What exactly do I need for Breastfeeding?

[sel2223]

Hi ladies,

I'm hoping to Breastfeed and also express milk into bottles so my OH can do the occasional feed. I'm a FTM and have no idea what I actually need to buy in advance....

Breast pump (any recommendations)
Bottles? Steriliser?
Nipple guards/cream?
What else?
Some back up formula?

What about for the colostrum I've read about that people start collecting in the weeks before birth? What do I need for that....baby syringes? Do you just squeeze it straight into the syringe?

Sorry if I sound really thick, I'm clueless. Thought I might as well start getting prepared while I'm stuck in the house though!

If it goes well, you don't need anything really.

I needed nipple shield each time I breastfeed for about a month. Always needs some lanolin cream.
I did express from time to time, so had a breast pump, but with my last baby I mastered hand expressing, which is much easier and less stuff to clean.
I wouldn't recommend having formula, as it might be tempting in the first days to give that and would make you give up easily on breastfeeding.

You might need breast pads. I have friends who didn't need any, I used a lot as I always leaked milk.

For sure you need some good supporting breastfeeding bras.

If you see you have a good supply after baby is born, you might want to have some bags to store the milk, if you want to do so.

I had the La Leche League book the Womanly art of breastfeeding (odd titlebut v helpful!)

This Amy Brown book came out recently and looks excellent, I've read lots of her stuff online and very helpful and practical.

Also I got some nice feeding bras from John Lewis recently and they were on 20% off so worth a look there.

I got a mattress protector & slept on a soft towel. My boobs leaked when I was asleep & this saved our mattress.

You don’t need one but you might find a haakaa useful if you just need enough expressed milk for the occasional bottle. You attach it to the other breast when you’re feeding and it collects the letdown. I collected it throughout the day and found I had enough milk from that so didn’t often need to pump. And it’s much cheaper and easier than a breast pump.

If you find that your nipples are sore, lanolin is good but also try multimam compresses, they saved breastfeeding for me when my nipples were really cracked and sore.

Honestly ladies, this is all such a massive help!
I'm sure lots of other expecting mums will be able to benefit from this thread too. Thank you x

If you have pain, I've heard from friends that hydrogel breast discs are really good, another brand is multi-mam kompressen - they help to hydrate the breasts and prevent soreness, dryness etc. Two of my friends swear by them. I'm yet to have baby but will be getting some as backup!

Easy tops for breast feeding and nursing bra. I didn’t get these to start but found it such a faff in the end I ended up buying them.
For breast pump I used medela swing and it was amazing. I’d totally recommend getting the double pump if you can afford it to cut the time in half. I didn’t but wished I saved and got it.
Nipple cream and your hopefully good to go! Try and get a big water bottle so you can sip as you feed x

I disagree with everyone about not expressing at the begining.

I expressed from about day 5. My milk supply was fine, he took a bottle and boob with no problems. He was in special care for a little while and they basically all told me that VERY VERY few babies get nipple confusion if offered both from the start... but LOTS of babies will refuse a bottle after 6 weeks of exclusive boob!!

Even if you choose not to express to feed from a bottle then you may find a pump helps if you are really engorged and baby struggling to latch.

I would get milk storage bags because even if you dont end up using them for milk storage they are great for freezing food for weening.

The only essential item are your boobs... HOWEVER there are lots of items that will help make your breasfeeding journey much easier... like others have said...

Pump, nipple cream, nipple shields, one bottle ( you dont need self sterilizing or a sterliser you can do this in a pan of boiling water) breast pads, feeding bras, feeding pillow.... some decent books or a tablet ( some babies take fooooever to feed)

Everyone kept banging on about needing a decent and expensive double electric pump... we got one. Hated it. I had a avent manual one and it was fantastic. So so much quicker than electric and no horrible loud sound. Hooked up to the electric one i felt like a dairy cow.

All the best and good luck xx

Following - so much helpful info here