Swing as I've heard so many good things about them.
My advice is to go for the Medela Swing as if you don't then you'll be like me and always wondering if you could get more milk, pump better, get a better result if only you had a Medela Swing. Honestly the what ifs are endless I've read so many online discussions (especially when I was trying to build up a freezer supply and putting 1/4 and 1/2 oz bags of milk in the freezer as that's all I could get out!) and they usually fill up with people advising the medela.

Brilliant thank you for the comments 😊 I've been swinging (excuse the pun!) towards the medela based on the reviews (expressing more milk etc) and all your comments really support that, thank you.

I've been dithering over single or double due to a general reluctance to spend money (haha) / and not knowing how much use I'll get out of it but based on your comments I think I'll treat myself!

Plus if I've hopefully got a years successful breastfeeding in front of me and this pump gives me one night off for a yummie glass of wine then it'll be worth it (lol) 😉😉

Not sure if it's the pump or me but I'm often managing 4-5 oz with the medela swing.

If I may jump on this thread, what brands of electric. pump would be good for occasional use? I need to occasionally have 1-2 feeds' worth of milk stored so I can pop out to do other things (baby is 9 weeks old and i EBF apart from maybe once a week; she doesn't like a bottle but will reluctantly take one from my mother or DH). I have manual pumps (emergency purchase in early days when I had to express to give baby top ups after a BF and I wasn't sure if it would work out so didn't want to fork out for an electric one). Thanks.

OP bear in mind that for colostrum hand expressing is usually recommended over a pump, so have a look at how to do that (I think feed good Scotland have some videos). Also some women breastfeed successfully but find that they can't express at all- this isn't a reflection on supply, just a quirk in different bodies. Do you have the option of hiring or borrowing a pump in the beginning from your hospital (or I think boots used to do it?) to see how you get on?

Also you're fine to have the odd glass of wine while you're breastfeeding 😊kellymom.com/bf/can-i-breastfeed/lifestyle/alcohol/

Another fan of the swing. It's super easy to use :-)

Another medela swing fan. Anecdata but I always find I can pump more if I'm well hydrated.

DS was tongue tied and plateaued with weight gain at 7 weeks. I bought a pump when he was 11 weeks. (He wasn't bloody diagnosed until 18 weeks. My nipples were shredded. The pump saved my nips and my supply.)

I have a medela swing from DC1. This time I've hired a hospital grade one. I'd hire a HG one for the first few weeks and then decide. I'd definitely get a double pump as it halves your time expressing. If you're bf as well it can be difficult to find the time to do it. I'm not great at expressing so it helps knowing I have the best possible pump.

How noisy is the medela HG or the swing? This maybe temporary but LO sometimes sleeps a bit longer at night and might only feed off one breast, making me feel like the other breast is about to burst! This morning I just used the hand pump to express from the unused breast to make myself more comfortable. So I suppose what I'm looking for is something for occasional use to have a stash in the freezer and also to relieve engorgement. Would a HG one be over the top for this?

It makes a wubb wubb wubb noise, kind of like if a portal to another dimension had opened up next to you.

I have the Ardo Calypso double electric pump and definitely recommend it. The pump is very quiet - quieter than the Medela Swing, apparently, although I haven't tried that one. The Ardo Calypso is also a closed system pump, which means it can be reused, so that's an advantage over open system pumps IMO.

Got mine from John Lewis. If you know anyone who works at John Lewis or Waitrose you could ask them to buy the pump for you with their discount

Forgot to mention, I usually pump for about 15-20 minutes and get about 100-150ml in total.

Swing is noisy. I was surprised that a hospital grade pump was so quiet in comparison.

Hmm, I'll have to think about which one to get now! I can express a maximum of 3oz in one day but that might be over 2 pumping sessions with a manual pump and that is mainly to relieve engorged breasts. One further through his would LO accept expressed BM in a cup when we start weaning. If so then I could provide BM when she goes to nursery for the month or two before she starts on cow's milk. Then again, I've heard some babies just prefer to breastfeed at home before/after nursery and before bed.