Help! Breast pump - who makes more sense? Me or DH?

[cervixissues]

I am a first time mum and planning to breast feed and pump (all being well!).

I have said to my DH we should get a pump before the baby is born (the baby is arriving in a couple weeks or so). As far as I am aware, most people get the pump beforehand and for the following reasons:

• Sterilise the equipment ready to use
• Figure out how the pump works before you need it (and not try to do so while exhausted whilst getting to grips with a newborn)
• Have it ready to go for when we get home from hospital
• Check it isn't faulty

However my DH said let's see how things go in case we end up just using formula/not needing it and we can get it on Amazon Prime for if necessary. He believes I am being overly cautious and should go with the flow with it.

Just wondering what you did / would advise! x

I would get it ahead because not everyone finds the let down ( milk release reflex) responsive on a pump (it's psychological and many don't let down without baby triggering it), but when your milk comes in a day or two after birth your body massively over supplies (usually), and you can easily fill many pouches for the freezer before your body tunes in to babies demand and matches the supply to baby, at that point pumping a spare pouch off can get tricky (because your milk supply is ready for pumping just as baby is getting hungry), especially if your pump is occasional rather than routine daily (which in the thick of a new baby you may not manage).
So unless you can't afford to buy something you might not use as you envision is get it ahead for sure.
Tommy tippee is useless. Medela is awesome (most closely able to match babies action)

I wouldn't worry about a pump at the moment if you are planning to breastfeed. It is important that baby is able to feed exclusively and responsively or on demand from the breast to fully establish your supply. Wait and see how things go. You can easily get a pump quickly if you need one in the early days.

Both times I didnt bother buying one for a few weeks, never been an issue.

I would not get a pump beforehand. If you are going to breastfeed, your baby needs to nurse to establish your milk supply, and pumping can thwart that. I EBF both of my children and never once needed to pump. You may find you don't need to either. I wouldn't bother getting one until your milk is established and you're settled.

I wouldn't bother either - you can easily get one next day on Prime if you need one.

Agree, get it beforehand.
Tommee Tippee useless. Medela fantastic.
I used mine quite a lot for excess supply/engorgement, if I woke in the night & was leaking but DD was asleep (I seemed to produce masses at night; she slept through quite early). I also used to pump off the excess after DD had finished each feed & freeze it, as I knew I was due to have dental surgery & didn't want her to have formula while I got the anaesthetic out of my system.

And hand expressing can be very effective if needed

I didn't get one until later. I personally would hold off pumping until you and your baby are happy with breastfeeding. You may take to it like a duck to water, but it might take a few days. My first couldn't work out how to latch on, kept closing her mouth before I'd got enough boob in her mouth.

If baby finds bottles easier in the first few days they might struggle to feed from your boob and establishing supply through pumping is much harder than with baby feeding direct.

I found the hand pump a bit easier than electric, and I found I had to visualise my baby for my milk to flow.

Before in my opinion. 10 days in to feeding I was painfully engorged and NEEDED a pump to help with the pain. Waiting for an Amazon delivery would have been the end to breast feeding for me and I ended up feeding for 2 years. If I’m ever asked for feeding tips by friends it is to always have some sort of pump ready and waiting.

Get it now. Even if you don't use it straight away to avoid nipple confusion you will use it eventually.
I had every intention of bf with our 1st. It was horrendous, my supply was rubbish, she was losing weight too fast and she was turning in to a vampire trying to feed from my wrecked nipples. Few people tell you how hard bf can actually be. I think it's better to have bottles etc in ready just in case.

I bought a silicon/haakaa type pump which arrived on day 3 when my milk came in and was helpful to reduce engorgement for the first few days I used it to express for bottles too as I had sufficient letdown it didn't take much especially when she was young and didn't drink much.

She took a bottle from 3 weeks but she then developed reflux and stopped taking a bottle. After a while we manage to get her back on a bottle and then bought a manual pump.
I personally would wait we got both the silicon pump, bottle and manual pumping on amazon in less than 24h. I would do your research ahead of time. Unless you buy a closed loop electric pump there isn't much of a second hand market for them if you bought it and didn't get much use oit of it.

I would get the pump before. I struggled to breastfeed and baby wouldn't latch. I hand expressed until my milk came in on day 3 and then pumped all feeds until my baby would latch. If I hadn't got the pump, my breastfeeding journey probably would've ended there.

I was really uncomfortable on day 3 or 4, my lactation consultant asked if I had a hand pump and she’d show me how to use it to relieve some of the pressure.

Ended up exclusively expressing, so had a tommee tippee electric that I wore the motor out of and a spectra s1 that did me and 3 friends several babies, before it was donated to the breastfeeding group I used.

I second getting a haakaa pump.

Good to have on hand for when your milk comes in to ease engorgement and you might find yourself glad of the time to decide which type of pump you'd prefer (eg manual, electric), or whether you need one at all depending on how your milk comes in/baby takes the bottle. The haakaa is nice and cheap and will do you to relieve engorgement/catch let down during those first few days.

Midwives in my area told me that you should try to avoid pumping regularly in the first few weeks in any case as that is the period when your body is adjusting and learning how to regulate the right amount of flow.

Personally I found having the haakaa invaluable in addition to having a manual pump, so even the small expense was not wasted.

This is the haakaa if you're interested

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Haakaa-Manual-Silicone-Breastpump-Breastfeeding/dp/B01F8W7CF0/ref=sxtssxwds-bia-wc-rsf110?adgrpid=52032022943&cvcttcx=haakaa+pump&dchild=1&gclid=CjwKCAiAu8SABhAxEiwAsodSZEXBTQbOmSr9gOX8eHG4WaWaupMNyil02w786GpiHgpJ382fdRwcvhoCEUQAvDDBwE&hvadid=259079338544&hvdev=m&hvlocphy=9046009&hvnetw=g&hvqmt=e&hvrand=8892351572471660946&hvtargid=kwd-308206075109&hydadcr=69061752258&keywords=haakaa+pump&pddrdi=B01F8W7CF0&pddrdr=e9ddc0e2-ff4f-4040-920f-7a60a63a1efe&pddrdw=eyVxv&pddrdwg=g4xMc&pffrdp=1c05d9a4-df5a-42a4-9b4c-878e9502a028&pffrdr=ZEM2ZFHPW4CRM3X0NSRF&psc=1&qid=1611774155&sr=1-1-c9051045-5a4a-4048-abe7-07d53aca07f0&tag=hydrukspg-21

It’s not really recommended to start pumping until supply is well established (around 6 weeks or so). I did find myself engorged in the early days and used a haakaa to take the edge off - I would recommend this and then you can get a better one further down the line if you need it.

Just due to my experience I side with your husband only because my son had a tongue tie and latching was really difficult for him so I ended up bottle feeding. I doubt you will pump in the first few days you will prob want to get baby used to breast so you could have one picked out and ready to order. But if you determined to breast feed theres no harm in getting before.

I would do whatever makes YOU feel happy. No offence to your DH but it's not his boobs that may become a food supply!
If it makes YOU feel better having one to hand should you need it then go for it!
Personal experience, I've breast fed twice. Once for 10 weeks and once for 10 days. I used one both times as boobs were so full and it was uncomfortable. Equally, when I was in hospital I had to hand express on to a spoon to be able to feed DS!
There is no right or wrong answer . Best of luck!

Before in my opinion my baby struggled to latch due to tongue tie in the beginning so pumping was the only way - I started using one immediately in the hospital so was glad to know I had one at home.

My youngest is 10 but they had pumps in the hospital and encouraged us to use them. They hadn't offered this 4 years earlier

I would pick the type you want now. But you don't really need to get it yet. I didn't use mine for the first little while - it can take weeks to get your milk supply established and the breastfeeding going well. It really doesn't matter much when you get it.

If having a pump in the house makes you feel more prepared then there is no harm in it. It’s unnecessary, however.

If it’s important to you that you breastfeed then the two most useful things that you can do before the birth is firstly to ask your midwife for the details of your local infant feeding team. Make sure that you know how to contact them and what the support looks like at the moment. They will also be able to lend or hire a pump to you. Secondly, ask around and save the contact details of a qualified lactation consultant or breastfeeding counsellor that you can call on if you have issues. If your baby has any issues with latch or tongue tie then the money you would have spent on a pump will be much better spent on expert support.

I think you're meant to wait six weeks before using a bottle. However I had to pump initially. Started in hospital day 5 after birth and was there was two days. Whilst there we ordered a pump on Amazon so arrived the day we got home. Very easy to use.

Btw you don't need to sterilise stuff for breastmilk. Breastmilk isn't sterile and neither is your nipple.

Hot soapy water will be fine. :)

Are we married to the same man?? I had a conversation that went exactly like this with him last night

I wouldn’t bother beforehand- at first you have to get your baby to latch and establish breastfeeding so you may not want to use a bottle straight away.
Also you may end up not wanting to express, keep an open mind because breastfeeding, especially the first few weeks is unimaginably demanding. I mean it’s fantastic if you can persevere but it’s a shock how demanding it is and cluster feeding. The last thing I wanted to do after 5 hours of feeding was hook myself up to a machine and do it some more. That is why I have a £70 breast pump I’ve used twice across two babies.