what type of breast pump did you go for?

[iampgatlast]

today i have been working my way down the list of things to buy - i have come to breast pump but which one do i go for?! manual or electronic? and what make does it have to be the same make as the bottles/steriliser i will be using?

thanks

Hi Derah, Is the Avent IQ one the semi manual/electronic one? My mum in law has bought this for me to use next year and I know nothing about it. I would like to know though what people think. With DD 7 years ago I had the manual Avent one and it would take hours to get a couple of oz. Waste of time on my boobs for some reason.

I bought a Boots electric breast pump, which worked for about a month before the seals broke, so I'm intending to take it back. The other thing I found with this make is that you can't microwave sterilise it. Does anyone know of a make of breastpump that can be microwave sterilised? I was recommended electric pumps over manual, due to the amount of effort normally required for the manual ones.
I use Boots own milk storage bags and haven't had any problems with leakages so far (my baby is now 3months old). Hope this helps!

I used to freeze milk in sterilised ice cube trays. Don't recall the fancy schmancy milk bags last time round.

McKenzie - it is if you have boobs like mine!! Every one of my milk holes points in a different direction, including one that aims itself straight at my right eye! The few times I tried to hand-express, I needed a huge bowl to collect it in, and had to do it in the shower - milk everywhere!!

Glamamma - that's the one. Since we're both due around the same time I guess you won't be able to give me a reivew in time!

FioFio - I know, but I'm just sad and like things to "match".

I agree with Mrs Badger (naturally!) and would say wait until your baby arrives before buying anything. I bought a medela electric pump before my twins arrived - was something like £90 and I used it about 4 times. It was reeeallly slow, even on the fastest setting and the noise was disturbing, DH likened it to someone on a rowing machine!

I ended up hiring one of these - looks terrifying but was amazing. Really quick and you could do both sides at once! I used it for a couple of months and the cost of hiring it was cheaper than the one I originally bought.

Glamourbadger - yikes! Scary doesn't begin to cover it!!

So which electric ones are any good? Anyone?

It would be useless to tell you which one I bought because I used it once and then freecycled it, I really didn't find I needed one after all and the shops are still there once you have the baby (and most of them deliver) so perhaps it's worth waiting?

I had the same thing with the milk bags too! My mum babysat one night and I'd given the milk frozen but somehow she lost loads of milk and they leaked I didn't use them after that, was gutted to have lost so much milk I'd spent ages manually pumping!

I may try an electic next time although I did get on with my Avent manual back then (nearly 5 yrs ago now!!)

I send DH out to Tesco at 10pm on day 5 to buy a breast pump to ease my massively engorged norks, he came back with an Avent Isis manual which took me ages to figure out (post partum jelly brain) but worked v well.

Found hand pumping v tiring so bought the Avent IQ and have found it excellent. Most of the components are the same in both, you also get the manual parts in the IQ so you will also have a manual breast pump as well if you go for this one (I wish I'd known that at the start).

i never sterilised my pump. just washed in hot soapy water.

i figured, well, i never sterilised my nipples, so . . .

Erm... Avent hand pump, it was so so great - easy to carry around, bottles are everywhere to buy if I needed one aswell as spare bits. It was only about £30 or something and worth every cent. When I ran into problems again after nearly a year I used a flashy electric generator type medela (?) thing and it was pretty useless compared. You have alot of control over the Avent IME with regards to the let down, pressure, speed etc. I used mine solid for over a week, I didn't need an electric one and again on and off for most of the time I was BFing.

I hired an electric pump from the NCT, it was big, looked like a small steam engine but worked really well for me. I couldn't get a drop using a hand-held but I know lots of people who used them sucessfully.

milliemummy, thats what i had. was the ONLY thing which worked for me at the time.
funny thing is, after having that, i managed fine with a meleda minielectric thingy. and could do it by hand too.

I used Avent IQ (electric/ manual) and it was comfortable and convenient and compatible with Avent bottles etc which you can find anywhere.
I also tried the Medela mini electic pump and it was AGONY! Poor breasts!