Do you pump when breadtfeed? How does it work...

[Somerandomgirl]

I'm debating here with myself lol...as i have no idea to buy pump or not... (baby due soon now)
If i manage to breastfeed do i need pump? I know boobs get sore if u dont express..but then what do i do with expressed milk? Chuck it? Cause would like to avoid bottle feeding this time... how do u give it to baby and whats the point if its on the boob anyway..... and they get comfortable its easy when drinking from bottle, then dont want boob... i really dont understand... enlighten me lol xx

Do i also need nipple shields,gel..? With first was so unprepared ended with formula cause yea.. midwives didnt explain milk doesnt come instantly and started bottle feeding = not wanting boob

Follow some BF accounts on social media, like Lucy Ruddle, Lucy Webber, Milk Meg etc. It's helpful as gives you a drip drip drip of useful tips and a lot of them have groups you can join for support, encouragement and tips too.

It's not stupid not to know about something you haven't done before. Everyone has to start somewhere :)

I pumped along side EBF, I just stored the milk and when baby was 6 months I had the option of going out/back to work and already had a good stash of milk.

That was a personal choice though

Having an electric pump was a blessing for me but just because i had too much milk and i used it sometimes to express a little to feel comfy. I also had mastitis a few times in the first few months and if I didn't have the pump no idea how id have emptied the breast properly before it gets bad. (Always gone in 48h ). But after the first 3-4 months i never used it. It takes to long to express compared to how quickly baby finishes his feed directly. So u could get a manual one iust in case but if u ll be around the baby all the time, you probably wont need a very complicated or expensive one

I had to pump as DS was tube fed for the first few weeks. He was prem so I did also have nipple shields as his mouth was too tiny. Worked wonders.

Once he was on the boob I didn't have to pump as much, but it was handy to have as it meant if I was ever away from him, I could express if I needed to. Also had a nice stash in the freezer as just-in-case milk. I had PNA so I kept thinking that if I died, at least DS would have access to my breastmilk for a little bit longer. Sounds silly now thinking back.

As with everything, it's a waste of money until you need it, and fortunately we live in a world with Amazon Prime so you'd be able to get one quickly and easily if you find you need one.

You might not need to pump. I didn't need to with ds1, but after a while I decided I want to try. It was a manual pump and I feed ds1 with one breast and pumped the other one.

Ds2 and ds3 came early and both spent some days at nicu. So the pumping helped me keep my supply up, until I was able to feed them directly from my breasts.

I hated the pumping, but it helped me achieve my breastfeeding goals. The reason I hated it was because my breast easily get blocked ducts that hurt a lot. Only way to avoid it was to pump for a set amount time or they will make extra milk for next feeding! Which increased the chances of blocked ducts exponentially.

Thanks for your answers x
I havent bought yet anything, elcs in no time now... i said to myself the same... supermarket is near, amazon works, my partner should be home with us if we need something...so yea lets hope milk comes without problems first...then if i need pump...