Best Breast Pumps?

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I'm hoping to breastfeed but would like to express to let DP feed baby too. Any recommendations on the best breast pump? Are the electric ones better / easier than manual? Also which bottles make it easier to combine breast and bottle?

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Hello!

We've noticed this thread is quite old and some of the recommendations may be a little out of date. We've tested a whole host of products to find the best breast pump for most mums.

Hope this helps!

MNHQ

I like my medela pump. started with a hand pump and now got an electric one. Electric one is great - you have a free hand + no hand ache, I'd start with a hand pump though as the electric ones are expensive.

I could never get anything with hand ones but got quite alot with my medela pump in style (i was not pumping in style I can tell you - dh calls it lovingly the milking machine. It was also very expensive).

I had an Avent ISIS iQ Uno electric pump which was very good and sometimes I used it as a manual. I liked the way it worked with all the bottles and the disposable cups you could freeze it with. Personally I never bothered with using it so my husband could feed - it is quite a lot of hassle - but after 4 weeks or so I did express to get a little stash so we could have the odd night out.

I found the best cheap manual one for the odd bottle was the Tommy Tippee closer-to-nature one

Don't get hung up on making lots of effort (and pumping is a lot of effort, don't kid yourself) just so DH can feed the baby - there's lots he can do to bond. In fact in the early days I'd suggest he does everything except feeding...

I used the Avent Isis hand pump with dd but planning to get an electric one for new lo.

The Avent manual one does get good reviews, but personally I could never get that much out with it.

Yep also agree that it's not worth the faff just so that DP can give a bottle. Like MrsB says, he can do everything else.

I only persevered with expressing because I wanted to go out the odd evening. And I did build up a little stash to use when dd started nursery, which was good.

I used the Avent Isis one but found that it broke really easily. I think I got through two with ds, am trying the Tommee Tippee one this time!

Have you seen this here?

I've tried a few (4DCs) and never found electric to be any better than manual. The Avent Isis is my favourite.

Bottles are another minefield. Each baby has his/her own preference. I've had more success with NUK than any other though.

I wouldn't get too hung up on it now though and probably wouldn't put a pump on my 'must-haves' list. But if you need/want baby to take a bottle regularly, something you might consider introducing a few months down the line.

I used the Avent Isis electric too and planning to use it again this time round assuming BF goes OK. Pricey, and noisy, but I found easier than a hand pump.

I'm with Slinkie, though - it really does take so bloody long to express one bottle's worth that it was like liquid gold in our freezer and I would only allow its use so I could have a meal out/with friends and have more than one glass of wine! Too much palaver to express before the feed just so DH can put the milk in baby via bottle rather than boob. I used to express 2oz-4oz every morning morning and store milk in freezer bags.

Also, while we folloed Baby Whisperer's advice on introducing a bottle pretty early, in first weeks boobs may hurt like hell if you miss a full feed. Takes a while to figure out the expressing 'routine' that suits you, baby and your family best. La Leche League website was really useful as well as this one for asking the really nitty gritty questions. Good luck!

I found expressing very difficult and really quite exhausting. I remember someone posting on here once saying that when a woman expressed then it meant that the DH sat down feeding the DB and telling everyone how he liked to help out, and the woman running around in the background expressing, sterilising bottles and generally half-killing herself. I certainly wouldn't do it just so that DH could "have a go", but it was worth it for DD being babysat for a couple of hours.
I remember expressing for almost an hour once, and getting a precious 5 or 6 oz (could normally only manage 1 or 2). DH took the cup and spilt most of it. He hasn't looked so ashamed for quite a while, bless him. So don't give the milk to your clumsy husband.

Tried Tommy Tippee manual - nightmare, took ages to get a few drops.

Really pleased with medela electric, quick and easy but pretty noisy!

Agree with Pinchy and MrsTM that the beauty of breastfeeding is that you just do it straight away. Having to sterilise equipment, sit and pump it out then pour it into a bottle and try to get screaming baby to drink it seems like too much hassle unless you're getting a night out.

I think I must have tried almost every pump out there!! For some reason my boobies decided everytime that they weren't going to give milk to some plastic contraption no matter how hard it was sucking!

I even bought the Medela swing, v.expensive, in a vain hope it might do the trick but alas, was not to be!

Good luck in your quest though

Hi, I've used Avent manual one, tried a mini- electric Medela one, and hired a huge Medela Symphony one (like they have on some SCBUs).
I've also bought a tommee tippee closer to nature manual one as it was only 12.50 in tescos, figured it'd be handy to try out when bump lands in a few weeks!
I didn't like the little electric medela one- way too noisy to comfortably watch tv. The Avent manual one I used for months, and overall it probably worked best, but felt I had to try others out to make sure I was getting all I could. The Avent one has 5 bits to clean and put back together (and remember to pack if you are expressing at work!!), the tommee tippee has less peices, but just mucking about with it might be a little harder to wash (though I'm intending to put it all in the dishwasher, so hopefully won't be too much of an issue). the TT one has an adaptor so 'normal' size bottles, like my avent bottles I got coz I had an avent pump, fit the TT pump easily- the CTN bottles are very wide necked (they were also on special offer so I've got a couple to try in case new baby is fussy!).
The big huge hired pump was nice and quiet,streamlined (didn't look like a milking machine which I'd seen first online very adjustable in terms of suction and comfortable to use, even for double pumping. I had it for about 5 months but even when using it I wasn't sure I was any quicker or more productive than using my hand pump. I tihnk if I was expressing exclusively the huge pump is worth hiring (though I think if your little one is on SCBU they might let you borrow one) but I was only expressing at work and decided to stop, just do extra feeds when I was around.
BTW the manual pumps aren't silent, you do have a bit of squeak/ noise with them, but I never noticed it until DH was videoing DD in the same room, and when playing it back you could hear the pump noise!
And I second what was said about the cleaning/sterilising everything malarky- that's what stopped me expressing at work- I just couldn't do it all every day. I'm hoping having 2 pumps might give me more options, and as I'm 2nd time around I know I won't be religiously sterlising stuff like last time.
Oh, for combining Bfeeding and bottle it really depends on your LO- my DD was fine with the avent bottles I got and starting having the odd bottle by around 4 weeks-my pals DD refused all bottles for ages, finally agreed to have funny boob shaped bottle that blooming marvellous sell, but pal said it was such a faff to fill, etc without wasting milk she pretty much gave up.I know other mums that ended up buying half a dozen different bottles,teats, etc before LO would take it. Some babies will take it from a cup- but its really up to your baby what'll work for you!
Good luck with it all, hope this may help

i never sterilised my pump! i just washed it in hot soapy water and left it to air dry.

First time I had the Avent manual one and found it to be useless. This time I've got this and its brill.

One thing I would say though is that I've never expressed just so that DH can feed, I've always found it to be too much like hard work. DH gets his time with DD by doing baths etc. I only ever expressed to get some time to myself.

Don't lose heart if some women have found it hard! I had a lot of help from NCT breatfeeding line first time around and used a double electric Ameda pump, great because its portable and runs on batteries. Here is my number one tip: an 'express yourself' bra (yes, really) which looks a bit porny, but holds the pump cups comfortably in place allowing you to relax. I believe there is some research out there saying double puping is ore effective than one boob at a time. Relaxation is important, as are the pre-expression exercises on the Express Yourself website, which help with let down. I think all of this really only works properly once your milk is in, and it takes practice (not watching the pump working or being anxious, keeping warm, reading a book) but I always managed two bottles in 20 minutes. I was back at work in 3 months, unfortunately, but breast fed for a year

Another thing, I bought a really small sterilizer, from the NCT catalogue, I think, which I used at work

I had to express as I was too sore to feed from one breast so had to give it a break. I also wanted to go out every now and again but agree I wouldn't have done it just so dp could feed lo but that's just me. I used the Avent Isis manual, which was all I could afford. It was good but does take practice. Also, sometimes you may not be able to get a full bottle out in one session so you have to do it in stages until you have a full bottle. Freezing it is one option. hth.

I started with an electric medela, which was great but very loud and impossible to clean. So then I moved onto an Avent Isis and loved that evenmore- I found it no effort whatsoever and I expressed several times a day until dd was 10 months, and could get a good botle full each time in about 5 minutes.

I have a brand new MAM manual unused - they sent it to me to trial but I never did.

Its yours for nothing if you want it.

I tried the Avent Isis pump, but just couldn't get on with it at all and ended up hurling it across the room on one occasion

After that I bought the Medela electric pump which was good, but noisy, so ended up hiring the Medela Symphony double pump which was brilliant - not too loud, not so many little bits and pieces to clean and sterilise and the adjustable nature meant that I felt I could adapt it according to how much assistance I needed . Also the double pump was invaluable - pumping from one breast often set off the other one anyway!