Best Electric Breast Pump

[SparkleSarah22]

Hello all.

I am looking to breastfeed when my baby arrives and I am looking to express milk after around 6 weeks so my other half can get involved in feeding. Who can advise the best electric pump? Thank you

Medela is absolute the best brand. The Mini is excellent and good value. The Swing if you're going to be using it regularly (I had to exclusively pump)

ooh perfect, I have heard about that brand! can I use tommy tippee bottles with that or just pore into the bottles before feeding? how do you sterilise the Medela? x

They do their own tests you can use with the collection bottles but we just poured milk into Tommie Tippee ones
Sterilising any breastpump is a bit of a pain in the arse as they have so many pieces but straightforward enough in any kind of steriliser.

*teats

I second the Medela comment.

If you’re going to be expressing regularly, I’d definitely suggest getting one which you can double pump with (i.e. pump both breast at the same time with) as that will save you a lot of time.

Perfect, thank you so much!

Definitely the medela. It’s the only one that didn’t feel like it was trying to suck my brain from my nipples and actually got milk out of my boobs 🤔 go figure

Medela. I used mine when I had premium babies in hospital. It's not too difficult to get hold of spare parts either. I recommend ordering an extra valve to keep spare incase the one supplied with the pump wears thin.
I sterilised all the parts in a steam steriliser no problems.

My babies were premium but I meant prem lol

Has anyone used the Philips Avent electric double pump? I bought it because it was £100 cheaper than the Medela but now I'm worried I made the wrong decision.

I haven't tried that one Harry but I bought several increasingly more expensive pumps throughout my 9 months of exclusive pumping and wish I'd just gone for the Medela in the first place!

Ardo are good. Super quite and easy to use.’

The hospital grade medelas are amazing. They are hireable and take so little time. I have had both a hospital grade one and just a normal electric one (same brand) and the difference was amazing.

I got the Medela on everyone’s advice and was the weird person that it didn’t work well for at all. I actually found the Philips Avent Manual pump the best with my first and after a while could get a full bottle without even pumping that much — just holding the lever down lightly. With second for some reason it wasn’t as effective (I was using a newer model because first one needed replacing) but I liked the Philips Electric. None of this is to say that the Medela isn’t best for you, but it is somewhat personal. Also if you pump regularly you may need to try different size flanges.

I bought a second hand medela for about £20 and it was amazing - definitely worth the full price and has now been through my own dc and borrowed by several friends and still works brilliantly

Ah, crashbang and OP - please be VERY careful with second-hand Meledas, and pumps in general.

I don’t know which model you had but the only pumps which are safe for multiple users are those with a closed system. This will include all hospital grade pumps but NOT the Medela Swing. These have open systems which can’t be fully sterilised and are sold as single-user items only.

There’s a good explanation here.

Look up the Haaka pump, excellent and much cheaper alternative

You can make the double hands free by cutting holes in an old bra, although you can buy bras made for it with the holes in already if you want.

I hired a hospital grade Ardo which was very good. They would also deliver on a Saturday unlike medela.

Spectra s1. I exclusively expressed for 12 months with one of these.

You can use avent bottles with it, it has a 3 hour rechargeable battery and a night light. I couldn’t have done it with out this piece of kit.

I use the Medela swing. I also used a boots hand pump at first to check out whether I could express. I borrowed a friend's Medela first which I would recommend, or buy a cheap one. Not everyone gets on with any given pump or with expressing in general. Some NCT branches hire them out.
I find the Medela ok, though have no comparison. The box comes with a second valve and with a Calma teat which my daughter dislikes- maybe she dislikes the bottle in general though. I think in most cases you have to get teat and bottle from same brand.
We use Phillips Avent steriliser in microwave and it's fine.

Please don’t borrow or buy someone else’s Medela Swing, or any other open system electric pump.

Thank you bux it wasn't the swing but a good point to make