Breastfeeding and pumping

[Mseddy]

Hi, I'm currently 18 weeks and starting to make a list of everything we will need once little one is here. I would really like to breastfeed so I am going down that route in terms of prep. However I wanted to know how useful people who have breastfed have found having a breastpump? Do I need one? Or will I buy it and only use it very infrequently?! I'm happy to use a handheld if I am only going to express every so often. Also did people who where planning to breastfeed also buy bottles etc incase it didn't work out?? Thanks in advance

I bought a manual pump. It was absolute crap - so much hard work for tiny amounts of milk at a time. I was able to express much better using my bare hands.

I would reccomend just using your hands to express or using an electric pump.

I bought bottles as I planned to express from very early on. I didn't buy them with any consideration to breastfeeding not working out, but that is a good point.

The bottles were well used in my case. I enjoyed expressing as it meant DH was able to help and I didn't always have to whip my boobs out when out and about.

Hi OP :) I didnt find i needed a breast pump until I went back to work when LO was 10m old. in the early days I collected milk using Aldi's hakaa style pump, caught the letdown on the opposite side. I didnt buy any bottles or formula milk, there's always supermarkets or next day delivery if you find you need anything and I think not having it available meant that when I was really tired, I just got on with the feeds as formula wasn't there to be an option. I did buy bottles about 6 weeks in so my husband could feed some expressed milk but I just bought one at a time until we found one that worked.

I also highly recommend the book by Amy Brown called "the positive breastfeeding book" (if you haven't found it already) - it really helped me understand basically everything I needed to know! I found breastfeeding quite hard in the early days, it was sore for a week or two, and I had a really difficult birth so was sore from that too, and of course exhausted! but it got gradually easier and by week 7 or 8 I would say it was "easy" overall. I still bf my little one now at 15m and am so glad we got over the bumps in the early days. Good luck

I'm 15 months into feeding and I've never used a pump. I think it depends on whether you want/ need to feed expressed milk (and if the baby takes a bottle, mine didn't until she was one), and what your supply is like.

I recommend getting a cheap manual Hakka pump in case you want to take the edge of engorgement, and Prime so you can get an electric one ASAP if you decide you need it.

I think it's impossible to say. There are so many different ways breastfeeding can go.

Ideal scenario: baby latches easily, no discomfort for you, everything is great and after a month or so you use a pump to express a bit so you can go out or share feeding duties.

Common scenario: breastfeeding is not so easy, it takes a few weeks or even months to establish properly and you're so focused on that, you don't want to even think about the logistics of pumping.

Also common: the baby does not feed readily, your nipples are sore and cracked, you need to do combination feeding or expressed milk top ups to maintain baby's weight as they're not gaining enough weight with direct breastfeeding alone.

Another scenario: you turn out to be a milk champion with superfast let down, your boobs are engorged the whole time and your let down is too much for the baby to handle, you express to relieve the pressure and before feeds to reduce your let down a bit.

DC1 I used a pump as we had to do combination feeding. DC2 latched on much easier and guzzled away and I could never be arsed sterilising anything so he never had a bottle.

Hand expressing can be useful but there's a bit of a knack to it and I think it suits some boobs better than others!

If I were you, I'd just look into what you would buy and then only get one if you need it - note down your nearest physical shop in case you need it faster than internet post allows. I think having bottles to hand in the tough early days of breastfeeding adds extra temptation to switch to formula.

One thing to add is that breastmilk is the best food for babies, but only by a bit. The difference is not that much. It's worth trying but don't feel like it's the end of the world if it doesn't work out. Plenty of threads on here hashing over the pros and cons of both methods of feeding, for me not having to get out of bed and wash anything was a definite pro to breastfeeding! Good luck.

Great advice @Crowsaregreat. OP I would add that if you pump to relieve engorgement in the early days, pump just enough for relief- any more and you'll be stimulating your milk supply, causing more engorgement.
In terms of pumps, I've tried several- manual and electric, because I've gone back to work after 3 months and wanted baby to have EBM. I found the Avent hand pump easiest for occasional pumping- ie. once or twice a day like I was doing. Its cheap, small, and very comfortable to use.
I will just add that some people are simply unable to pump- no matter what pump they use. My friend had a plentiful milk supply yet would hardly get a few drops when pumping. She spoke to a lactation consultant that told her there is such a concept, so if this happens to you- do not panic that you don't have milk!
Good luck.

I had a lot of use out of my hand pump, particularly with my second. I found it helpful to be able to express so someone else could feed the baby. I also expressed some extra and froze it for use when I stopped BF.

Thanks everyone. I think I'm going to follow the advice of doing some more research into what pump I would want if I want to order one last minute when needed. I'm going to get a suction cup type one for the other breast just incase I have a good supply. I like the idea of my DH being able to give a bottle here or there, but I'm not going to stress myself out to express if that's not how it works out.

I think I'll not buy any bottles so like people say I won't give in the tough times!

Thank you!

I tried several pumps and couldn’t express with any. Got a bit out of a Lansinoh single electric but gave up as it wasn’t enough to feed.
Successfully EBF and still BF at 18 months.
I also didn’t use a single breastpad-my boobs just don’t leak and only baby can extract any!

My advice is therefore not to buy until you see if BF established-I’m actually glad I couldn’t pump as took the pressure off.

I too read into the fact that if I didn't buy bottles I would 'try harder' to breastfeed. First my first I spent 3 days in hospital with lots of support and my son just couldn't latch. We were discharged in a sunday night with a couple of disposable bottles and then outside mothercare at opening to buy bottles.

With my second I was totally prepared with bottles ready abs he latched straightaway.

I bought a double breast pump, steriliser and bottles intending to express from 6 weeks so I could leave the baby with DH and be ready to go back to work full-time at 7 months. Well I couldn't express much at all and my daughter refused all bottles and cups from all people! I still went back to work at 7 months - it was fine. This time the pump and steriliser are staying in the loft and I'm not buying any bottles. If my boobs ever became uncomfortable I could easily hand-express enough to make me comfortable again. What I did find useful was a feeding pillow, re-usable breast pads (more comfortable), feeding bras (fitted at 38 weeks), muslins and bibs (my baby spit up a lot for the first few weeks) and night dresses and PJs with poppers or buttons at the front. For clothes you can get breastfeeding tops but anything that allows you to get a boob out without completely undressing is fine.

Oh yes and nipple cream and a good breastfeeding book (I had the La Leche League one) were useful. Also find your local breastfeeding support group in case you have any issues. The KellyMom website is good for info too.

I was encouraged to buy bottles, didn't and never needed to buy any. I produced plenty of milk, but was unable to express more than a dribble.

I'd definitely recommend the haakaa in the first instance. Very easy to use and you can get quite a bit depending on your supply. I always found it was best to use the haakaa straight after being sterilised, when it's hot it seemed to perform better.
I also use the medela flexi electric pump and have been happy with it.

I am rather against buying things that you don't know you will need particularly in the days of next day delivery.
My experience fwiw was DC1 great feeder, milk spurting everywhere but I n ver felt the need to leave her until she was old enough to manage with a cup of I wasn't around
DC2 was a poor feeder but I persevered with breast feeding, failed to pump any milk and gave him 1 bottle of artificial milk a week when I went back to work at 12 weeks. Soon after that he was eating well and having water from a cup so he was easier to leave ( the olden days of early weaning).
DC3 was a good feeder but again I didn't have milk spurting out even though he was growing well. He spent a lot of the first 6 months of his life in and out of hospital but despite hospital pumps I barely managed to get a drop of milk out and just got mastitis. Luckily he was always just about well enough to feed and very efficient. Kept going for 4 years in the end l, leaving him with a beaker of water or whatever if I was out.

I may be in the minority but I found having bottles made me keep going with BF longer than I would have managed otherwise. It allowed my husband to give both of my children a bottle (either formula or expressed). I found it particularly helpful at night so he could do one of the night feeds and I could get some rest.

I'm not saying there's a right or wrong approach. But I remember asking the midwife about combination feeding at an antenatal appointment and she looked at me as if I'd suggested feeding poison to the baby and said absolutely not.

No doubt everyone has a different baby and a different experience (some babies won't take to both/it's best not to try when they're newborn), but both my kids had no problem BF and bottle feeding. I felt that a more flexible approach to combination feeding might have actually encouraged more mums to persevere with BF.

I wouldn't buy one yet.

With my first child, I knew I was planning to breastfeed and I didn't buy any bottles initially.

I was planning to go back to work when my daughter was 5 months so after a couple of months I bought a hand-pump, a couple of bottles and some bags and started pumping so that I could give supplies to the nursery (it keeps for 3 months in the freezer).

With the second, I knew I wasn't going to go back to work until she was two, so I never bothered expressing. She never had a bottle at all because by the time I stopped breastfeeding she was able to drink cows milk from a cup.

If you're going to be off then i'd only get a hakka or similar. I went back to work quite early so I pumped at work but honestly it was more of a pain than anything else and takes quite a bit of getting used to.

Amazon and next day delivery and the 24 hour shops will always be there if you need to go get something else.

I'm another that goes against the "if you have bottles you'll stop BF" grain.
I BF almost all of the time, used a Hakka to catch from the other side from necessity in the early days (definitely get one of these and a single bottle of nothing else, I say!) and didn't want to waste that so had a couple of MAM bottles ready to go that DP used to give the caught milk. As we liked this routine I also got a manual breast pump that I got on ok with. Not only that we also had individual bottles of readymade formula in for the days when DP wanted to do a bottle but I hadn't expressed enough. They had a massive long life on them and we hardly used them, in the end they went into porridge etc when weaning to use them up, but they were handy.
Still BFing DD at bedtime at 21 months so our blended but almost entirely breast-based approach worked for us. But we had a really straightforward breastfeeding experience which I know isn't the case for everyone.