Breast pumps - manual or electric?

[Orissiah]

Hello all,
In your experience, what is best - electrical or manual breast pump - and why? And what brands? My boobs are 38C, so not small so the pump will also have to be comfortable for my size.
Thanks,
O
27 weeks

Hi,

I'm 22 weeks with my 3rd dc. I exclusivly expressed with my first for six months and combined express/ breast with my 2nd for 4 months so have a bit of experiance with pumps.

Will it be for occasional, once a day or few times a day?

For occasional I'd say a hand or mini electric one would do.
Hand pumps are time consuming but are quiet so if you do at the same time as feeding LO on the other side are easier and won't disturb.
However if your going to be doing daily I recommend an electric single for once a day and double for more often.

I was a 40dd/e and found that medela, ameda and tommiee tippee (closer to nature) cups fitted fine.

Hope I've been of some help.

Hi, With DD I had a hand pump I used from about 2 weeks until 10 months- no problems, think it was Avent. I borrowed a small medela electric pump to try for a weekend, and couldn't stand the noise ( I used to pump when feeding on other side/ and /or watching telly, and couldn't hear it!).When I returned to work, around 6 months,I hired a big medela double pump. Very quiet, easy to use and not too bad even to carry in a bag to work (though, did cost a bit to hire). Only thing I found was a pain I only bought one set of bits (tubes and valves) and should have really got 2 as I used it daily. Also, having the big double I could use it just for one side if thats what I wanted to do.
If, for whatever reason I was going to be exclusively expressing or mostly expressing, I'd definately recommend hiring a big pump. My second day back at work (in a hospital) I forgot my valves, and lovely, lovely staff on NICU let me express up there. Their pump was from the dark ages, and they were very interested to see mine and were thinking of buying one- I think it was insured for about £2500-3000, so not a home option!
If you're just having one to try just in case, I'd recommend a hand pump, but also remember from my friends we each had different favourite hand pumps, with a few people trying 3 or 4 before finding the right one for them- and boob size didn't really come in to it- nipple size was relevant depending on fit, but we all had different comfy ones!
Good luck,
mumofk

Used medela electric with ds1 - didn't like it. Didn't let down with it at all, the noise was really off putting too.
Used medela hand pump with ds2 - much better.

I could manually pump really well when DD1 was a newborn.

Afterwards, I used a Medela electric for on the go, but my Ameda Lactaline was worth its weight in gold.

FWIW, I wouldn't bother buying one at all until BF is established well. If you need to pump off some before a feed you can usually go that by hand.

Medula eletrci was great for me. used it every morning to express, used to feed ds one arm, express other and watch entertainment news !

definately better than the boots one, i tried.

I agree totally with expatinschotland. Leaveit untill you have BF established. It is hard so make sure you and baby happy with bf first before spend £50 or so.

for me,

avent hand didn't cut it. medela electric was much better, but still not amazing in terms of expressed amount.

I used a avent hand pump, not had any experience of electric. I suggest buy one and keep it boxed as you may never need/use it. I went back to work when my DD was 4 mths and needed to express off through the day so had to have something handy for that reason, was not office based etc.......

I've had a manual, a medela mini electric and an ameda lactalibe double. I wish I hadn't bothered with the medela one and just got the ameda. It's fab! Though a hand pump is handy for traveling.

Had a medela mini electric pump and found this very efficient, pumped once or twice a day for months and months and it stood the test of time well. However would agree that it was noisy, although I believe the new Medela "Swing" version is a lot quieter. You also couldn't put the plastic parts in the steriliser, had to be boiled or milton'ed which was a bit of a pain but again they might have changed the design for the new version. The bags they provide for storing milk were really fiddly too- the more I think about it actually the less inclined I would be to use it again even if it was efficient at getting the milk out!

Also had an Avent Isis pump, (a hasty purchase bought when I went on a hen weekend and had forgotten the electric one, desperately needed to siphon off some of the huge norkage and ensure I kept supply going!) and found this one really comfy and easy to use once I got the hang of it. Also fits in well with rest of Avent range, eg you can express straight into their bottles or storage pots and this was really convenient.

Good luck!
x

BTW, Tesco have Tommee Tippee closer to nature manual pump half price (or they did at the weekend) for £12.50 - I picked one up as I thought I wouldn't mind if it didn't work for me when I come to use it. (And have now put it out of sight as it looked like some form of medieval torture instrument....)

Manual, i bought a medela mini electric this time and was dissapointed. I had used the Avent ones before and they were just fine.

It depends on how often your going to pump for. If its only occasionally then manual would be fine, if like me you pump several times a day (I work full-time) then it has to be an electric. I used the Medela Swing which is quieter than the Medela Mini but it is more expensive. Good luck.

Thank you all for your responses. How long does it take to handpump a bottle of breastmilk? I expect I will want to express three bottles a day for when out and about (if not breastfeeding) and for husband to feed baby.

Also, is the Avent Isis manual good? Is the Avent Isis electric good?

I've been put off by the Medela now judging from your responses on it.

I used the avent isis manual it was fine! I was very lucky on the whole breast feeding front and had milk pouring out of me! so it really didnt take long to express milk off, a rough guide it took maybe 10 mins to express off 5-6 oz, we are all different. Hope this helps

There's nothing wrong with the Medela Swing at all, its a brilliant pump.