Breast pump or perfect prep

[Bigblueeyes26]

I really dont know what to buy I want to breast feed but my last baby had tongue tie and didn't latch I went straight to a bottle.
Now I'm seeing all these breast pumps and thinking is it worth me buying one and expressing if baby no 2 cant or doesnt take to the breast.
I know this sounds really thick but the only thing putting me of is the not knowing.
How long can breast milk be stored in fridge for
What happened if we want to go out I.e preparing bottles using breast milk
Is it as painful as people say

Or should I just but the perfect prep and go for what I already know?

Do what works best for you and baby, 2 if my feeds are expressed bottle so I can rest and dp can soebd time with our son.

Regardubg storage you can store breast milk in the back of the fridge for 5 days, you can freeze it for 12 months, but need to freeze it before day 3.

Sorry please rxcuse spelling, am feeding baby while typing.

I would wait and see. I didn't have success breast feeding my eldest, but have breast fed my two younger children with no expressing and only occasional bottles of formula. Perfect prep or a pump would have been a total waste.

Remember you can often hire breast pumps from the hospital so I wouldn't buy one if you're not sure.

I am in the breast is best camp (feel the need to apologise, but just being honest), so I would suggest at least giving breast feeding a go.

Have you spoken to your MW about this? Although the NHS is severely underfunded in this area, there are often BF clinics and support groups nearby. MW may know of the nearest.

The most important factor to success in BF is mutual support. You need to bring your partner on board and also your family if they’re nearby. Do you know any other mums who breastfed? They will be a font of knowledge.

BF is easy, no prep obviously, since once you’re established (which can take a few weeks in all fairness), you are a walking milk machine! You don’t need bottles, sterilising crap and a load of bumpf. Most breastfed babies have less poopy nappies (because everything in the milk is absorbed, unlike the fillers etc in formula) and tend to be less windy.

You can also get help with achieving success in expressing, but having a tongue tie babe the first time is no indication that the second will have issues, so think positive 😊

There are lots of online resources, videos and support, and there’s a brilliant panorama documentary on breastfeeding presented by Dawn OPorter that would give you good information on feeding. Good luck x

Expressed breastmilk is much easier to use and store than formula.

It can be kept out of a fridge for around 6-8 hours and kept in the fridge for 5 days. I would just take it from the fridge when needed and then stand in warm water for a few minutes to heat it up. Or if you are going out it will probably be up to room temperature by the time you are ready to use it anyway.

My DD had a severe tongue tie but she had a snip st 10 days and is now 6 months old and still exclusively breastfed. With the right breastfeeding support it is possible even with a tongue tie.

BF is easy....by that, I don’t mean it’s easy to establish, of course it’s not easy to establish. And apologies if that bit offended anyone. I meant it’s easier in terms of prep and management

I'd wait and see, if you need to express immediately after the birth the hospital will be able to lend you a pump, and you can buy one within 24h anyway. Likewise if you decide to ff you can buy premade in any 24h supermarket until you get the prep machine.

If you do end up expressing, milk can be kept in the fridge for 3-5 days, or frozen for 6 months. It's better to defrost milk overnight, but you can just put a milk storage bag into hot water if you need it in a hurry.

When out and about DH made up the bottles at home, then took them in a cool bag. DS was ok about room temperature milk so DH just warmed bottles in his hands to take the chill off. But if your baby is fussy you could take a flask of hot water to sit the bottle in.

I’d def wait. I had every intention of breast feeding my first but for various reasons, I ended up expressing for a month & then formula feeding. In the end I used a pump & the perfect prep (what a godsend of an invention 😆). But I didn’t buy either before, I amazon primed them as needed.

I did however have buy a few bottles as I had always hoped to express a bit long term so my partner could help feed.

The hospital taught me to cup feed my daughter formula when my milk just didn’t come in & they also had tiny little disposable bottles of formula which I saw some mums being given..

Personally, this time I intend to see what happens. I had numerous problems last time, no milk for 6 days , none latchy baby, ended up back in hospital very poorly for a few days from infected stitches -sepsis, it sent me into a mental health spiral & in the end formula was best for our family. But I’m hoping it might be a lot more straight forward this time & maybe I’ll be able to breast feed!

See how you get on, everything will be available to buy quickly as you need it

I intended to breastfeed my first baby and it was a complete disaster. Tongue tie + tubular breasts (apparently) = complete failure. I was pushed and pushed to persevere for nearly 3 weeks until she ended up in hospital seriously ill from dehydration.
No way I’m faffing about with it this time - health visitor can sod off
I’ve got the perfect prep machine already plugged in on the kitchen worktop!

Perfect prep machines are not recommended as there is concearn that they don't kill the bacteria in the powder, also concearns about mould in some machines and difficulty cleaning. (ok some parents love them )
A pump I wouyld say is worth it. My sister didn't successfully BF but all or her 3 had some BM due to expressing and a pump is a lot more efficient then hand machine believe me. (pumped for both mine as both in scbu.)

My son had bad tongue tie but had the snip at 6 weeks, which made a world of difference.
Before he was born we bought the Phillips advent hand pump, I figured it would be good to have around if we needed one and not expensive enough to worry about it unused in the cupboard. Turned out it worked out great!
We were advised by our midwife to be cautious of the perfect prep as apparently they aren't always super easy to clean and sterilise the tubes within.
When by son went to nursery and we eventually switched to formula we got those little premade bottles

You could always get one of those cheaper suction pumps and upgrade if you need something heavy duty.